I've been mostly 24/7 for about 6 years now, with the first 3 of those years solidly 24/7, and the last three of them vacillating between long stints of 24/7 with periods of reverting to knickers, to long stints of 24/7 with periods of reverting to pullups.
I would say, right now, that I am very much nappy trained. I started 6 years ago having some bladder issues, with urgency and leakage, and decided at that time that I would entertain my love of wearing nappies by using my bladder issues as a bit of a push into seeing how 24/7 would work for me. I saw a urologist and an associate professor about my issues (which seemed to stem from my MtF surgery way back when), and decided to not proceed any further with investigations. I had also been seeing a continence nurse.
The 3 year stint in nappies went well, although I had increasing issues with constipation due to my fighting the bowel urges all the time. I would constantly attempt to delay doing a poop until nappy change time. This led to a lot of pain, and very hard poop at times.
Then COVID lockdowns hit. Perfect time to just go screw it, right? Go all in, and let it all out, right?
Well, no. The isolation of being away from the office, and the massive changes to one's daily routine, made me rather lazy. I started experimenting with how I did my nappies, for things like boosters, and clothing, and putting on a cloth nappy over my disposable for that extra bulk and "feel". My nappy change routine went out the window, and I would take over an hour to get changed, which made me lazier. Then one day, my mind popped up the question - "Would it just be easier to change into knickers?".
And that was the catalyst to start the last three years of vascillating back and forth between wearing nappies and "technically" not wearing nappies.
But here's the problem. I found that, yes, I could hold my pee, and for hours at a time too, but it was often painful, the urges were still there, the urges were sometimes totally out of proportion to the amount of pee I'd pass into the toilet, and I was constantly ending up in damp/wet knickers. I was also seeing increasing incidences of fecal smearing, so I'd decide to go back into nappies for a few months at a time, and get lazy at change time again, and go back into knickers.
I hated that back and forth. So I made an order I didn't think I'd make, and acquired a few boxes of pullups. I then hid all of my knickers away, so I would be less likely to revert to using them again. This strategy has worked so far. Crazily, although I was in pullups from time to time, I never was able to unconsciously wet them like I could in my nappies, and I would still go to the toilet to pee and poop. I think this has been due to my fear of overwhelming them in a flood and leaking. However, I'd still end up with wet and slightly messy pullups anyway.
About a year or so ago, I decided that rather than fight the bowel urges, and end up in lots of pain, I would just do my poopies into my nappies. I'm not a stranger to this, as I had huge problems with pooping my pants when I was young. I'm still ok with this decision, and would consider it a success when I wake up messy in the mornings, much like when I was young.
Today, after 6 years of wearing nappies, I wet pretty much anywhere, and at any time. I don't think I dribble, as I can still feel releases happen, but release happens at the time of an urge hitting (and by urges, I'd describe them as a weird tummy upset/flutter kind of, then feel the release), and am unable to stop them. I wet in bed (mostly waking up each time), standing up from sitting for a while, making coffee, drinking a cold drink, at the petrol bowser, driving, shopping, hand under running water, sometimes just hearing running water. I'll seemingly pee a fair amount, then ten minutes later pee some more, then some more again, then maybe nothing for a couple of hours. So weird, and yet so fascinating. I have also experienced times where I'm in the middle of changing my nappy, and I do a wee, or I finish changing into a fresh nappy and wee (so nice fresh comfy nappy is immediately a bit wet... sigh), or I'm standing in my ensuite bathroom getting cleaned up after taking off my wet/dirty nappy, and I'll pee onto the floor uncontrollably.
As for pooping, it's becoming easier to accept doing it into my nappy, and more out of my conscious hands to reject or fight bowel urges. My body sometimes does this spasm, and I end up pushing before realising I'm pushing. I'm finding that some days i'm pooping multiple times a day, which I've not had in the past. Do I regret that decision to do poopies into my nappy? No.
At night, I sleep wonderfully well. I'm finding that I can fall asleep really quickly, and sleep throughout the night. I often wake up in the morning to my alarm, and _immediately_ wet my nappy. I feel so comfortable in my nappies some times that I don't want to take them off and change.
Even now, 6 years later, I'm experiencing wonderful feelings wearing nappies. Up until recently, I'd always be wearing a disposable mostly with inserts, and depending on my mood, put a cloth prefold over the top. I found that the prefold, and the bulkiness of the combination plus plastic pants plus a onesie, at night, gave me reassurance I would not wet the bed if I wet in any position (I'm a side sleeper), so my night wettings have progressed. It's that confidence thing again. So recently I thjought I'd try just cloth nappies, and plastic pants (I love plastic pants), and wow! So comfy!
My cons about going 24/7? My main concern is whether I'll end up having fecal accidents at work, and how to deal with those. I've tended to wear disposables with velcro tabs, so the option to race off to the toilet and drop the nappy to do a poop is an option. Apart from that, maybe social impacts (though I live life as a hermit socially). Family all know I have bladder and bowel issues, but maybe not to the extent I am currently experiencing. Cost is not an issue to me, and I have a good supply of both disposables and cloth nappies and supplies.
What is frustrating is that changes are gradual, and very undefined, until you discover things have changed a lot further along than thought. Exciting too.
I'm looking forward to experiencing more changes to my continence levels. The thought of requiring nappies 24/7 doesn't scare me.
