What Is Urinary Incontinence?
Urinary incontinence is the unintentional release of urine. It may be caused by stress, urge or overflow incontinence.
Stress incontinence is the loss of small amounts of urine during physical activities like coughing, sneezing, and exercising.
Urge incontinence is an intense urge to urinate followed by leakage or an uncontrollable need to urinate right away; this can happen even if you get to the bathroom in time.
Overflow incontinence happens when the bladder doesn’t empty completely after you go to the bathroom causing some urine to back up into your kidneys – that’s why it sometimes feels like your “backing up”.
What causes urinary incontinence?
More than 200,000 women visit the doctor for this problem every year.
There are several factors that contribute to developing urinary incontinence including:
damage to the bladder or urethra, pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, obesity, smoking, and certain medical conditions like diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and urinary tract infections.
What are the risk factors?
Women with a family history of incontinence or women who have had a previous vaginal birth are at higher risk for developing this condition.
Also, being overweight can put you more at risk for urinary incontinence.
So can certain medical conditions like obesity, smoking, and diabetes.
And if you’ve had radiation therapy to the pelvic region or bladder cancer surgery you could be more likely to get this condition.
Finally, there’s menopause – women are usually most vulnerable to this problem during perimenopause (the years leading up to menopause) and for some time after menopause.
What are the symptoms?
Some of the more common signs and symptoms include:
sudden urges to urinate, a leaking or dribbling feeling when you run or jump. You might also have some urine loss with physical exertion – coughing, sneezing, laughing…
It’s also possible you’ll have a frequent or urgent need to urinate that you can’t control.
In some cases, urine may come out when it’s not expected, like when you’re sleeping.
Some women experience a sudden leakage of urine called “stress incontinence” during physical activity – coughing or sneezing for example.
This type of incontinence can also happen when you strain during a bowel movement or get up from a seated position.
Leaking urine while sleeping, called “nocturnal enuresis” is another symptom of urinary incontinence.
How is urinary incontinence diagnosed?
Your doctor will ask you questions about your medical history and do a physical exam, including an internal exam to check the strength of your pelvic floor muscles.
You’ll also have tests that can identify problems with bladder control like urinalysis, urine culture, or cystoscopy.
What are the treatments for urinary incontinence?
If you have mild urinary incontinence, there may be ways to treat the condition without any surgery. However, if these methods don’t work or your problem is more serious, you might need surgery to improve your bladder control. Here are some of the most common treatments for incontinence:
Kegel exercises –
Kegel exercises are simple exercises to strengthen the muscles that control urine flow. You can do them anytime, anywhere – while watching TV or standing in line at the grocery store.
You can do Kegels by contracting (tightening) your pelvic floor muscles as if you’re trying to stop a stream of urine. Hold the contraction for 3-5 seconds and rest for 3-5 seconds. You can do 10 Kegels three times a day.
Certain medications –
There are several medicines that might help treat incontinence, but they aren’t a cure in most cases. One is called Detrol, which is used to treat an overactive bladder by slowing the signal from your brain to your bladder. The drug works by keeping your bladder muscles relaxed, so they don’t contract too often or too strongly.
Surgical procedures –
There are several surgical procedures designed for treating urinary incontinence. They include sling operations and artificial sphincters.
What are the side effects of surgery?
The surgical procedures for urinary incontinence can cause some problems like infection, discomfort, bleeding, and scarring. Less common but more serious complications which might require further treatment include damage to other organs or structures in the pelvis like blood vessels or nerves; bladder perforation – the need for another surgery to fix the tear in the bladder; or loss of bladder function.
