Who is the most important member of your care team?

A lot of us can be intimidated by doctors, especially when it comes to talking about somethign as personal as incontinence. Today's guest is here to tell us that there's nothing to worry about. Shavya Kovela is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the Clinicial Education Manager for Flyte Therapy, and she has some illuminating and encouraging insights for everyone who recognizes that they need help but isn't terribly comfortable with the idea of seeking it out...
_________________________________________________

Can you imagine living a life free from the constant worry of bladder leaks? With Flyte, you can reclaim your confidence and enjoy every moment without hesitation. Flyte is an FDA-cleared, at-home treatment designed to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and eliminate stress urinary incontinence.

Flyte's proven mechanotherapy approach delivers results in just five minutes a day for six weeks. Unlike other treatments, Flyte offers a convenient, noninvasive solution that fits seamlessly into a daily routine. Simply use the device at home and let the advanced technology work its magic.

The journey to a leak-free life is easier than you think. Clinical trials have shown that 82% of women who used Flyte became continent in just six weeks. The secret lies in Flyte's ability to amplify your pelvic floor exercises, making them 39 times more effective. These results mean you see significant improvement quickly, without surgery or ongoing doctor visits.

Think about the activities you've been avoiding because of bladder leaks – running, laughing, or even enjoying intimate moments. Let's face it - sneezing can be a challenge. With Flyte, you can participate fully in all these activities without fear or embarrassment. Experience the freedom of living without leaks, regain control, and start living the active life you long for.

Join thousands of women who have discovered Flyte's benefits. Start your journey to a confident, leak-free life today. Visit www.flytetherapy.com to learn more and take the first step towards a life without limits.

Don't let bladder leaks hold you back! Embrace life without leaks and enjoy every moment fully and unapologetically. Get Flyte!
_________________________________________________

To learn more about the National Association for Continence, click here, and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

Music:
Rainbows Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

For over 30 years, Tranquility has provided real-life protection for people with incontinence. Our high-quality products help you manage loss of bladder and bowel control with comfort, confidence and dignity.

Choose from disposable briefs, pull-on underwear, booster pads and more, in a wide range of sizes from youth to 5-XL. Request free samples today, so you can experience the Tranquility difference for yourself.

Go to TranquilityProducts.com and click “Free Samples

Transcript

Bruce Kassover: Welcome to Life Without Leaks, a podcast by the National Association for Continence. NAFC is America's leading advocate for people with bladder and bowel conditions, with resources, connections to doctors, and a welcoming community of patients, physicians, and caregivers, all available at NAFC.org. 

Welcome back to another episode of Life Without Leaks.

I'm your host, Bruce Kassover, and joining us today is Sarah Jenkins, the Executive Director for the National Association for Continence. Welcome, Sarah. 

Sarah Jenkins: Thanks, Bruce. I'm so happy to be here. 

Bruce Kassover: Excellent. And also joining us today is Shravya Kavela. She is the Clinician Education Manager at Flyte Therapy. If Flyte sounds familiar, it's because Shravya's joined us before for some previous podcast episodes and we're always happy to have her back with us.

So she's with Flyte therapy. That's F-L-Y-T-E. And we'll be talking a little bit about them a little more deeply in just a minute, but beyond that, she's also a Doctor of Physical Therapy with a specialty in pelvic health, as well as being an orthopedic clinical specialist. So thank you for joining us, Shravya, welcome! 

Shravya Kovela: Thank you, Bruce. Happy to be here. 

Bruce Kassover: Excellent. So today we wanted to talk a little bit about the doctor patient relationship, in particular about why sometimes doctors don't seem to give patients who are coming to them to discuss incontinence issues the sort of focus or attention that we would like them to give.

So before we even get into that, though, I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about that from your perspective. What does it take for somebody to actually get into the office in the first place? It's certainly we, we know it's not easy, but maybe you can share a little bit about what that looks like from your side of the desk.

Shravya Kovela: Yeah, absolutely. You know, that makes me think right off the bat is why is it so easy for us to validate others and accept, you know, what they say about themselves as true, but when it comes to our own issues, for some reason, it's so easy to question whether or not our symptoms, our lived experience is valid.

And I find that a lot of patients are doing that. It certainly does take a lot of courage and confidence to bring up the topic of incontinence to your doctor, because a lot of us do feel, you know, shame or embarrassment around our symptoms. And although as a pelvic PT, I'm here to say that that does not have to be the case, unfortunately, when it comes to, you know, being in society, that is something that many of us do feel embarrassed about if we are leaking, for example, if you're wearing lighter colored pants, and you have some leakage, that can feel uncomfortable.

So I will say as a pelvic PT, I've had the privilege of spending more time with my patients during our visits, allowing me to build trust with them. And I've heard many people say to me before, you know, “I meant to bring this up to my doctor, but I forgot,” or “we were talking about, you know, these other health issues. It was my annual visit, but my leaks didn't seem like they were that important in comparison. It's not a big deal, right?” 

So a lot of, kind of, minimizing how much this is impacting their life. And that can be really challenging to bring up to, potentially, a doctor you see once a year for an annual visit, for example, or some of us see different doctors every time we go in.

So if it can feel uncomfortable to bring this up to a loved one or, you know, someone who has a much closer relationship to you, it can definitely feel uncomfortable bringing it up to a doctor altogether. I will say, the last thing I'll add on to that is one thing I also hear from many women, especially, is being dismissed by a doctor or healthcare provider in the past.

So, for example, they may have mentioned that they have experienced leaks and maybe their doctor was dismissive by telling them, “Oh, you know, that's normal. You've had a baby. Maybe wait until you're done having babies and reassess.” Or, “You know, practice some Kegels and it should get better.” And when it doesn't get better, that can feel maybe like the patient is doing something wrong, or it's just the way that it should be and that we have to live with those leaks.

So I think that answers your question about, you know, just how challenging it can be to start the conversation around leaks in the doctor's office in the first place. 

Bruce Kassover: You know, a lot of what you're saying sounds very, very familiar, you know, from the work that we do at the National Association for Continence. Sarah, I'm wondering if maybe, you know, as executive director, if you want to talk a little bit also about how that meshes with what you see from your position and your perspective also.

Sarah Jenkins: Sure, Bruce. Yeah, we see that all the time. We've done countless research studies just with patients who have incontinence and we've seen that. You know, 90 percent of them are frustrated by their condition. They feel anxious. They have depression because of it. They feel really alone. And yet even from that same group only, you know, there are still about 27 percent that don't actually seek treatment, and that's because they're embarrassed or they've been told it's normal, or they think it's a normal part of aging.

And it's just not the case, so we always try to encourage them to talk to their doctor and to do something to, to remedy their situation. 

Bruce Kassover: I guess that we can all agree that the problem exists. I'm wondering, Shravya, from your perspective, why do you think it exists? What do you think is sort of behind some doctor's inability to give patients with incontinence the attention that it's due?

Shravya Kovela: That is a great question. And, you know, I think we can definitely agree on the fact that it isn't brought up in doctor's visits by patients frequently, but also a lot of times the doctors aren't asking the question, right, about, “Are you experiencing leaks or incontinence?” And there's actually a recent study that demonstrated, you know, 3 percent of these conversations were initiated by the healthcare provider.

So that really puts a lot of the onus on the patient. And as we discussed, that can take a lot of courage and confidence to bring up in the first place. So, why this is happening? It's a good question, and I think historically, there haven't been a lot of great conservative options for incontinence. You know, there's this gold standard, Kegels, for stress urinary incontinence, for example.

But we know that that is something that is really challenging for people to know how to do on their own. Compliance with Kegels is really difficult. Sticking with something when you're not sure if you're doing it correctly or you're not sure how many you should be doing or how often, that can be very challenging and demoralizing when you're not seeing the results that you want to see.

You know, how long should it take? How many Kegels should you be doing for how long? And that can be frustrating. And then there's really a big jump from there to the other recommendations being more invasive treatments, such as surgery and surgical interventions, bulking agents, other types of things that, you know, require going into the doctor's office for a procedure. And at Flyte, what we really feel is important is to provide greater conservative options for these doctors to give their patients more options that fit into their lifestyle, don't have harmful side effects, and are simple to use as well as evidence-backed and effective.

So a lot of doctors may not know necessarily how they can help their patients between the, “Okay, we'll try these Kegels at home,” versus, “Okay, now it's bad enough, quote unquote, that we are going to recommend surgical intervention.” And when we don't have an option to give a patient, we're not necessarily going to ask about it or pursue, you know, that whole incontinence treatment pathway, because maybe there's not something in their toolbox that they can use at this moment to help the patient.

So that's where it's really important to, you know, draw awareness and attention to the conservative treatment options out there. For example, pelvic floor physical therapy is gaining more awareness, which is incredible. Pelvic floor physical therapists are trained specifically in how to treat incontinence long term and then also improve overall bladder and pelvic health.

So, that is a, you know, fabulous option for many people. The hard truth of it, however, is that there are not always pelvic PTs around, and in fact, we are few and hard to find. Many areas around the country are not serviced by pelvic PTs, or there may be barriers to attending PT for a particular patient. So ultimately, with 62 percent of women in the U.S. reporting incontinence, we need to see regular screening for urinary incontinence by all healthcare providers, including primary care doctors, OBGYNs, etc. By encouraging this regular screening and having additional evidence-backed, you know, well-researched treatment options that are conservative available to these doctors, that will encourage them to screen more often, and hopefully, you know, identify more patients who are dealing with incontinence, who are not bringing it up to their doctors, and bringing them down a pathway of conservative treatment earlier on, so that maybe they're not waiting 5, 10, 15 years before it gets so bad that it's impacting their quality of life to a point where maybe they get the recommendation of surgery instead of using a conservative treatment option, such as Flyte or pelvic floor PT or another conservative treatment option earlier on in their care. 

Bruce Kassover: You know, I want to go back because what you were saying really is sending me back to, what you said earlier that 3 percent figure is really startling – the idea that physicians themselves initiate conversations about this at such a low rate is really amazing to me and it seems like there's a bit of a Catch 22 here, you know, because we know that patients out there are not terribly well educated, in many cases, about the nature of incontinence, about the treatments that are available, about what a treatment path might look like, so they don't know what to ask for.But if doctors aren't really the ones doing the initiating of the conversation, we're sort of expecting patients to be the one to get the ball rolling and guiding when they are entirely unfamiliar with what they should even be discussing.

Shravya Kovela: Absolutely. And it is a challenging, you know, spot to be, like you said, at Catch 22. Many doctors, you know, do offer the support to their patients as best as they can. You know, they may run the appropriate tests and then make the best recommendation available to them as a result, whether that's an at home program or a referral or detailed instructions. But I always tell my patients, you know, the most important part of your care team is you. Your doctor is important. I'm important as your pelvic PT. Your support system is important. We're all there to give you support and, you know, treatment recommendations based on what we know from the evidence and as the experts.

However, you know your body the best, you are the one living with these symptoms, you are the one living in your body, and this is impacting you the most, right? It's not going to impact your doctor, whether you bring it up or not. They may say, “Hey, you know, try this treatment recommendation,” but ultimately, if you don't want to try that treatment, it's up to you because it's your decision. 

And again, this is impacting you the most. So I think what's really important here is not only going to an expert and knowing that you are part of this team, but becoming an expert about yourself. You want to build credibility with yourself and your doctor so you know that your symptoms are real and they're valid, they're impacting your life.

How can you present this data to your doctor in a way that you can both work together and brainstorm ways to create a treatment plan that's appropriate for you? So, this means becoming an expert on yourself. For example, if you're leaking urine, start paying attention to the details, you know, when exactly are you leaking?

Is it when you cough, when you sneeze, only sometimes or every time? How much? Is it a dime sized amount or enough to change your underwear? You know, what causes your leaking associated with any foods or drinks or do you have a strong urge? So all of these, all of these points are important to kind of build your expertise on yourself.

That way, when you go to see your doctor, you know, make sure you don't go in and, you know, as they're walking out of the room, you're kind of calling out, “Oh, I leak sometimes when I cough!” Make sure that you're telling them the whole story. 

Maybe that looks like saying something like, “If I cough two or three times in a row, I have to change my pad because I leaked through it completely. And this happens at least two times a week and worsens significantly when I have a cold.” You know, that self collected data can help guide that treatment conversation. And from there, you can actually tell them what it is you are looking to have done for your next steps. And it's, it feels so uncomfortable to many, I think, to be telling your doctor kind of what to do, because aren't you going to your doctor to get the recommendation?

But again, you know, this should be a collaborative effort because you are the expert on your symptoms, and you are the expert on yourself. So maybe that looks like going in to your doctor and saying, “Hey, I am leaking through several pads a week, and it is impacting my work and social life significantly. So I'm really looking for something that I can use at home,” or, “I'm looking for, you know, X, Y, and Z,” whatever it is that you are looking for. What are my options like there? “I'm not interested in surgery right now, but this is something I need you to take seriously…” And from there, your doctor can recommend a treatment or course of action, and then it's completely up to you to decide how to proceed.

You know, does that sound good to you? If it does not, or if you are not willing to try it and would like something else, can you do your research and come back to your doctor and present that to them? “Hey, I read about this type of treatment. It seems like it's a good fit for me. What do you think?” And that can be a way that you can play an active role with your doctor; you know, feel more confident in speaking up about your symptoms because you're an expert on yourself and then also get the most out of your doctor's visit, get the best treatment recommendations because they are getting that data that you are providing them and you can confidently say, “This is impacting my life; we need to do something about it.”

Bruce Kassover: I love your emphasis on specifics, on getting really specific and very clear about what your symptoms are when they happen, what sort of surround… is surrounding them when they happen, all of those details that can make an amazing difference when it comes to getting you a good diagnosis and finding treatments that make sense.

That's so in line with the same sorts of things that we love to promote at NAFC.org. In fact, this is my opportunity to do a shameless plug because if there are people who are taking what you have to say to heart, if they visit NAFC.org, they could find a whole bunch of free resources that they can download to do just that.

We have bladder trackers and diaries so that they can keep track of when they have episodes and the circumstances surrounding them – time of day, things like that, that they can use in their interaction with physicians. And also we have free guides to help make the conversation a little bit easier.

The one thing about this, I do have to say, so downloading these things and filling them out at home is easy because it's just you and a computer or you and a piece of paper and it's just you anonymously. Once you get into that doctor's office, though, you have to actually open your mouth and say something, and a lot of people don't want to say anything. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what it takes to work up the courage to actually bring up the subject. You know, how can people overcome that fear and really advocate for themselves vocally and vociferously? 

Shravya Kovela: Well, this is a deep question because I think it goes back to just how we have built such walls of shame and embarrassment around things like bladder health and bowel health and pelvic health.

I think we can go back to what we teach our children, which is I think there's a book out there, right: Everybody Poops. I think we can say that about, you know, bladder. Everybody Pees. We all have a bladder and so, just like we may have health instances that are instances that are impacting our health in other ways, whether it's your knee hurting or, you know, having anxiety or whatever that looks like, we, of course, can have some dysfunction to another part of our health and body system, which is our bladder.

So sometimes approaching it and normalizing it in your mind as “I am doing this for my health and I am bringing this up to my doctor because my health is at stake,” that can be a way to approach it, knowing that you are addressing the bigger picture versus just bringing up your leaks and feeling maybe embarrassed about it.

I think also going back to what I said before about really becoming the expert on your symptoms can really build your confidence to seeing patterns and sharing that confidently with your doctor because, you know, you're not going in with this thought of, “Well, maybe this is a big deal, maybe it's not.”

You're noticing, “Hey, I do leak when this happens,” and, “Oh, wow. Now that I pay attention, I realize I'm going through three pads a day. Wow, that is a lot. I would like to go through fewer or maybe none.” So really validating your symptoms and recognizing that this is part of your greater health is really important.

And I think that goes back to even what Sarah mentioned earlier is, urinary incontinence, as we all know here on this call, has long term impacts on quality of life. It's associated with the increased risk or increased rate of depression, decreased functional mobility, increased risk of early admittance to long term care facilities.

So all of this is highlighting the fact that when we're bringing up incontinence with a doctor, we're not just bringing up just the bladder issue, but also our long term quality of life. Now, of course, I can say all of this, but ultimately, what really makes a difference, I think, is becoming that expert on yourself and bringing it up to your doctor confidently and with the resources that you all mentioned you have at NAFC, you know, the bladder diary, this data that you can present. 

And to even take it one step further, you know, becoming an expert on yourself can mean not only the self collection of data, but also playing with your symptoms, right? You know, okay, let's say you are leaking urine after dinner every night while you're watching your favorite TV show, and you're laughing because it's a comedy TV show, and maybe you start thinking, “Okay, well, what happens if I stand up while I watch this show and I laugh? What happens when I'm lying on my back? What happens if I'm sitting? What about if I have wine with dinner that night, or if I don't have wine with dinner that night? Maybe I have a really carb heavy dinner, no carbs…”

You know, playing with your symptoms and jotting that down can really make this less about the discomfort around the topic of incontinence and more about, “this is what my symptoms look like,” and kind of presenting it in an objective way with data to your doctor so that you can both work together to address the data that you've presented and to affect your long term quality of life in a positive way.

But that way it can kind of take a little bit of the personal side out of it when you can present more of the data that you are now an expert on. 

Bruce Kassover: I think that makes a lot of sense, but I want to ask you about the worst case scenario, or maybe it's not the worst case scenario. But let me, let's say you go to your doctor, you've collected your data, you are ready to advocate for yourself, and you have the courage to actually bring it up. What should you do if you find that you're not getting the reception that you were hoping for? 

Shravya Kovela: Great question. So I would say there are two options here, and there are probably more, but the two that come to mind is, when you go in, I would want the patient to remember that they are the most important part of their care team.

So, if you are going in to see your doctor and you come up with all the expert information about yourself, you've got your bladder diary, or you've written down some notes on your phone, and your doctor is not that receptive. Maybe your doctor says, “Oh, well, it's not that big of a deal. Just wait a little while, probably get better,” and you're feeling dismissed, remember that you are in charge of what treatment you choose. 

So, for example, if you have done some research already and you maybe read about something that interests you. So, for example, if you, you know, read about Flyte, and you wanted this for your doctor, you could go into your doctor and say to them, “You know, I'm interested in a conservative option. It looks like this medical device has research. It shows that it will improve my condition of incontinence. Can you write a script for me?”

You can ask straight out, you know, what you are looking for from your doctor and that, I think, is something that many people are nervous or don't feel like they can do, but you can, you absolutely can.

You can say to your doctor, “You know, can you, do that for me,” or maybe, “Can you write a referral to pelvic floor physical therapy for me,” or, you know, what, whatever it is that you're looking for, you can ask your doctor straight out. They may, again, give their recommendation, they may disagree with you, but ultimately, it is your decision.

And so having that conversation with them is really important. So I would encourage you to be open to having the conversation. And maybe that even looks like, if your doctor is not responding the way that you expected them to or would have hoped, maybe that question then is, “Why are you recommending X, Y, or Z?” Or “Why are you not recommending whatever it is that you have brought up to them?” 

So, getting a little bit more in depth about why they're making that recommendation, understanding the risks associated with, you know, whatever treatment recommendation they are or are not making, that can be really helpful for you to understand where they're coming from.

And secondly, whether you agree with them, maybe you don't agree with them. And that's okay. Because again, you are the most important part of your care team. So if you do not agree with them, perhaps in that case, that means that you choose to go see another doctor. And that is completely okay. I say that as, you know, a PT myself, who have, I've worked with many different patients. And I will always tell a patient that, you know, ultimately, you're in charge of your care. I'm going to do the best that I can to make sure that we're on the same page, but if you are not agreeing with something that I'm saying, let's talk about it and let's figure out a better plan of action. So, work with your doctor, have that conversation, but ultimately, if it's not a good fit, maybe it's time to see a different doctor.

If you are feeling dismissed or unheard by your doctor, that is a different scenario altogether. You should always feel like you are being listened to by your doctor, being respected to by your doctor. So, if that's the case, I encourage you to find a doctor you feel comfortable with, you know, speaking up to.

Maybe it doesn't feel like you have to build so much courage anymore to speak up to that doctor because you do feel so comfortable with them. Because you do feel heard by them and respected by them. So, I think those are the two things, two first options that come to mind.

Bruce Kassover: And I think those are great options, and I wanted to ask you, though, about maybe going from the other direction. You were talking about how you can use your doctor to help you identify a physical therapy solution that might be helpful. Let's say that you're one of those people who is fortunate enough to be in an area with a physical therapist and that was the route that you went down initially. Can you ask your PT to help work with your physician also to help them find solutions from the doctor's side as well?

Shravya Kovela: Yeah, absolutely. So if you do pursue pelvic floor or physical therapy, you can work with your PT to, you know, communicate with your doctor.

A lot of times your PT may communicate directly with your doctor with your permission, and that can be a great way to approach your symptoms from all angles. So, for example, if you are recommended a medical treatment from your doctor as well as PT, potentially you may make some progress quicker, and the progress may be more effective if these providers are working together.

So that is absolutely something you can ask your PT or your doctor about, you know, “Can I connect you with this other provider of mine, you know, I'm working with so-and-so on this, I'd love it if you guys can discuss this other treatment that I'm considering if that's appropriate for me.” So absolutely that can be done. 

Bruce Kassover: Now I'm also wondering, we've been talking a lot about patients and physicians and physical therapists as well, maybe about organizations, from a large perspective, you know, you are involved with Flyte therapy, doing all sorts of interesting things with their clinical relationships.

Maybe you could talk a little bit about the role that you see for broader organizations in doctor education, helping doctors be more proactive when it comes to getting patients into conversations about incontinence and specifically maybe what Flyte therapy is doing on that front as well. 

Shravya Kovela: Yes, of course. So this is so important, and it really comes back to what I had mentioned before, which is we need all healthcare providers out there to be doing screening of urinary incontinence. It is actually something that many professional organizations do recommend, but unfortunately, not all doctors are implementing this into their practice.

So, by increasing screening for urinary incontinence in offices such as, you know, your doctor's offices, whether that's your primary care doctor who you're seeing for an annual visit, maybe a well woman visit with your OBGYN or your gynecologist, we can then capture a wider net of people who are dealing with incontinence earlier on in their care journeys.

As we know, as we talked about on this episode, there are millions of people who are not bringing up their incontinence to their doctors, and many, many of these doctors are not asking. So by encouraging screening in these doctor's offices, we can then capture a greater number of these people before their incontinence is impacting their quality of life to the point where we're seeing some of these other impacts, such as the increased rate of depression you know, decreased exercise, which we know is so important to health, et cetera.

So all of that really is to say that these individual organizations, what we can do is, we can really advocate for increased urinary incontinence screening in these doctors offices. At Flyte, one thing that we're aiming to do, and what we have started to do is provide screening tools for these doctors to utilize in their office.

So, that may look like a three-question questionnaire that is included into the intake forms for the patient. Maybe it's something that the patient fills out online, or they can tear off in the doctor's office, check off a couple boxes, “Yes, I have leakage with this, no, I don't have leakage with that,” and take into their doctor. But that really encourages that conversation to come up within those walls of the doctor's office, whether it's in primary care, again, gynecology, or any other type of health care visit. 

The other thing that we can really see happening is with more conservative treatment options that are evidence backed, are effective treatment solutions with solid research. That allows these doctors to really screen for this more often because they have more tools available to them that are conservative, very simple to use and effective. 

I always say, you know, something can be really effective, but if a patient is not willing to do it or they're not going to be compliant with it, it doesn't really matter, right? So by having these simple, research-backed, conservative options, we can really encourage doctors to screen more often because they have more to recommend. 

And so Flyte is exactly that. We are a treatment for urinary incontinence as well as strengthening pelvic floor muscles. And it's simple to use: five minutes a day, an average of six weeks is what we see for the treatment program. 82 percent of participants in one of our clinical studies, you know, were continent by the end of six weeks, and typically maintenance is not required. 

So for those patients coming into your, into the doctor's office, who fill out, let's say, three questions saying that they have, you know, incontinence with, for example, coughing, sneezing, laughing, jumping, etc., Flyte may be a great option for them because it's something that is simple to use, very effective from the research, and these patients may be able to get rid of their incontinence very quickly and effectively. And as we know from the research out there, oftentimes, if we are not addressing our incontinence earlier on, you know, there are statistics that show that we can have incontinence later on in life at a greater degree and, as we have talked about, that can really impact the quality of life.

So making sure that we. can screen in those doctor's offices and provide treatment options that fit the patient, whether that is, you know, if you have the option of pelvic floor physical therapy, fantastic. Whether that's patient handouts about behavioral changes that the patient can do right away. Maybe it is, you know, Flyte, for example, to treat stress urinary incontinence and strengthen those pelvic floor muscles.

Whatever that option is, having that in the doctor's office ready to go can start to make these conversations a little bit easier, not only from the patient side, but also from the health care provider side. 

Bruce Kassover: You know, I know that Sarah is shaking her head vigorously along with you about so much of what you're saying, because, you know, we're talking about organizations, I think I know an organization that's involved with incontinence and trying to improve the doctor-patient relationship. 

Hey, Sarah, maybe you want to tell us a little bit about what NAFC sees as its role in enhancing that relationship and helping doctors become more proactive and more willing to readily address patients concerns and give them the attention they’re due? 

Sarah Jenkins: Yes, absolutely. Well, you know, NAFC is obviously a huge component of education. Our website is chock full of different incontinence conditions and all about what causes them and different treatments that you can try. And we really try to approach our patients with as much education as possible and arm them with as much as they can to go into the doctor's office prepared.

So we have downloadable bladder diaries on our site. Doctor discussion guides to really help you start that conversation. If you're, you know, not really sure where to begin, we have tons of educational brochures that you can download and read offline and then, of course, we have a huge blog post presence, which has a lot of different subtopics that you can dive into and then we also have patient message boards.

So, you know, sometimes, you know, It might be easier to start by talking about your condition with somebody else who really understands what you're going through. Our patient message boards are filled with people who are living with incontinence every day, and it's a super supportive community, and everybody's always giving advice and tips, so it's a great place to start if you're just not ready to have that discussion in person.

But from the doctor's end, we also really try to provide a lot of information. So, you know, we know that doctors only have so much time with their patients and it's really hard if, you know, the patient isn't bringing it up. Maybe it's not something that they're going to ask about, but we want to try to save doctors time as much as we can.

So we have resources that they can use in their practice as well. You know, downloadable brochures that they can give to their patients, different tip sheets, just things that can help provide them additional information about incontinence and ways to address their condition. 

Bruce Kassover: That's excellent, and I'm sure that many people who are listening to us have gotten here through NAFC's website, but if you're somebody who's listening to this on a podcast player and you, you're not a regular visitor, then we certainly encourage you to visit us at NAFC.org and take a look around because there's so much free stuff like you're saying, Sarah, that can make a real difference. 

But speaking of making a difference, Shravya, you just started talking very briefly about Flyte therapy, and I'm wondering if maybe we want to talk a little bit more about what Flyte’s main product is because it's a very cool device to try and help people treat their symptoms of, I believe, stress urinary incontinence in particular. Can you tell us a little bit more about what the Flyte product actually is? 

Shravya Kovela: Yeah, absolutely. So, as you mentioned, Flyte is a medical device that treats stress urinary incontinence as well as strengthens pelvic floor muscles. Flyte has been clinically proven in two research studies to treat SUI, whether it is mild, moderate, or severe incontinence.

It is an intravaginal medical device. It is the only pelvic floor intravaginal device that uses a clinical modality called transvaginal mechanotherapy. That is a very long and fancy word, basically, to say that we are using a clinical modality to essentially amplify what naturally needs to happen for muscle tissue to repair, heal, and strengthen.

What we do is, by using Flyte for five minutes a day, what we're finding is this actually increases or amplifies the impact of performing Kegels by 39 times. So it does not feel more difficult than performing a Kegel. You are simply going to be squeezing your pelvic floor and relaxing as you are guided through this cycle by the Flyte device. However, the modality of mechanotherapy is actually going to be creating long-term changes to your muscle tissues of the public floor so that they can repair and strengthen at 39 times the impact than just doing Kegels alone. 

So this is something that is very simple to use. We have heard by many, many different patients, by customers, that it is something they can stay compliant with because it is only five minutes a day, and again, typically, maintenance is not required, and we've seen that in our clinical research, we saw that even two years after the end of our clinical studies, that the majority of these women, they did not continue use of Flyte.

However, they still saw the improvements in their quality of life, even two years later, after they had discontinued use of Flyte. So we can say that we are making these long-term changes to not only the muscle tissue, but also the nervous system that controls that muscle tissue, and that's the way that mechanotherapy improves your pelvic floor function and treats stress urinary incontinence.

In one of our clinical studies – I like to bring this up because this is just very cool – is all of our participants in this study had gone through some conservative treatment in the year before, and they were actually all recommended to go on and pursue surgery for their stress urinary incontinence prior to enrolling in the study with use of Flyte.

At the end of the clinical study, none of these participants got surgery, and even two years later, none of them had gone on to get surgery, which is fantastic. So, surgical level results without surgery is what we say because that is what we're seeing, that not only are we improving stress urinary incontinence significantly, we're improving the quality of life associated with that improvement, but also we're seeing long-term results that go far beyond just the six weeks that you have to use Flyte.

So, it is very, very simple to use, very exciting, and you can actually bring this up to your doctor and bring up that you are interested in Flyte, if this sounds like a good fit for you, and you are suffering with stress urinary incontinence, and your doctor can submit a prescription for Flyte. And Flyte is covered by select insurances.

So that is absolutely an option. You can also purchase it directly from our website. A prescription is not required to purchase it. So that is available at our website, flytetherapy.com. 

Bruce Kassover: Yeah, I'm at your website right now, and there's one thing that's jumping out to me, which is the statistic that 82 percent of women were continent in six weeks in one of your clinical studies. That's a crazy encouraging number. 

Shravya Kovela: Absolutely. And that is something that you're not going to be seeing other places. It is really, really fantastic and you know, there was one participant in one of our studies who was wearing significant number of pads per day and was really dealing with some severe incontinence, and after the end of the study, you know, the number of pads she was using per day was just not even close to where she was before. It was something like one or two, and before she had way, way, way more than that. 

So even for those women who maybe are not part of that 82 percent of being continent, of what we define as ‘continent,’ they were still seeing such significant improvements in their symptoms that it was impacting their quality of life so positively.

So, you know, anytime we can see significant results in a short period of time, that's so encouraging and motivating to the person using Flyte, because what a huge change on their quality of life. 

Bruce Kassover: Yeah, and for anybody who didn't catch the website that, that you mentioned earlier, it's F-L-Y-T-E therapy.com. I'm also going to put a link in the show notes, so you can just click on that and go there and check it out for yourself as well. 

But that being said, you know, one of the things we always like to do, speaking of improving people's continence and improving their quality of life, you know, when we close up an episode is we'd like to ask our guests to share with us one hint or tip or suggestion on living a life without leaks.

So I'm wondering if, you know, especially based on our conversation today about having a better conversation with your doctor, if you might have one little thought to leave us to help those people out there live a life without leaks themselves. 

Shravya Kovela: Well, that is a good question. I think I would have to say, and just really highlight, ask your doctor for what you want, and you can absolutely be clear about it. You will not be offending them. You are not, you know, stripping them of their medical degree or whatever it is. You can simply play a role in your own health by asking them for what it is that you are looking for, whether that is a specific you know, medical treatment device like Flyte, whether it's a referral to a specialist, a pelvic PT, or whatever else you may be interested in, you can absolutely bring that up and request it from your doctor and have a conversation about it. And that. is so important and probably the biggest piece of advice I would give. 

Bruce Kassover: And an excellent piece of advice it is. Well, thank you, Shravya, for joining us. I really appreciate all the insight and the encouragement that you've been able to give us. And hopefully those out there listening really will take it to heart and advocate more strongly for themselves and make sure that the interaction that they get is the one they deserve. So thank you again. I appreciate it. 

Shravya Kovela: Thank you for having me.

Bruce Kassover: Life Without Leaks has been brought to you by the National Association for Continence. Our music is Rainbows by Kevin McLeod. More information about NAFC is available online at NAFC.org.