Key in the door syndrome

Submitted by louiseds on July 31, 2012 - 5:56am
Body: 

Hi All

You will have heard of 'key in the door syndrome', which often seems to appear in women's lives in later life. I get it too. I also call it 'damn it - he's put the toilet seat cover down again, and I have to bend over to lift it so I can sit down quickly on the toilet and have an urgent pee syndrome'.

Well, I think I have found a solution to it, one that I have been trialling for the last week or so. No drops of urine in my knickers now!

It is a technique related to firebreathing. Fasten your seatbelts.

It often happens to me when I have gotten out of the car after a long drive. It rarely if ever happens when I have a really full bladder while I am out, eg it never happens in a shopping mall. I think what happens is that when we get a really full bladder, or the sigmoid colon is pressing down on the bladder, internal pressure builds up on the prolapsed bladder because the kink in the urethra, or the urethra being squashed by the bladder, stops the feeling of the urge to go, and no urine escapes. The top of the urethra expands into a kind of cone, instead of a flush tube to sphere connection. It literally blows out under pressure, like when you blow up one of those tiny thin balloons that they make sausage dogs and giraffes and dogs out of at fairs.

I have seen this described as a cause of loss of continence from overfilling, in medical literature, because the rest of the urethra cannot contain the pressure.

OK, the solution is to create a stomach vacuum which will make the bladder a tiny bit bigger, and suck it into the abdomen further. My theory is that this little bit of extra volume, plus taking the downward pressure of the colon off the bladder, is enough to allow the cone to shrink back to normal size.

You do it by inhaling normally and allowing the belly to expand, which pushes the bladder forwards; then exhaling as completely as possible, locking the epiglottis like you are about to nauli, and then attempting to inhale again by lifting the chest and contracting the diaphragm to create a vacuum in the abdominal and pelvic cavities. This sucks the bladder up and makes it slightly bigger with less internal pressure, so you can get the key in the door / toilet cover up / put down your bag of stuff / get your knickers down, so you can have your pee. All these tasks create intraabdominal pressure, and tend to increase the urge, but with the bladder not under pressure, it doesn't start emptying until you are seated, and take another breath, which re-establishes normal intraabdominal pressure in the abdominal and pelvic cavities.

Would someone like to try it and see if they can be as successful as I have been? I am dying to know.

Louise

Forum:

MsNightingale

July 31, 2012 - 9:38am

You are totally amazing! I would try it if I could.....don't know what I am doing with all those locking things yet but you can be sure I will try it when I am more advanced in the firebreathing/naulis (awaiting that third wheel with great anticipation!). I so love your posts and greatly admire all your knowledge and humor and sharings. Thank you for all that you do. You are a gem!

Surviving60

July 31, 2012 - 10:20am

Louise, this is awesome, but I find myself trying to dumb it down a little, for those of us who are afraid this is just too much multi-tasking! Is there really much difference between what you describe, and just bending over and doing one or two good firebreaths before making the mad dash? It's all about making more room for the organs, after all. What say you? - Surviving

alemama

July 31, 2012 - 8:09pm

but without the second breath. So I exhale all- then lock the epiglottis and pull in and up- and it does take the pressure right off my bladder.

Not that it matters, but I don't even bother with putting the seat down- I just squat and pee :)

NFP

August 1, 2012 - 7:58pm

Dear Louise,
I signed off and had to sign back on when I caught your post - On the Keys In The Door.
There are times when I really have to pee.. I would panic that I would have an accident. Then I started breathing in a way to cause some intra-abdominal pressure (very similar to what you explained) . It gave me the time I needed to get out of the car, get the key in the door, my packages down and off to the bathroom without a dribble. I find quieting my mind, concentrating on my breathing and having confidence that I can get to the bathroom without an accident. For me it buys me the time I need. Thanks for the post.

louiseds

August 2, 2012 - 4:22am

Yes, it was a very convoluted explanation. I was really just saying that the abdominal vacuum is a very useful tool, for more than nauli and firebreathing.

Yes, Alemama, I squat to pee too, but that gets messy if my darling husband has put the cover down on top of the seat!!! Especially if it is in the middle of the night and the bathroom is pitch dark. :-(

Surviving, it is quicker than firebreathing! But yes, the principle is exactly the same. It is quite different from my normal habit of inhaling through my nose to do the same thing. I only just realised that inhaling makes the abdominal volume much greater, so I couldn't get the pull up. So I decided to exhale instead, and it made so much difference.

I do find though, that it works even better if I get straight out of the car, and don't lift anything out of the car before I go inside. Just lifting a heavy handbag will increase intraabdominal pressure quite a bit. It is easy to go back out and collect my stuff after I have relieved myself.

It is interesting that several of us have discovered similar techniques.

Louise