I was delighted to be asked to join in the newest campaign by lightsbyTENA* called TENATalk. The campaign aimes to give us the power to have an honest discussion about our problems, with friends and close family members.
36 percent of women said they would not talk about bladder weakness with their friends and family. That means 1 in 3 women will not talk about it. I think it’s astonishing, in a world where we share so much of our lives online, for everybody to see, we can’t find the courage to talk about something that troubles us with those closest to us.
I mentioned before, in another campaign I did with lights by TENA, Noonetoldme, that women in their 20s can suffer from this. Is something very common, as 1 in 3 women will suffer from bladder weakness at some point in their life, regardless if they gave birth or not. And men can suffer too.
If we combine both stats, this means that 1 in 9 women will suffer from this and she will not feel free to talk about it.
LightsbyTENA made this film with real women who share their “little leak” moments with their friends and how using lights by TENA has helped protect them from little leaks.
One of the things that stood out for me in the clip is “I was really relieved that my friends were experiencing the same things as I did”. That’s the whole point of the campaign, the freedom of being able to talk about bladder weakness as freely as we can talk about sex, something that was taboo only a few decades ago.
It is amazing that, somehow, talking about sneezing, fever, and headache is fine. Everybody can talk to anybody about their cold, is socially acceptable. We might even mention a “tummy ache”. Women can talk about their periods. Why shouldn’t we feel comfortable to talk, with our nearest and dearest, about something that might affect our lives even more than a runny nose does?
It’s hard to change and talk about things that might make us feel embarrassed. Someone I like a lot said, in a group of women, that is pointless to talk online about bladder weakness, that’s for women in their 90s. I remembered this because it was shortly after I went to the Noonetoldme campaign (she was not aware of that). I’m glad for her, even after giving birth a couple of times, she doesn’t have any issues. But I can imagine that someone in the group might have had this issue and maybe they were embarrassed by this. This is what we should change. Is not something to be ashamed of.
*Post in collaboration with lights by TENA
Well if we’re being honest I can say that I’ve suffered from bladder weakness. It’s due to having two children… it certainly affects your bladder control. I know I should do more pelvic floor exercises. Mostly I’m ok but if I have a proper sneezing fit then leakages can happen. I always carry spare underwear just in case!
Thank you for sharing this. xx After the first event with lightsbyTENA I’ve started pelvic floor exercises. I try to do them daily, if I can remember.
It’s always important to feel you can be honest about things. My partner’s mum only told us last year that she had suddenly come out of hospital for “women’s issues” – she wouldn’t tell us exactly what and didn’t tell us she was going in! It’s a shame because we would have loved to have supported her.
I hope she is better now. x
this is such an important conversation to be having, especially amongst younger women. It’s so common, especially amongst women who have had children
That sounds like a great organization because there are a lot of problems that women face and women usually have a hard time talking about it.