Common Causes Of Urinary Incontinence

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.

How Soon After Starting Kegel Exercises Will Urinary Incontinence Get Better

It may take 4 to 6 weeks before you notice any improvement in your symptoms.10

Kegel exercises work differently for each person. Your symptoms may go away totally, you may notice an improvement in your symptoms but still have some leakage, or you may not see any improvement at all. But even if your symptoms dont get better, Kegel exercises can help prevent your incontinence from getting worse.

You may need to continue doing Kegel exercises for the rest of your life. Even if your symptoms improve, urinary incontinence can come back if you stop doing the exercises.

Surgical Treatments For Ui

Bladder control surgery to treat stress incontinence is available and works by giving more support to the urethra. The support keeps you from leaking when pressure is put on your bladder or your urethra, putting you in control of when its time to go. There are also procedures available to treat urge incontinence.

Our doctors will help to decide if a procedure or surgery is the best option for you and will walk you through how it works as well as answer any questions you may have.

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What To Think About

Many men who have urge incontinence or overflow incontinence also have an enlarged prostate gland . They may want to talk to a doctor about medicine, surgery, or other treatment to relieve their symptoms. For more information, see the topic Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia .

Urinary incontinence can be a problem following treatment for prostate cancer, including radiation therapy and removal of the prostate.

Treatment will be different for men who have total incontinence or who cannot comply with or tolerate specific treatments because of a serious illness or disease.

Why Am I Leaking Urine All Of A Sudden What Causes Female Urinary Incontinence Can Uti Cause Urine Leakage

• Why am I leaking urine all of a sudden? What causes female urinary incontinence? Can UTI cause urine leakage?

Sudden onset of incontinence, or urine leakage, should always warrant a trip to the doctor. There are several different causes of urine leakage and itâs important to identify prior to any treatment being initiated. The more common types of incontinence in women are stress urinary incontinence and urgency urinary incontinence.

Stress urinary incontinence is caused by a weakness in the sphincter muscle of the urethra , a highly mobile urethra, or both. A highly mobile urethra is seen when the pelvic floor tissues are weak and relaxed. Women will experience leakage of urine with activity, such as coughing, laughing, sneezing, and exercising. The most common risk factor for stress urinary incontinence is having a history of a vaginal childbirth, but it can occur in anyone due to other factors such as muscle strength and activity level. For example, women who do very heavy weightlifting may experience stress urinary incontinence while lifting heavy weights, but if they never did such activities, they might not experience incontinence.

Many people have mixed incontinence, with symptoms of both stress urinary incontinence and urgency urinary incontinence causing urine leakage. In this situation the urologist would typically address the type of incontinence that is most impacting your quality of life first, as the treatments are quite different.

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Things You Can Buy To Help

If you find that you still have trouble throughout the night, it might be time for some professional help. We can examine you and prescribe medication to help you release all your urine prior to bed. We can also prescribe medication to relax your bladder compressions. If you are wetting the bed, a bedwetting alarm will wake you up at the first drop so you can hop out of bed and head to the bathroom.

If you still have trouble, its time to take a deep breath and, without feeling ashamed because you are not alone, purchase a plastic mattress cover and urinary incontinence briefs or pads. Dont be embarrassed. Millions of Americans suffer from urinary incontinence. Its normal for us to lose control of our bladders as we age and these products protect our mattresses and night clothing from urination.

Eagles Landing OB/GYN would be happy to discuss your concerns over urinary incontinence. Call our medical facility in Stockbridge, GA, at 770-474-1919 to set up an appointment with one of our medical professionals. Well help you stay dry throughout the day and at night.

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When To Seek Medical Help

Any instance of incontinence is reason to seek medical help. It may be a symptom of a more serious condition that needs to be treated.

Even if the underlying cause isnt serious, incontinence can be a major disruption in your life. Its important to get an accurate diagnosis and discuss treatment options with a healthcare professional.

In some cases, incontinence can be a sign of a medical emergency.

You should seek immediate medical attention if you lose control of your bladder and experience any of the following symptoms:

• trouble speaking or walking

Urinary incontinence and treatment for urinary incontinence may result in complications, depending on the cause.

These complications may include:

• Urinary tract infections. UTIs can be caused by wet undergarments against the skin. This may create an environment where bacteria can grow.
• Kidney damage. In some cases where the flow of urine is obstructed, you may experience kidney trouble or kidney failure.
• Cellulitis. This skin infection is caused by bacteria and may cause swelling and pain.
• Medication side effects. Medications used to control urinary incontinence may cause side effects, depending on the medication. Side effects may include dry mouth, nausea, hypertension, or others.
• Catheter side effects. If you have a catheter placed, you may experience side effects such as infection and trauma.
• Mental health side effects. Urinary incontinence may cause feelings of anxiety, depression, or social isolation.

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Will I Have Incontinence For My Entire Life

Sometimes incontinence is a short-term issue that will go away once the cause ends. This is often the case when you have a condition like a urinary tract infection . Once treated, frequent urination and leakage problems caused by a UTI typically end. This is also true for some women who experience bladder control issues during pregnancy. For many, the issues end in the weeks after delivery. However, other causes of incontinence are long-term and related to conditions that are managed throughout your life. If you have a chronic condition like diabetes or multiple sclerosis, you may have incontinence for a long period of time. In those cases, its important to talk to your provider about the best ways to manage your incontinence so that it doesnt interfere with your life.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

It can be embarrassing to talk about bathroom habits with your healthcare provider. This embarrassment shouldnt stop you from treating incontinence, though. Often, your healthcare provider can help figure out the cause of your bladder control issue and help make it better. You dont need to deal with it alone. Talk to your healthcare provider about the best ways to treat incontinence so that you can lead a full and active life without worrying about leakage.

How Is Urinary Incontinence Diagnosed

For people with urinary incontinence, it is important to consult a health care provider. In many cases, patients will then be referred to an urogynecologist or urologist, a doctor who specializes in diseases of the urinary tract. Urinary incontinence is diagnosed with a complete physical examination that focuses on the urinary and nervous systems, reproductive organs, and urine samples.

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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:

• 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 .

What Causes Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is not an inevitable result of aging, but it is particularly common in older people. It is often caused by specific changes in body function that may result from diseases, use of medications and/or the onset of an illness. Sometimes it is the first and only symptom of a urinary tract infection. Women are most likely to develop urinary incontinence during pregnancy and after childbirth, or after the hormonal changes of menopause.

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What Is The Most Common Cause Of Urge Incontinence

What causes urge incontinence? Most people with urge incontinence have overactive bladders. Your bladder is the organ in your urinary system that holds urine. An overactive bladder causes your muscles in your bladder to squeeze more often than they should.

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Causes Of Stress Incontinence

Stress incontinence is when the pressure inside your bladder as it fills with urine becomes greater than the strength of your urethra to stay closed. Your urethra is the tube that urine passes through to leave the body.

Any sudden extra pressure on your bladder, such as laughing or sneezing, can cause urine to leak out of your urethra if you have stress incontinence.

Your urethra may not be able to stay closed if the muscles in your pelvis are weak or damaged, or if your urethral sphincter the ring of muscle that keeps the urethra closed is damaged.

Problems with these muscles may be caused by:

• damage during childbirth particularly if your baby was born vaginally, rather than by caesarean section
• increased pressure on your tummy for example, because you are pregnant or obese
• damage to the bladder or nearby area during surgery such as the removal of the womb , or removal of the prostate gland
• neurological conditions that affect the brain and spinal cord, such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis
• certain connective tissue disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• certain medicines

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Urinary Incontinence In Men

Urinary incontinence is not purely a womens issue. Statistics may indicate that this condition affects women more often, but it is a symptom that affects millions of men around the world.

Sometimes, stress incontinence and urge incontinence are related to prostate hyperplasia or its treatments.

Of course, many male patients who have undergone definitive prostatectomy or cystectomy experience the problem of urinary incontinence. In particular, according to a study published in the journal of the American Medical Association, urinary incontinence after removal of the prostate can last from a few weeks to 18 months.

In addition, nocturnal enuresis is a phenomenon that particularly concerns men after 45 years. It is most often due to hormonal changes, benign prostatic hyperplasia and heart disease. However, because some elderly men are unable to wake up, even when there is an urgent need to urinate, due to various poreparations, they urinate in their bed, hence the term urinary incontinence.

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How Do You Treat Urinary Incontinence

Approximately 80% of people with urinary incontinence can eliminate or significantly improve their symptoms with the appropriate treatment.

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Forms Of Urinary Incontinence That Affect Men Only

• Benign prostatic hyperplasia affects about 50 percent of men over the age of 60, and 90 percent over the age of 85 an enlarged prostate can cause sudden and frequent urges to urinate.
• Peyronies disease is the result of injury or damage to penile tissue, causing an abnormal curvature.
• Painful inflammation of the prostate gland

What Are The Symptoms Of Urinary Incontinence

The following are common symptoms of urinary incontinence. However, each individual may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:

• Needing to rush to the restroom and/or losing urine if you do not get to the restroom in time

• Urine leakage with movements or exercise

• Leakage of urine that prevents activities

• Urine leakage with coughing, sneezing or laughing

• Leakage of urine that began or continued after surgery

• Leakage of urine that causes embarrassment

• Constant feeling of wetness without sensation of urine leakage

• Feeling of incomplete bladder emptying

The symptoms of urinary incontinence may resemble other conditions or medical problems. Always consult your doctor for a diagnosis.

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The Most Common Reasons For Urinary Incontinence In Males

When you leak urine, its a sign that something isnt working as it should be. For instance, your bladder may not signal when its full or might squeeze too hard, creating excess leakage. Alternatively, it might be problems with your urethrathe tube that leads urine from your bladder to outside your body causing the issue.

Bladder control problems may seem inevitable, but something specific and controllable is responsible for bladder leakage for many men. We outline some of the top causes of UI to help you figure out what might be to blame for your leaky bladder. Only then can you create a game plan aimed at correcting whats going on in your body.

Finding Help For Male Incontinence Starts With You

Learning how to treat male incontinence starts by taking care of yourself as you age. Men in different stages of life are prone to certain health issues that can be prevented if you are proactive now. Know how to take charge of your own health with our Mens Guide to Healthy Aging.

This blog post was originally published in 2015 and was refreshed in 2020.

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Duration Of Urinary Incontinence

Most cases of UI are chronic, and will remain so until treated. Depending on the cause, however, not all UI cases are chronic. If the cause is temporary, such as a vaginal infection or a urinary tract infection, the UI will stop once the issue is addressed.

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When To See Your Doctor

Itâs time to get things checked out if:

• You have to go to the bathroom a lot more than usual, and often canât hold in your urine until you get to the toilet
• You leak when you sneeze, cough, or even stand up
• You leak at random times, even if you didnât cough or sneeze
• You feel like your bladder still has urine in it, even after you go
• Your stream of urine is weak
• You have to strain when you urinate
• It hurts to urinate
• You feel pressure in your lower abdomen

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Causes Of Total Incontinence

Total incontinence is when your bladder cannot store any urine at all. It can mean you either pass large amounts of urine constantly, or you pass urine occasionally with frequent leaking in between.

Total incontinence can be caused by:

• a problem with your bladder from birth
• injury to your spinal cord this can disrupt the nerve signals between your brain and your bladder

Three Common Causes Of Urinary Incontinence In Women

Urinary incontinence is a condition where the urinary bladder muscle loses its control due to many factors. This results in the sudden release of urine during forceful activities such as coughing, sneezing, or straining.

Although this condition commonly happens due to aging, some women are also prone to experiencing this due to certain factors. This article will discuss the three common causes of urinary incontinence in women and how they happen.

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Causes Of Urinary Incontinence In Men

Urinary incontinence means accidentally leaking urine. This condition is much more common in women because it can result from pregnancy and birth. However, a survey done by the Urologic Diseases in America Project, found that up to 17% of men may suffer from urinary incontinence.

Urinary incontinence in men increases with age but can also be caused by prostate problems, diseases that affect the nervous system, and injuries. There are three basic types of incontinence:

• Stress incontinence. This occurs when the pressure inside your bladder increases from doing things like lifting, coughing, or sneezing. The increased pressure can cause urine to leak.

• Urge incontinence. This occurs when the need to urinate is so strong that you can’t control it.

• Overflow incontinence. This occurs when urine dribbles or leaks out in small amounts and can happen even when you don’t feel the need to urinate.