Pay Attention To Temporary Causes
In addition to stress incontinence being caused by certain diseases and conditions, it has been proven to be caused by a number of small or temporary causes. Drinking too much caffeine or alcohol is a huge well known bladder irritant that can cause leakage in those who already have a weak pelvic floor. Additionally, constipation is a huge temporary cause of stress incontinence. Having a urinary tract infection or mental reasons such as dealing with depression or anxiety are additional causes.
Certain medications you have been prescribed can be another possible cause of incontinence. You should look out for over-the-counter cold medications that contain antihistamines or decongestants, diuretics used to treat high blood pressure and some medications used to treat depression. If you find you are experiencing leaks after being prescribed these medications, you should go approach the concern with your Doctor.
Look Into Surgical Options
Most treatments for stress incontinence do not involve surgery and are un-invasive, however occasionally these methods do not help. Your choice to have surgery should depend on how far the condition affects your daily life and what you can cope with. In general, it is not recommended to get surgery unless your condition is very severe.
The main operations used to help stress incontinence are burch colposuspension and a tension-free vaginal tape.
Procedures that are used less often are the following:
- Bulking Agents
- Artificial Sphincters
- Anterior Vaginal Repair
It is estimated that 62% of people with stress incontinence wait a year or longer before discussing stress incontinence with a Doctor. Ensure you talk to a Doctor and find the most suitable treatment options for you. Remember that although you may be tempted to give up exercise, running does actually strengthen pelvic floor muscles and can help your incontinence problem long term.
Stress Incontinence In Womentreatments
Behavioral therapies, vaginal inserts, electrical stimulation and surgery are the three treatment options for women with stress incontinence. The objective is to rehabilitate the pelvic floor by building the strength and function of the muscles that support the bladder, urethra and other organs contained within the pelvic region.
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Here Are The Symptoms Of Urinary Incontinence That You Should Be Aware Of:
- The sudden strong urge to pass urine immediately
- Wetting the bed while sleeping
- Leakage of urine even due to minor stress, e.g. coughing, sneezing, lifting any object, etc.
If you are dealing with these signs of urinary incontinence, you need not worry too much. Through this blog, you will get to know about the effective ways to stop urinary incontinence.
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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Stress Urinary Incontinence Treatments
Your treatment for stress urinary incontinence will depend on the severity of your symptoms. Many people find that introducing pelvic floor muscles can make a significant difference. If your symptoms are still troublesome, your GP can prescribe medication along with the exercises. As a final resort there are surgical treatments available, these will only be considered if your condition is severe and is causing an impact on your daily life. Your GP or Healthcare Practitioner will be able to advise on the best route of treatment for you.
Treatment Options For Urgency Incontinence:
- Pelvic floor physical therapy This therapy helps to retrain the bladder.
- Medications A range of medications can help you hold your bladder for longer and decrease your urinary frequency symptoms.
- Botox injections in the bladder Botox relaxes the wall of your bladder in order to prevent it from contracting when it’s not supposed to.
- Peripheral nerve stimulation This treatment uses a needle to stimulate a nerve in your foot that travels up the leg to the spine, where it connects with the bladder and calms it down.
- Sacral neural modulation In this outpatient surgical procedure, a bladder pacemaker is implanted to help control how the bladder is stimulated by the sacral nerve.
“Regardless of which type of incontinence you’re experiencing, it’s important to get evaluated simply because there are so many options for treating urinary incontinence,” says Dr. Lindo. “We always start with conservative treatment approaches, but if those don’t work, you don’t have to continue to suffer. We can help to improve your quality of life.”
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What Should I Do After My Surgery To Treat Stress Urinary Incontinence
- Continue with annual check-ups and follow-up care, notifying your health care provider if complications develop, such as persistent vaginal bleeding or discharge, pelvic or groin pain, or pain during sexual intercourse. There is no need to take additional action if you are satisfied with your surgery and are not having complications or symptoms.
- If you have complications or other symptoms:
- Discuss complications and treatment options with your health care provider. Only your health care provider can give you personalized medical advice.
- Consider getting a second opinion from a surgeon who specializes in female pelvic reconstruction if you are not satisfied with your discussion with your health care provider.
An Unexpected Benefit Of Vaginal Rejuvenation
Vaginal rejuvenation, tightening the stretched, lax vaginal musculature offers many benefits. Hands down, the most surprising reward from this surgery is a reduction, or in some cases, an elimination of urinary stress inconstancy. As the vaginal muscles are tightened, the healthier tissues can then better support the bladder and urethra. This can significantly improve stress incontinence, allowing a woman to cough, sneeze, and laugh her heart out without the worry of urinary leakage. Of course, women who are suffering from urinary incontinence should consult with their physician to determine the best course of action for long-term improvements.
Help for Stress Incontinence in Houston
A vaginoplasty not only enhances intimate relationships, but the outpatient procedure can also give a woman back her confidence, dignity, and self-esteem, making her feel like her old self once again. The big question is, can a vaginal rejuvenation procedure change your life, too?To find out if a vaginoplasty is the right technique for your needs, reach out to Houstons Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery. Call our office, at 281.617.1838. We will answer all of your questions and assist in scheduling your vaginal rejuvenation consultation with Dr. Paul Vitenas.
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How Is Urinary Incontinence Diagnosed
Your local doctor or GP will most likely:
- ask you questions about the history of your health
- examine your body
- ask you to cough, push down or tighten your pelvic muscles.
They may ask you to keep a bladder diary to work out what type of urinary incontinence you have. This means recording things such as how much fluid you drink, how many times you go to the toilet and when you leak. They may send you for urodynamic testing to try to work out what is causing your incontinence. This involves putting small tubes into your bladder and back passage and monitoring how your bladder responds when it is filled with water.
How To Do Kegels To Prevent Incontinence
To get started: Find the right muscles. To identify your pelvic floor muscles, stop urination in midstream. Perfect your technique. To do Kegels, imagine you are sitting on a marble and tighten your pelvic muscles as if youre lifting the marble. Maintain your focus. For best results, focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles. Repeat three times a day.
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Regaining Strength And Confidence With Physical Therapy
Devon was playing with her three children one day in 2015 when she felt dampness in her underwear.
It felt like I was starting my period, but since I had a hysterectomy three months earlier, I knew that couldnt be it, Devon, 36, said. So I went to the bathroom and saw that I had a wet spot. It was only a little bit of urine, but enough that I knew it wasnt normal.
Her leakages increased over time, so Devon started wearing panty liners more often. She says its difficult for her to pinpoint exactly when the incontinence began affecting her sex life: She was having other issues, including pain, related to her hysterectomy. Less than a year after that surgery, Devon had a mesh sling implanted to fix her prolapsed bladder.
Everything kind of worked together to affect sex, Devon explained. It wasnt every time, but it was often enough. I would urinate a little during penetration, but it didnt feel so much like urinating as just a release. I dont think my husband ever noticed, he never said anything. I just knew I was more lubricated than usual.
Because of the pain and incontinence, Devon avoided sex. She didnt say anything to anyone for a while because, after two surgeries in one year, she felt overwhelmed. She assumed both issues would go away on their own. They didnt.
How To Manage Stress Incontinence When Running
Although experiencing leaks whilst running may feel embarrassing, you should know that you are not alone in experiencing the condition. These accidents are often symptoms of the most common cause of incontinence: Stress Incontinence.
Stress incontinence is a condition where urine leaks from your bladder when it is under pressure from for example running, lifting heavy objects, or through activities such as coughing and laughing.
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Drinking Just Enough Water
It is a common error to begin to restrict your fluids in a goal to prevent or minimize the leakage. This actually will make you more prone to leaking because your urine will be too acidic. It can take a little trial and error to find the ideal fluid balance for yourself.
It is ideal to drink 16 ounces of water 2 hours before you run as your body will then be hydrated and also allow you to urinate what is not needed prior to your run. This can be hard to do if you are an early morning runner . In this case, you play around with your morning fluids to learn your tipping point. And as always, its a great goal to drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily. Hydrating properly is a great long term practice.
Coordinating Your Breathing With A Kegel Contraction
This is the most challenging thing for most women I see. When you are practicing your Kegels, it is key you coordinate them in synergy with your breath. Why is this so important? Because your breathing diaphragm and pelvic diaphragm move together like a piston- they go up together and down together. Thus your inhale will relax the pelvic muscles, and the exhale will contract them. Practicing your pelvic floor exercises in this manner is an important way to train you to stay dry during high impact activities.
A good way to begin practicing is in a lying position. Imagine a blueberry sitting right at the entrance of your vagina. As you exhale, imagine picking up the blueberry with your pelvic muscles and lifting it up towards your belly button.
Equally important, as you inhale, lower the blueberry all the way back to where it started as you fully relax your muscles. Try doing this 20 times in a row three times a day! Then try doing the same thing in both sitting and standing.
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Peeing During Sex Is Stressful But These Treatments Help
A loss of bladder control during sex is a secret many women dont discuss, even with their doctors. But theres no need to endure in silence.
Not long after her first son was born in 2005, Elizabeth began experiencing periodic incontinence, or involuntary urination.
The stress of always worrying if shed leak took its toll, and Elizabeth became depressed and anxious, particularly about sex.
I definitely limited sex, said Elizabeth, 41. I was always damp down there, and sexy, she told Healthline. There were all these accommodations and obstacles. I would never be on top because of the risk of urinating on my husband, and I was very reluctant to have sober sex. It was easier to have a few drinks and have sex because I was less inhibited, and if I did leak, I could blame it on being buzzed.
Elizabeth says she never had a gushing episode during sex, but the fear of leaking became an insidious worry.
A lactation consultant had told me that I needed to urinate before and after sex to avoid a urinary tract infection. But then Id think I was going to leak again, and Id have to go one more time. Leading up to orgasm can mimic the need to go, and that inhibited me so much, because I knew I had problems holding in my urine, Elizabeth recalled.
Elizabeth isnt alone. The Mayo Clinic estimates nearly 20 million Americans have urinary incontinence, and of them, 85 percent are women.
What Steps Can I Take At Home To Treat Urinary Incontinence
Your doctor or nurse may suggest some things you can do at home to help treat urinary incontinence. Some people do not think that such simple actions can treat urinary incontinence. But for many women, these steps make urinary incontinence go away entirely, or help leak less urine. These steps may include:
You can also buy pads or protective underwear while you take other steps to treat urinary incontinence. These are sold in many stores that also sell feminine hygiene products like tampons and pads.
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Improve Your Quality Of Life With Urinary Incontinence Care
If youve ever found yourself passing up an opportunity to go out with friends, go for walk in the park with your kids or take a long road trip because of your overactive bladder or urinary incontinence, youre not alone.Over 25 million adults in the United States are dealing with the same issue, but youll most likely never hear anyone talk about it. Fear of embarrassment leads to hiding the problem or working around it, and most people wait an average of six years before finally seeking treatment. However, working with your doctor to find a solution can help you live a full, happy and active life without the dreaded fear of an unpredictable bladder accident.Urinary incontinence is a very common problem, especially among women, who represent 80 percent of the people suffering with the condition, said Marisa Clifton, M.D., a urologist at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. The good news is that there are fairly simple solutions that can make a big difference quickly.The common causes of urinary incontinenceUnderstanding what causes your incontinence is the first step in identifying a treatment that will help. Urinary incontinence falls into four general categories:
- Stress incontinence is very common. It is leakage that occurs when there is added pressure on the bladder such as when you laugh, cough, sneeze or lift heavy objects.
How Do I Do Kegel Exercises
Kegel exercises are a simple way to build strength in your pelvic floor muscles. These exercises are done by lifting, holding and then relaxing your pelvic floor muscles. You can find these muscles by stopping the flow of urine mid-stream while youre urinating. Only do this until you learn how to find the muscles stopping the flow of urine mid-stream isnt healthy over a long period of time.
When youre doing Kegel exercises, start small. Only hold it for a few second. Over time you can slowly work your way up to longer and longer stretches of holding the muscles tight.
Unlike other types of workouts, no one can tell when youre doing Kegel exercises. Aim to do several sets of Kegel exercises twice a day.
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Unsupervised Pelvic Floor Training
As we saw above, unsupervised pelvic floor muscle training is not the recommended best approach for treating stress incontinence, but for some women it can still be very effective.
Importantly, if you do not see an improvement in your symptoms, or your symptoms worsen, I would recommend you take a break from your home exercise efforts and seek out the guidance of a pelvic health physiotherapist. If you suffer from mild to moderate stress incontinence there is still an excellent chance that appropriate cueing and strengthening can significantly reduce or eliminate your symptoms.
Here are some of pelvic floor strengthening tools pulled directly from the toolbox of pelvic floor physiotherapists that can help you stop stress incontinence:
KEGELS
How to stop stress incontinence with Kegels:
KEGEL DEVICES
Vaginal weights
Vaginal contraction trainers
KEGEL APPS
