During pregnancy, many women experience urine leakage or urinary incontinence to some degree. It happens when you lose bladder control and urine leaks before you can get to the bathroom. It’s not uncommon for women to experience this because the expanding uterus puts more pressure on the bladder. However, urine leakage is a common phenomenon for a lot of different types of people, not just women who are pregnant or have had children. While that may be the stereotype, men and women of all ages and in all stages of health can experience urine leakage with various levels of treatability.
The good news is in most cases urine leakage, or urinary incontinence, is highly treatable once the root cause has been determined. The two most common types of urinary incontinence are stress incontinence and urge incontinence.
Stress incontinence is the most common type, affecting over 12.2 million adults in the U.S. alone. Urine leakage occurs when there is too much pressure on the bladder for the bladder muscles to withstand. Weak pelvic floor muscles or a strained or distended bladder can cause this. Many factors can cause stress incontinence like age, childbirth, enlarged bladder and being overweight. In mild cases, simply including pelvic floor muscle exercises like kegels into your routine can retrain your bladder and reduce “accidents.”
Urge incontinence occurs when there is a sudden, intense need to urinate and no way to reach a restroom in time. This can be caused by damaged nerves that don’t signal a need to “go” until it’s too late, or by bladder muscles that contract prematurely. This type of incontinence can be harder to diagnose, but monitoring your water intake and drinking only in small, frequent sips can alleviate symptoms.
No matter your age or life stage, urinary incontinence is nothing to be ashamed of and should be treated by your urologist immediately. With timely treatment, many cases can be significantly eased rather quickly. If you have been living with urinary incontinence, you should know that you have options. You urologist will be able to diagnose your specific case and work with you to create a treatment plan to give you your best quality of life.
Give us a call today at 1-877-321-8452 to talk to one of our team members more about urine leakage or other issues you may be experiencing.
