There is a movement that has a website at the eponymous quantifiedself.com. Its aim is to track, record, quantify, graph, tabulate, etc. any and all activities performed by the “self” (a la- everything). How many steps did the day cost you? How many calories did you consume? How many seconds did you sleep? How would you create a chart that represents your mood in relation to the time? What is the relationship of a hobby (H) to a psychological disorder (D)? I jest.
Whether you consider the quantified self movement as either a rational approach to self-discovery or part of a larger insidious social neurosis that infects every facet of human existence, you will fail to consider urinary incontinence and iDry will not. If anything, among the sea of useless apps, iDry is a beacon of purpose. It claims to manage urinary incontinence (UI) through self-reporting. “So there’s an app for that?” you ask, and mark this day as the Twilight of Humanity. But it makes perfect sense- it is a natural extension of biofeedback therapy that physicians have already included in the regime of treatments for UI. The idea is that, along with other treatments, one can adhere to a schedule that can actually alter one’s bladder activity, a sort of bladder reeducation program.
But what separates this from a traditional “bladder diary” is the information it gives back, such as how one’s incontinence might be affected by their diet, exercise habits, medications and so forth. It was also developed in coordination with the National Institutes on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (sic). So there’s that. It needn’t be said that one should not substitute this for the treatment program prescribed by a qualified physician.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
