Can Lack Of Estrogen Cause Urinary Incontinence?

Incontinence is a common problem, especially among women. But did you know that a lack of estrogen can be to blame? Here’s what you need to know about estrogen and incontinence.

Estrogen is a female hormone that plays an important role throughout the body. It helps maintain bone density, fat distribution, and skin quality. It also relaxes pelvic muscles.

Women who are menopausal experience a significant drop in estrogen, which causes incontinence to become much more common.

Estrogen can also be useful to treat incontinence. Depending on the type of incontinence you have, estrogen may help tighten pelvic muscles or increase bladder control.

How can I get more estrogen?

There are several ways to get more estrogen if you need it. Please talk with your doctor about what’s best for you.

Estrogen can be taken orally, inserted vaginally, or absorbed through the skin (this is called “transdermal”).

Whether estrogen will improve incontinence depends on the type of incontinence you have.

If you have vaginal dryness, estrogen creams and rings inserted into the vagina can help. Estrogen therapy can also often improve stress incontinence by strengthening pelvic muscles.

Some women find that taking an oral contraceptive improves their urinary control.

If you have urge incontinence or mixed incontinence, increasing estrogen levels usually does not help much. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but your doctor should be able to tell you if the exception applies to you.

Bottom line: Estrogen is a female hormone that helps maintain many parts of your body and can improve stress incontinence.

Talk with your doctor to find out which types of estrogen might be right for you and whether it can help reduce or eliminate your urinary accidents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is incontinence?

Incontinence is the accidental leakage of urine or stool. It’s a very common problem for adults in all age groups, but it tends to get worse with age.

When you suffer from incontinence, you may feel embarrassed and cope by limiting your activities. And over time, this can lead to social isolation and depression.

Conditions that may lead to incontinence include urinary tract infections, muscle weakness, pregnancy, menopause, obesity, surgery involving the bladder or prostate gland (like prostate removal), diabetes mellitus, neurological diseases like stroke or multiple sclerosis (MS), and side effects of certain medications.

If you think you have incontinence, talk with your doctor. There are treatments that can help you lead a normal life again.

What is estrogen?

Estrogen is the primary female sex hormone. It’s also called Oestrogen or simply the “female hormone”.

Women produce estrogen in their ovaries. But when they enter menopause, estrogen levels drop. As a result, many women experience incontinence when they are menopausal.

How can a lack of estrogen cause incontinence?

During menopause, the decrease in estrogen causes muscles in the pelvis to become weaker. This makes it harder for them to support the bladder and urethra properly.

As a result, the bladder and urethra can sag into the vagina or even into the back passage (called “urethral prolapse”). This makes it difficult for you to control your bladders.

Does estrogen help with incontinence?

It depends on what type of incontinence you have. Estrogen can help with stress incontinence, but it doesn’t work for urge or mixed incontinence.

Stress urinary incontinence is the most common type of urinary incontinence. It’s caused by damage to your bladder wall, nervous system, or pelvic floor muscles that allow you to control your bladders.

Estrogen can help improve stress incontinence by strengthening your pelvic muscles.

Estrogen can also increase vaginal lubrication, which makes sex more comfortable and may make you less likely to leak urine during sex (called “urinary leakage”).

How do I get estrogen?

You can take estrogen orally as a pill or tablet, apply it to the skin as a cream, insert it into the vagina as a ring or tablet, or absorb it through your skin.