Urinary Incontinence: Loss of Bladder Control in Women
Urinary incontinence is the inability to control the release of urine from your bladder and is defined as the loss of bladder control. The severity of urinary incontinence ranges from occasionally leaking urine when you cough or sneeze to having an urge to urinate so sudden you may not get to a toilet in time. If you are one of the many people who suffer from urinary incontinence, don’t hesitate to see your doctor. In many cases, simple lifestyle changes or medical treatment can ease your discomfort or stop urinary incontinence. For those who are unable to find relief using non-invasive treatments, surgical options are also available.
Types of Urinary Incontinence
There are several types of urinary incontinence which include:
- Stress incontinence. This is loss of urine when you exert pressure — stress — on your bladder by coughing or sneezing.
- Urge incontinence. This is a sudden, intense urge to urinate, followed by an involuntary loss of urine. Your bladder muscle contracts and may give you a warning of only a few seconds to a minute to reach a toilet.
- Overflow incontinence. If you frequently or constantly dribble urine, you may have overflow incontinence, which is an inability to empty your bladder.
- Mixed incontinence. If you experience symptoms of more than one type of urinary incontinence, such as stress incontinence and urge incontinence, you have mixed incontinence.
- Functional incontinence. Many older adults, especially people in nursing homes, experience incontinence simply because a physical or mental impairment keeps them from making it to the toilet in time.
- Gross total incontinence. This term is sometimes used to describe continuous leaking of urine, day and night, or the periodic uncontrollable leaking of large volumes of urine. In such cases, the bladder has no storage capacity.
Talk to Your Doctor
Do not be embarrassed to discuss urinary incontinence with your physician. Urinary incontinence is not an inevitable result of aging and most people with incontinence can be helped or cured. Urinary incontinence isn’t a disease; it’s a symptom and can be caused by everyday habits and underlying medical conditions or physical problems, including overhydration, the use of certain medications, pregnancy and childbirth as well as an enlarged prostate. It is important to see your doctor to determine the cause of your urinary incontinence.
Factors that Increase Risk of Urinary Incontinence
- Gender. Because of pregnancy, childbirth and menopause, women are more likely than men are to have stress incontinence. However, men with prostate gland problems are at increased risk of urge and overflow incontinence.
- Age. As you get older, the muscles in your bladder and urethra lose some of their strength.
- Being overweight. Being obese or overweight increases the pressure on your bladder and surrounding muscles, weakening them and allowing urine to leak out when you cough or sneeze.
- Smoking. A chronic cough associated with smoking can cause episodes of incontinence or aggravate incontinence that has other causes.
- Other diseases. Kidney disease or diabetes may increase your risk for incontinence.
What You Can Do
Treatment for urinary incontinence depends on the type of incontinence, the severity of your problem and the underlying cause. Often a combination of treatments is used. Treatment options range from non-invasive approaches, including behavioral techniques like bladder training and fluid and diet management and physical therapy including pelvic floor muscle exercises and electrical stimulation to more aggressive options, such as medications and surgery.
Surgery
If other treatments aren’t working, several surgical procedures have been developed to fix problems that cause urinary incontinence.
Some of the more common procedures include:
- An inflatable artificial (human-made) sphincter is a medical device that keeps urine from leaking when your urinary sphincter no longer works well. When you need to urinate, the cuff of the artificial sphincter can be relaxed so urine can flow out.
- Collagen implants are injections done to help control urine leakage that is caused by weak sphincters.
- Retropubic suspension is surgery to help control stress incontinence. The surgery helps close your urethra and the bladder neck.
- Placement of tension-free vaginal tape is a procedure to help control stress incontinence. The procedure helps close your urethra and the bladder neck.
About the Author
Samantha Gluck is a who specializes in various topics including pediatric healthcare, OB/GYN healthcare, business and much more.
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