When you lose control over your bladder and release urine or have leaks of urine for a few instances, you might be suffering from urinary incontinence like stress incontinence. Yes, there are many different types for this condition and for each particular type- there are different causes as well as different methods for treating it.
This happens when you exert pressure on your abdomen. Through different actions like laughing, coughing, sneezing, and lifting heavy objects, urine might leak out of your bladder or have small dribbles of urine.
Why Stress Incontinence Occurs
Basically, when you suffer from incontinence, there is only one problem. The sphincter, which is composed of a ring of muscles around the urethra, is weakened. When the muscles aren’t tight enough, it’s easy for urine to escape from your bladder. Weakened sphincter muscles can come from a myriad of causes.
- In women, this occurs as caused by menopause, pregnancy or childbirth.
- For men, this happens when the prostate gland is removed like in surgical procedures for prostatectomy.
With a little bit of pressure like sneezing, the sphincter opens up a little more, letting urine out.
The Symptoms of Stress Incontinence
When you experience having a leak of urine the first time, there’s no cause for panic. This is a pretty natural occurrence but if it gets too frequent, it’s time to see a doctor. When you move or when you do a certain kind of activity and you leak urine, you have to go see your doctor. The leakage might be as small as a drop or even a squirt but if this happens too frequently, you might have stress incontinence. Don’t wait for it to be a stream of urine.
Treatment Methods for Incontinence
Surgery should be the last resort. There are a number of methods that you can employ to see how they work for your condition. These consist mostly of self help techniques that you can do without any interference or the help of other people. You can get back to the road of health using the tips for treatment and you can also purchase some aids and tools for making your life better. For the most part, this type of incontinence is pretty mild and you need nothing invasive as a cure.
- Kegel exercises. These exercises are also referred to as pelvic floor exercises. When you do the routines here, you’ll be able to strengthen the muscles that work to support your bladder, bowels and uterus. It only takes a little bit of strength to cure stress incontinence. A few sets per day would already help you. These exercises are done with contracting your pelvic floor muscles. You hold it for about five seconds and then relax. When you repeat this exercise 10 times a day, you’ll soon be free of the problem.
- Urinary incontinence devices. For females, the device for stress incontinence is called vaginal cones. This cone is inserted into the vagina providing a bit of pressure for the urethra with added weights. This keeps it in its normal position providing resistance when doing a basic kegel. For men, devices for urinary incontinence are known as incontinence clamps. Just like what you would imagine, you have a small tool that you clamp around the penis to keep the urethra closed. This not only stops urine leakage, it also helps you with regaining control over your bladder.
- Injections. Bulking agents like collagen are injected in the urethra lining. This helps with increasing the size of the urethra lining. You can say goodbye to stress incontinence and laugh when you want to laugh, lift heavy objects and exercise when you want without having to wear urinary incontinence undergarments or adult diapers.
It can be embarrassing to talk to your doctor about this condition. Again, if it happens once in a while, that’s just normal. But if you experience urinary leakage whenever you cough, laugh or do exercise, you have to consult with your doctor to see if you have stress incontinence and find a way for treating the condition.