Urinary Incontinence

What is urinary incontinence?

Loss of bladder control that causes involuntary bladder leakage is urinary incontinence. If you have this condition, you are often unable to hold urine until you reach a bathroom, which can cause embarrassing accidents. Urinary incontinence sometimes happens after pregnancy or as you get older. 

When your urinary sphincter — the muscle that allows you to hold or release urine — weakens, you experience urinary incontinence in one way or another, as there are several different types. Some women have to urinate frequently during the night, which disrupts their sleep. Other women have a leaky bladder, and others get a sudden and immediate urge to use the bathroom. 

What are the different types of urinary incontinence?

There are a few different types of urinary incontinence, including:

• Urge incontinence (overactive bladder)
• Stress incontinence
• Overflow incontinence
• Functional incontinence
• Mixed incontinence

Two of the most common types of urinary incontinence are stress incontinence and overactive bladder. Some women experience both of these at the same time. 

Stress incontinence is when you leak a small amount of urine when you laugh, cough, or exert yourself during exercise. Urge incontinence gives you a sudden urge to use the toilet, followed by uncontrollable urine loss. Urge incontinence may also make you use the bathroom an excessive number of times both day and night. 

What is the treatment for urinary incontinence?

Getting to the underlying causes of your incontinence is vital in finding an effective treatment plan. The practice offers urodynamic studies to test how well your bladder, sphincters, and urethra are able to hold and release urine. The tests can show where and why you could be experiencing urine leakage or blockages. 

Depending on the underlying cause of your urinary incontinence, your provider may recommend the most conservative treatments first, including:

• Bladder training
• Pelvic muscle exercises (Kegels)
• Medications 

If your condition doesn’t respond to these treatments, your provider at Advanced Women’s Health Specialists may recommend InterStim® therapy. InterStim is often helpful at treating overactive bladder syndrome through sacral nerve stimulation.

InterStim therapy is a reversible therapy that can be effective at reducing symptoms of several types of urinary incontinence. It uses an implantable device to send mild electrical pulses to the nerves in your sacrum, near your tailbone. These nerves control the bladder and muscles related to urinary function. 

If you regularly experience urinary incontinence after having a baby or as you’re getting older, know that it’s not a problem you simply have to live with and allow to disrupt your life. There are solutions to help you regain control.

Call the Advanced Women’s Health Specialists office near you to schedule a consultation or use the convenient online booking tool.