How To Get Rid Of Stress Incontinence

Stress Is Not Anxiety Or Depression

Stress is not the same as anxiety or depression but for some people, being stressed for a long time can lead to anxiety or depression, and it can affect a persons physical health, particularly cardiovascular health.

When we talk about being stressed, it usually means were upset or tense about something thats happening in our lives. Stress is a normal part of daily life. Its a natural physical and mental response that is designed to help people cope effectively with emergencies.

Some stress can be a good thing. It can help us get motivated to get things done, but health problems from stress happen when it is regular and doesnt let up.

Get A Hug From A Loved One

Physical touch can do a lot to relieve your stress. Hugging a loved one can be especially beneficial.

When you hug someone, oxytocin is released. Oxytocin is associated with higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress.

Oxytocin also causes a reduction in blood pressure. It reduces the stress hormone norepinephrine and can produce a sense of relaxation.

So dont be afraid to ask a loved one for a hug if you need it. Its good for both of you and it can be one of the simplest forms of stress relief available.

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Home Remedies For Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence can be described as the inability to control urination, leading to urine leakage or involuntary loss of urine.

It is a very common, and at times debilitating, urological disorder. According to the National Association for Continence , it affects about 25 million Americans.

Urinary incontinence can be divided into three main types:

• Urge incontinence occurs when an overactive or hyperactive bladder causes a sudden and intense urge to urinate causing involuntary loss of urine
• Stress incontinence occurs when physical activities like vigorous exercise, jumping, coughing, sneezing or even laughing put pressure on the bladder and it releases urine
• Overflow incontinence inability to completely empty the bladder, leading to frequent or constant dribbling of urine

Incontinence can be caused by a number of factors like age , weakened pelvic floor muscles due to surgery or childbirth, enlarged prostate, menopause, an overactive bladder, nerve damage, urinary stones, urinary tract infections and constipation.

Plus, certain foods, drinks and medications may stimulate your bladder and cause temporary incontinence.

It not only can cause discomfort and embarrassment, but can also be harmful if urine is left in the bladder creating a breeding ground for bacteria. Incontinence is not a disease in itself, but a symptom of an underlying condition or disorder.

Here are the top 10 home remedies for urinary incontinence.

• 10. Acupuncture

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Can Urinary Incontinence Be Prevented Or Avoided

You may be able to prevent urinary incontinence by working to keep pelvic muscles strong. But even so, it doesnt guarantee that you will never have urinary incontinence.

There are also lifestyle changes you can make to help prevent urinary incontinence. You may find it helpful to make some changes in your diet. Alcohol, caffeine, foods high in acid , and spicy foods can irritate your bladder. Talk to your doctor if you think your diet may contribute to your incontinence.

Some people find that limiting how much they drink before bedtime helps reduce nighttime incontinence.

Losing weight if you are overweight can also help reduce incontinence.

What Is Urge Incontinence And How Is It Treated

There are many different types of urinary incontinence the loss of bladder control. One of the most common types is urge incontinence, which is characterized by a sudden, intense urge to urinate followed by an involuntary loss of urine. You may need to urinate often, including throughout the night.

Urinary incontinence is more common among women with approximately 17 percent of women and 3 to 11 percent of men experiencing urge incontinence at some point in their lives. Fortunately, there are many different treatment options for urge continence ranging from conservative to more invasive.

CONSERVATIVE TREATMENTS

Conservative ways to treat urinary incontinence include:

MEDICATIONS

There are two primary categories of medications used to treat urge incontinence. Your health care provider will help you determine which is right for you and your condition.

Medications include:

INTERVENTIONAL THERAPIES

If you have had little luck with other incontinence interventions, you may need to consider:

Read more helpful tips and lifestyle changes that can help you manage urinary retention and incontinence.

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Questions To Ask Your Doctor

• What type of urinary incontinence do I have?
• What is the likely cause of my urinary incontinence? Can this condition be treated?
• If so, will treating the condition cure my urinary incontinence? When can I expect relief from my symptoms?
• Should I start doing Kegel exercises? How often?
• Would a bladder training program help manage my urinary incontinence?
• Will any lifestyle changes help manage my urinary incontinence?
• Im embarrassed by my urinary incontinence. Until my symptoms improve, what else can I do to help manage my condition?

How Is Stress Incontinence Treated

Self-help techniques and aids can be used to treat mild stress incontinence. In addition, there are a number of treatments available for stress incontinence:

Kegel exercises: Kegel exercises, also called pelvic floor exercises, help strengthen the muscles that support the bladder, uterus, and bowels. By strengthening these muscles, you can reduce or prevent leakage problems.

To do Kegel exercises, pretend you are trying to stop the flow of urine or trying not to pass gas. When you do this, you are contracting the muscles of the pelvic floor. While doing these exercises, try not to move your leg, buttock, or abdominal muscles. In fact, no one should be able to tell that you are doing Kegel exercises.

Kegel exercises should be done every day, five sets a day. Each time you contract the muscles of the pelvic floor, hold for a slow count of five and then relax. Repeat this 10 times for one set of Kegels.

Weight loss: Stress incontinence has been linked to obesity.

Timed voiding: Record the times that you urinate and when you leak urine. This will give you an idea of your leakage “patterns” so that you can avoid leaking in the future by scheduling bathroom visits at those times.

Surgery: When other methods for treating stress incontinence don’t work, surgery may be an option. Surgery is now minimally invasive and performed on an outpatient basis in most cases. There are three types of surgery designed to help keep the bladder in place and treat stress incontinence:

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When Is Surgery Done For Stress Incontinence

Surgery may be done when stress incontinence is severe and other treatments have not worked. Surgery lifts and supports the connection between the bladder and the urethra.

Surgery works better than any other treatment for stress urinary incontinence in women.footnote 1 But sometimes symptoms come back.

Types of surgery include:

Talk with your doctor about things you can do to increase the chance of having a successful surgery. You may have better results if you lose weight or do Kegels before surgery. If you smoke, quit.

Your doctor may suggest surgery if:

• You have tried other treatments, and they have not helped.
• You and your doctor know the cause of your stress incontinence. Surgery is more likely to fail if the true cause isn’t known.

The Link Between Stress And Hives

Whether we are dealing with short-term or long-term stress, the side effects from that stressor arent solely psychological physical manifestations of stress can occur too. In some people, it may exhibit in the form of an increased heart rate, tummy troubles, or sudden hair loss, while in others, stress can actually manifest physically in the form of urticaria, or hives.

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If Hives Continue You May Need To See Your Dermatologist Heres How Doctors Treat Hives

If you have only one outbreak of hives and you dont have breathing difficulties, you probably dont need medical attention. Yet if you continue to get multiple bouts of hives that continue after a couple of weeks, you may want to call a doctor, Elmariah suggests. Most often, the hives will resolve during this time or youll figure out whats causing them.

But hives that continue for weeks warrant a trip to the dermatologist. If they continue for six weeks or longer theyre considered chronic hives, which tend to be caused by the same triggers as short-term or acute cases of hives. Because dermatologists are skilled at working with hives, theyre your best bet in getting the appropriate treatment, Dr. Rossi explains.

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How To Stop Incontinence How Can I Stop Urinary Incontinence

A: There are a couple of ways that one could go about trying to stop incontinence, however there is no guarantee that any given treatmentwill totally cure you. Depending on your type, severity and cause of incontinence your treatment and likelihood of stopping symptoms will change. The most common options for stopping incontinence all together are either behavioral changes, such as changes in diet and weight, or surgeries to fix anatomical issues with the bladder. Your healthcare provider will be able to best advise you on the options available to treat and/or manage your type of incontinence. Your primary care physician may also refer you to a urologist or urogynecologist for consultation about treatment or potential cures.

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The Vicious Cycle Of Stress And Hives

Research has shown that for some people, stress and hives are intrinsically linked, particularly in those who have an autoimmune condition or have other allergy issues and are predisposed to getting hives. This link may have something to do with the fact that the nervous system and the skin are derived from the same embryologic layer, but research is still underway to better understand the correlation.

What Causes Incontinence

There are many different reasons that you could experience incontinence. These causes can vary depending on if youre a woman or man. Some causes are temporary health conditions that usually go away once treated. In those cases, your incontinence also usually stops once the condition is treated. Incontinence can be caused by long-term medical conditions. When you experience leakage issues because of a chronic condition, its usually something you will have to manage over a longer period of time. Even with treatment, chronic conditions usually dont go away. Incontinence may have to be managed over time as a symptom of your chronic condition.

Temporary or short-term causes of incontinence can include:

• Urinary tract infections : An infection inside your urinary tract can cause pain and increase your need to pee more often. Once treated, the urge to urinate frequently usually goes away.
• Pregnancy: During pregnancy, your uterus places extra pressure on the bladder as it expands. Most women who experience incontinence during pregnancy notice that it goes away in the weeks after delivery.
• Medications: Incontinence can be a side effect of certain medications, including diuretics and antidepressants.
• Beverages: There are certain drinks like coffee and alcohol that can make you need to urinate much more often. If you stop drinking these beverages, your need to urinate frequently typically goes down.
• Constipation: Chronic constipation can cause you to have bladder control issues.

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Key Points To Remember

• Surgery is usually done only after other treatments for stress incontinence have failed.
• You may be able to treat stress incontinence by doing pelvic floor exercises . They may help you control your bladder when you cough, laugh, sneeze, or exercise.
• Medicines may help you control urine leaks, but they don’t work for everyone. You can also try a pessary to deal with symptoms.
• Incontinence can have more than one cause. Surgery can fix stress urinary incontinence. But if you have mixed urinary incontinence, you may still have urgency symptoms after surgery.
• Surgery works better than any other treatment for stress urinary incontinence in women.footnote 1 But sometimes surgery for stress incontinence causes new symptoms of urgency or urge incontinence. And sometimes symptoms come back.
• Surgery has risks, including trouble urinating after surgery, injury to the bladder or other pelvic organs, problems caused by the mesh tape used in surgery, infection, and problems linked to anesthesia.

What Are The Symptoms Of Incontinence

The main symptom of incontinence is a leakage of urine. This could be a constant dripping of urine or an occasional experience of leakage. If you have incontinence, you might have large amounts or small amounts of leaked urine. You might experience leakage for a wide variety of reasons often depending on the type of incontinence you have.

You might leak urine when you:

• Exercise.
• Have an urge to urinate, but cant make it to the toilet on time.
• Have to get up in the middle of night to urinate .

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What Causes Bladder Leaks

There are two main types of urinary incontinence:

Stress incontinence

If you have this type, activities that raise the pressure inside your abdomen cause urine to leak through the ring of muscle in your bladder that normally holds it in. Coughing, sneezing, jumping and lifting heavy objects could lead to a leak.

Going through childbirth, smoking or being overweight can raise the risk of stress incontinence for women, Wright says. Stress incontinence in men is rare, and when it arises, its often due to prostate cancer treatment, such as radiation or surgery.

Urge incontinence

With this type, your brain, spinal cord and bladder dont work together properly to allow you to hold and release urine at the right time. Your bladder may suddenly empty itself without warning. Or you may feel like you need to urinate frequently, a problem called overactive bladder.

Some diseases that affect the nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis or stroke, can cause this kind of incontinence, says Wright. In men, an enlarged prostate may be the culprit. But in many cases, doctors dont know what causes urge incontinence.

It is possible to have both types of incontinence at the same time.

TRY IT: Keep Records

Your doctor will want to know as much as possible about your bladder leakswhen they occur, how much urine comes out, and what youre doing when leaks happen. Consider keeping a diary of when you urinate and when you have leaks, recommends Wright.

How Can I Help Myself

Face your fear if you can

If you always avoid situations that scare you, you might stop doing things you want or need to do. You wont be able to test out whether the situation is always as bad as you expect, so you miss the chance to work out how to manage your fears and reduce your anxiety. Anxiety problems tend to increase if you get into this pattern. Exposing yourself to your fears can be an effective way of overcoming this anxiety.

Know yourself

Try to learn more about your fear or anxiety. Keep an anxiety diary or thought record to note down when it happens and what happens. You can try setting yourself small, achievable goals for facing your fears. You could carry with you a list of things that help at times when you are likely to be become frightened or anxious. This can be an effective way of addressing the underlying beliefs that are behind your anxiety.

Try to learn more about your fear or anxiety. Keep a record of when it happens and what happens.

Exercise

Increase the amount of exercise you do. Exercise requires some concentration, and this can take your mind off your fear and anxiety.

Relax

Learning relaxation techniques can help you with the mental and physical feelings of fear. It can help just to drop your shoulders and breathe deeply. Or imagine yourself in a relaxing place. You could also try learning things like yoga, meditation, massage, or listen to the Mental Health Foundations wellbeing podcasts.

Healthy eating

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Removing Or Reducing The Causes Of Stress

It is important to identify what makes you stressed, then take steps to avoid it or reduce the feelings of stress.

Everyone is different. What one person finds stressful, another wont. It depends on your personality, cultural background, past experiences, stage of life and what support you have around you.

Some common causes of stress include:

• family or relationship breakdowns
• having a baby
• money problems

Many things that cause stress can be changed, but others are beyond our control. Work out what you can control and take steps to make a change.

For example, if you are one of the many Australians who is stressed by financial issues, setting up a budget or consulting a financial adviser may help.

If the stressor is work, it may be possible to change your work hours or job duties. If the problem is relationships, take the time to resolve conflicts.

It can help to talk to a friend, doctor or counsellor about removing the causes of stress. Dont be afraid to ask for support.

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Why Does Pregnancy Cause Incontinence

During pregnancy, your body goes through a lot of physical changes. As your uterus stretches to hold the growing baby, a few things happen. Your bladder can be squished by the expanding baby, making your bladder hold less than before. You might experience an increased urgency to pee during pregnancy because your bladder cannot hold as much as before. This might become even more challenging towards the end of pregnancy when the baby is at its largest.

Another reason for incontinence during pregnancy is the weakening of your pelvic floor muscles. These muscles are the support structures for all of the organs in your pelvis. During pregnancy, they can be stretched and weakened as your uterus expands.

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