How Do You Stop Frequent Urination In Elderly
Do you have an elderly loved one that is frequently urinating? Are they constantly going to the bathroom and not even realizing it!
If this sounds like your situation, then you are definitely not alone.
Urinary incontinence can be a major problem for older adults, but there are ways to help manage the symptoms.
Here are easy steps on how to stop frequent urination in elderly people.
1. Incontinence Pads
The first step on how to stop frequent urination in elderly people is with incontinence pads. These pads are placed inside the underwear and absorb the wetness before it even gets to your clothing. This helps your loved ones feel more confident because they won’t have any embarrassing accidents ending up on their clothing.
2. Bladder Retraining
This step on how to stop frequent urination in elderly people is a very important one because it helps strengthen the muscles that control urination during the day and night. It does this by working with your body to put less pressure on your bladder, which reduces the number of times you have to urinate.
Many times, bladder control is a problem for elderly people because their bladder loses the ability to hold more than small amounts of urine and they cannot empty it completely when they urinate. Bladder retraining helps your loved one learn how to prevent this from occurring by using Kegel exercises.
3. Medications
Some medications for frequent urination in elderly people are only available with a prescription, so you will want to talk to your loved one’s doctor about which ones they may need. The medication changes the quality of the urine and also helps make it more difficult for your loved one’s body to pass it. This prevents them from having to use the restroom so frequently.
4. Diet
Eating the right foods that are low in sodium and high in bulk will help your loved ones reduce their frequent urination issues. Eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and drinking lots of water also help control urinary incontinence by adding more fluids to your body’s system which helps make the urine more diluted and less concentrated.
See food to avoid urinary incontinence
5. Cutting Down on Stimulants
Caffeine is a common diuretic that acts as a stimulant and increases the frequency of urination. This includes foods with caffeine such as coffee, soda, chocolate, and some medications. Limiting these products will help your loved ones reduce their need to go to the bathroom as frequently.
6. Kegel Exercises
Kegel exercises are important for women because they help strengthen the muscles that control urination. These muscles are known as the urinary sphincter. By strengthening these muscles, you can improve bladder control and reduce incontinence issues.
This is extremely important with elderly people because the pelvic floor muscles begin to deteriorate. This makes the bladder control issues even worse, but doing these exercises regularly can help tremendously with frequent urination in elderly people.
If your loved one is suffering from incontinence and frequent urination, then you should take the time to talk with their doctor about these 6 steps on how to stop frequent urination in the elderly.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is urinary incontinence?
Urinary incontinence, or UI, is the loss of bladder control that causes a person to urinate unintentionally.
A person with UI may leak urine when sneezing, coughing, laughing, exercising, or while asleep.
They may also have difficulty postponing urination and experience urgency—the sudden, strong need to urinate.
2. How is urinary incontinence different from an overactive bladder?
Many people use the terms “urinary incontinence” and “overactive bladder” interchangeably even though they refer to two separate problems. Urinary incontinence refers to involuntary urine leakage; overactive bladder refers to a sudden and frequent need to urinate that is difficult to control.
3. How common is urinary incontinence?
As many as 1 in 3 adults experience UI at some point during their life, and the number rises with age. A woman’s risk of developing UI increases from about 30% at age 40 to more than 50% by age 60. UI becomes even more common among older men—nearly 1 in 3 experience it by age 70.
4. What are the symptoms of urinary incontinence?
The most common symptom of UI is having an urge to urinate that is difficult to control, often accompanied by involuntary urine leakage. Other signs of urinary incontinence are needing to urinate urgently or frequently, leaking small amounts of urine by accident during everyday activities such as exercising, having a slow urinary stream, or straining when trying to urinate.
5. How can I prevent urinary incontinence?
The following tips, while not all inclusive, may help you reduce your risk for UI:
• Lose weight if you are overweight or obese.
• Try to stay active, do Kegel exercises throughout the day, and don’t sit for long periods of time.
• Drink at least six to eight glasses of water a day, and limit your caffeine intake.
• When you feel the need to urinate, don’t ignore it. Go right away or try holding off for 5-10 minutes before heading to the bathroom.
• Sit in a chair with good back support when using the toilet and avoid straining to urinate.
• Stay in the sitting position for a few seconds after urinating. This will prevent urine from draining back into your bladder, which is called incomplete voiding.
5. What are the common causes of urinary incontinence?
The most common causes of UI include:
• Weak pelvic floor muscles (Kegel exercises help strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and may be helpful in preventing and treating UI).
• Changes associated with childbirth, such as:
- Damage to the muscles or nerves of the pelvis during delivery (stress urinary incontinence can result if the pelvic floor is weakened)
- Slow return of normal bladder function after giving birth (urinary retention can lead to overflow incontinence)
- Scarring from surgery or trauma to the area of the bladder, urethra, or urinary tract
• Weakness in the back wall of the pelvis (urethral sphincter muscles) resulting from aging, vaginal childbirth, chronic constipation, prior pelvic surgery, and certain types of cancer treatments.
• Bladder stones or bladder tumors can also cause UI, as well as more serious conditions such as neurological disorders, stroke, and heart attack.
6. How is urinary incontinence treated?
In many cases, lifestyle changes can help treat UI and reduce its impact on daily life. These may include: exercising regularly, limiting fluids before bedtime, strengthening the muscles used to control urination (Kegel exercises), cutting back or changing medications that may worsen incontinence, eating foods high in fiber or cutting back on liquids before bedtime, and losing weight for people who are overweight.
You can also try wearing absorbent pads inside your underwear to help protect against leaks when you cough, sneeze, laugh, run, etc. If these changes aren’t enough, your doctor may prescribe medications or recommend bladder training exercises that you do at home. Another treatment option is pelvic floor muscle training with biofeedback, which can help strengthen your pelvic muscles and reduce the urge to urinate suddenly.
7. What are the types of urinary incontinence?
There are several different types of UI, including:
• Stress Urinary Incontinence
This is the loss of bladder control during physical activities, such as coughing, sneezing, or laughing. It may also occur while lifting heavy objects or with certain exertion. This type of UI occurs when the pelvic muscles are too weak to hold in urine at times when increased pressure is placed within the abdomen (stress).
• Urge Urinary Incontinence
This is the loss of bladder control with a sudden urge to urinate. It may result from uninhibited signals sent by the brain or an overactive bladder muscle.
• Overflow Urinary Incontinence
This is the leaking of small amounts of urine due to the lack of storage capacity in your bladder. It can be caused by an overactive bladder muscle, neurological disease affecting the nerves that control the bladder, or an obstruction to urine flow.
• Functional Urinary Incontinence
This is the loss of small amounts of urine (one teaspoon or less) with activities such as laughing, lifting heavy objects, sneezing, coughing, etc. It is usually related to weak pelvic muscles or poor bladder habits (for example, not emptying the bladder completely).
8. What are overactive bladder symptoms?
Symptoms of an overactive bladder may include:
• Urgency: a sudden and forceful need to urinate that is difficult to control • Frequent urination: going to the bathroom more often than usual, including throughout the night • Urge incontinence: leaking urine when you are unable to get to the bathroom in time
• Nocturia (getting up at night two or more times to pass urine)
• A strong urge to urinate with little or no warning
• Strain and urgency to urinate, sometimes associated with pelvic pain
• A strong desire to urinate, even if the bladder is not full
• Involuntary loss of urine that may occur when you cough, sneeze, laugh or lift something heavy
