Female Urinary Incontinence and its Treatment – Let’s Talk About it!

261

Female urinary incontinence can be a very sensitive subject that many sufferers really don’t like to talk about. The reason being is they feel embarrassed and shy about the condition. Well, there’s no need to be and if you do open up and talk about it, you’ll discover just how common it really is and that professional help in solving the issue is readily available.

Let’s take a closer look at the problem of female incontinence, what it is, what causes it and what treatment options are available to relieve the condition and get on with life.

What Is Female Incontinence?

Female incontinence is very common. Incontinence is where a woman loses some control of her bladder and it leaks urine unexpectedly. It’s a condition that both men and women can suffer from, but it’s more prevalent in women. Older women are more prone to incontinence issues than younger women, but females of any age can encounter the problem. Up to 50% of women over the age of 60 experience incontinence.

There is said to be 5 types of incontinence in women and they are:

  1. Stress incontinence – Urine leaks due to something sudden like a sneeze or a cough
  2. Urge incontinence – An extreme and sudden urge to urinate, leaving you little time to make it to the bathroom
  3. Overflow incontinence – A bladder that doesn’t completely empty and continues to leak or dribble
  4. Urinary frequency – The need to urinate more often than normal
  5. An overactive bladder – A combination of urinary urge and frequency

What Causes Incontinence In Women?

Let’s take a look at what causes incontinence in women.

Incontinence can occur after childbirth, as this can stretch the pelvic muscles. With stretched muscles, a loss of bladder control can result.

As women age, the pelvic muscles can become weaker. Weak pelvic muscles won’t effectively drain the bladder or close off the urethra when it’s not time to use the bathroom. The result can be unanticipated urine leakage.

If you’re suffering from a urinary tract infection, this can sometimes lead to having problems with incontinence. Even the medications used to treat a UTI can cause temporary incontinence, as too can constipation.

Following a surgical procedure, such as a hysterectomy, it can affect the pelvic muscles and urinary tract, leading to incontinence issues.

No matter what the cause of incontinence may be, it’s not something you just have to put up with and endure. The condition can be resolved so you can live a more normal lifestyle without the embarrassment or inconvenience.

How Can Female Incontinence Be Effectively Treated?

If the cause of incontinence is weak or stretched pelvic muscles, then some simple exercises can provide an effective solution. Once a woman has strengthened those pelvic floor muscles sufficiently, incontinence will generally resolve. The reason being is these muscles will increase support around the pelvic organs, as well as tightening the urinary sphincter.

Pelvic floor training is one of the best methods of curing incontinence and leaking issues, provided the root cause of incontinence is pelvic muscle related.

Sometimes, surgery is required to correct an issue that’s causing incontinence in a female. For example, suburethral sling surgery provides a cure rate of up to 85% for select conditions. The sling helps to support the urethra. This, in turn, helps to prevent the leakage of urine during exercise or straining.

If your incontinence problem cannot be resolved from pelvic exercises alone, then suburethral sling surgery is something you’ll want to discuss with your healthcare professional.

Where To Find Help for Incontinence

The best medical professional to help you resolve any issues with incontinence is a urologist. To locate a good urologist in your area, just go online and search for one. For example, for women in Sydney, try the following search phrases in Google:

Female urinary incontinence treatment Sydney

  • Treatment for incontinence Sydney
  • Sydney urologists
  • Urologists in Sydney
  • Where to find urologists near me
  • And so on…

Just change the word Sydney to your location.

The Wrap

There’s really no need for women to endure incontinence. Help is available and the problem can almost always be resolved with professional assistance and advice. If you have incontinence, talk to your doctor or urologist today.

businessnewsday.com