Following a car accident, I developed urge bladder incontinence because of nerve damage. In Texas I use disposable briefs and bedpads. These were very hard to find even in downtown Edinburgh, and on my next trip I am planning for the Orkneys. Unfortunately I must rely on public transportation and walking.
Any suggestions on how to obtain and pack such bulky items during a three-week trip? I suppose parents of children in diapers have similar problems. Likewise with needing extra clothing.
Perhaps compression bags, such as what is shown here?
Best idea I have; someone else may have a better solution
Could you ship a supply to yourself in coordination with your hotel? I've done that in the US with items I couldn't bring with me.
Surely such products are available from amazon.co.uk. If you can arrange for your hotels to accept Amazon shipments, that would (I assume) be significantly less expensive than paying to ship what you need from home. Shipping from US to Europe is extremely expensive by any method.
I agree that compression cubes should significantly increase the quantity you can fit in your suitcase as you head over to Scotland.
A note - pharmacies are known as chemist shops in the UK. Boots the Chemist, which incidentally has branches in Edinburgh, is the major pharmacy chain in the UK and, according to their website, they carry a vast range of the items you need. They also offer a delivery service. Why not try going to their website and seeing if they have branches anywhere close to where you are going and if you can arrange a delivery? I would think that any chemist shop either a chain or an individually owned one would carry these products, you might have to ask. Also check supermarkets, the smaller ones may not have a large selection but they usually carry some products.
When my Mum travelled, she suffered a similar problem as you, she would take the pads out of their bulky packages and lay them flat in her suitcase so they did not take up as much room.
Disposable underwear is available in packs of 10-12 in almost all U.K. supermarkets other than the very small convenience size stores. All pharmacies also sell them. In the village where I live, there are three options for buying them, so I am surprised that you struggled to find them in Edinburgh.
Disposable bedpans will be harder to find, as most people that need them would be supplied with them by the health service, so there is no need for supermarkets to stock them. Ordering these online would be the most reliable option - such as Amazon or a specialist provider or alternatively, bring some with you.
Here's a pharmacy in Orkey
sutherlandspharmacy.co.uk
they'll have what you need, either in stock or they'll order it for you,
Also if you do search a UK/overseas website or UK site of a global company eg Amazon then I suggest searching by product type (or issue) rather than brand as even the global companies call their brands by different names in other countries/continents even though the packaging might be similar. Also best to keep your search broad to start with eg incontinence rather than incontinence pad as the terminology between countries might differ and you might then get hits for both pads and bedpans. If you get too many hits to be useful then find a couple of examples of the type of product that you are looking for even if not a perfect match and note what description/category they are given on that site and then use it in a new search for that site to narrow down your search.
Any reasonable chemist will have everything you need in many sizes. In addition to Boots (usually overpriced) my local is Lloyds and they carry a full line.
You won't find the bedpans at a supermarket but most medium and larger Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsburys will have Tena. Probably Coop but I don't go in so don't know, and I haven't been in the Morrisons since the pandemic started but I'm sure they would.
Tena is a major brand for that here. I don't know if you are male or female, both sexes are available but almost always the selection is much larger in the female line.
I have some knowledge about this. Ladies' products come in a variety of strengths and colours, and shapes, many looking like normal underwear.
Maybe have a look at https://www.tena.co.uk/women for female; scroll all the way to the very bottom on the right for a link to male.
Really, you shouldn't have to ship to yourself.
Note that the OP was talking about bedpads not bedpans.
Thanks Janet, I misread.
For pads these folks are also good: https://able2.uk/products/toileting/mattress-protection
Perhaps they have a local distributor or could deliver to your accommodation.
I've got a friend who just ordered some of the Speax underwear and is testing it out. She already decided the thong style does not have enough absorbancy but is still deciding on the hip-hugger style. The website says the absorbancy is for light to moderate amounts.
I've no connection to the company and have not tried them myself. They are pretty expensive but I'm usually a cheap underwear gal anyway, lol.
