What is Urinary Incontinence?
Urinary Incontinence is a term used to describe the condition where you lose control over your bladder. As a result, you may experience minor or severe urine leakage. Kidney problems and pregnancy are the most common reason behind urinary incontinence.
Men can also experience urinary incontinence. However, women may experience it more than men. This problem can affect your daily routine by landing you in awkward situations. Thus, if you are experiencing leakage, it is best to consult a urologist and get yourself treated.
What Are the Types of Urinary Incontinence?
There are three general types of urinary incontinence:
Stress incontinence: Results in leakage during activities like coughing and lifting.
Urge incontinence: The sudden urge to urinate hits you, and you might not make it to the restroom mostly.
Overflow incontinence: In this case, you are not able to empty your bladder completely. Thus, it results in minor leakage later.
What Are the Symptoms of Urinary Incontinence?
Some common symptoms of Urinary Incontinence include:
Experience leakage during normal activities like coughing, sneezing, or laughing.
Sudden urges to use the bathroom.
Minor urine leakage without any reason.
Feeling the urge to urinate in the middle of the night, often resulting in wetting the bed.
What Are the Causes of Urinary Incontinence?
Some of the common reasons for having urinary incontinence include:
Age Factor:
The muscles in the bladder tend to weaken with age. As a result, the bladder is no longer capable of storing urine for a long time.
Disorders:
Some disorders or health problems like stroke, Parkinson’s disease, spinal injuries and tumors result in Urinary Incontinence.
Pregnancy:
The female body expands due to baby’s growth which may result in increased pressure on the bladder. Thus, some women experience stress incontinence during pregnancy.
Menopause:
When women are in the phase of menopause, their levels of estrogen drop. Since this hormone is responsible for keeping your bladder healthy when its levels drop, you experience urinary incontinence.
Enlarged Prostate:
Enlargement of the prostate, also known as benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, is a common reason why men experience urine leakage. It is a common disease in older men and results in limiting the flow of urine.
Cancer:
Whether it is prostate cancer or bladder cancer, it can result in urinary incontinence. Moreover, side effects of cancer treatments can also result in having less control over your bladder.
How is Urinary Incontinence diagnosed?
Your doctor will conduct a thorough physical exam and check your history to determine the cause of your urine leakage. Then, they may ask you to do simple things like coughing or lifting an object. In case of an issue, the doctor may proceed with the following ways to diagnose urinary incontinence:
Urinalysis
Bladder diary
Post Void Residual (PVR) measurement
Pelvic ultrasound
Cystogram
Cystoscopy
Stress Test
Urodynamic Testing
How is Urinary Incontinence Treated?
Your urologist will suggest you one of the following treatments depending on the cause and type of your Urinary Incontinence:
Medications:
There are many types of medications used to make the bladder function normally. Depending on the cause, these medications can be used to relax the bladder muscle or calm overactive bladder. Some common medications are:
Mirabegron (Myrbetriq®)
Alpha-blockers
Anticholinergics like Tolterodine (Detrol®), Solifenacin (Vesicare®), etc.
Behavioral Techniques:
Your doctor will recommend certain behavioral techniques to treat Urinary Incontinence like:
Delaying urination to train your bladder after you feel the urge to urinate.
Double voiding, which means you urinate, wait a few minutes, then urinate again.
Setting a schedule of going to the bathroom whether you feel the urge to urinate or not.
Surgeries:
In case of no response from other treatments, doctors might suggest surgery. Some surgical procedures to treat Urinary incontinence are:
Prolapse Surgery.
Sling Procedure.
Bladder neck suspension.
Medical Devices:
Urethral insert, pessary and Radiofrequency therapy are some medical devices or methods that may be able to help women with urinary incontinence.
If after following the treatment regimen prescribed by your doctor your urine leakage persists, you must consider seeing the best urologist in Lahore.