Urinary Incontinence
What is Urinary Incontinence?
Urinary incontinence is the loss of normal control of the bladder and involuntary loss of urine.
Urinary incontinence is more common in women than in men. Older women experience urinary incontinence more often than younger women. The probable cause for the higher incidence in women can be attributed to pregnancy and childbirth, menopause and the structure of the female urinary tract.
Individuals with urinary incontinence may experience strong, sudden, urgent and uncontrollable need to urinate, frequent urination and also involuntary loss of urine.
Urinary Incontinence may be caused by any of these factors:
- Weak muscles in the lower urinary tract
- Problems either in the urinary tract or in the nerves that control urination
- Physiological statuses such as pregnancy, childbirth, weight gain or other conditions that stretch pelvic floor muscles
- Overactive bladder muscle
- Urinary tract infection
- Constipation
- Bladder cancer or bladder stones
- Blockage within the urinary tract
- Removal of the uterus (Hysterectomy)
- Neurological disorders
Urinary incontinence can be categorised into five basic types depending on the symptoms:
- Stress Incontinence
- Urge Incontinence
- Overflow Incontinence
- Functional Incontinence
- Mixed Incontinence
Stress Incontinence
Leakage of small amounts of urine during physical movement such as coughing, sneezing, lifting heavy objects, and straining that suddenly increases the pressure within the abdomen. This occurs due to weakness of the urinary sphincter.
Urge Incontinence
Leakage of urine accompanied by a sudden urge to void that cannot be controlled. This occurs due to uncontrolled contractions of the bladder muscles when they should be relaxed.
Overflow Incontinence
Uncontrollable leakage of small amounts of urine because of an overfilled bladder that cannot hold any more.
Functional Incontinence
This refers to urine loss resulting from the inability to get to a toilet.
Mixed Incontinence
Mixed incontinence is the presence of two or more types of incontinence in an individual. Most commonly, urge and stress incontinence occur together.
Symptoms remain the mainstay of diagnosis and additional tests may be ordered to identify and confirm the cause for incontinence.
These tests include
- a bladder stress test,
- urinalysis and urine culture,
- ultrasound diagnosis,
- cystoscopy and
- urodynamics.
Treatment depends on the cause, sex and severity of incontinence. Treatment options include
- medications,
- injections,
- vaginal devices and
- behavioural therapy that include pelvic muscle exercises, bladder retraining, electrical stimulation and catheterisation.
If these conservative treatment measures fail to treat your condition your physician may recommend surgical procedures such as
- urethral sling and
- colposuspension.
