Contents
Urinary incontinence is one of the most common and troublesome problems in women, including young women. For many of them, this is a taboo subject that they feel uncomfortable talking to with their GP and other women. What is urinary incontinence, what are its causes, and why is it worth talking about?
What are the types of urinary incontinence
Statistics show that women, much more often than men, go to preventive examinations and are more aware of the need to take care of their health from an early age. Usually they willingly talk about their health problems with doctors, pharmacists or relatives. It turns out that one of the exceptions is urinary incontinence (i.e. incontinence), which is still taboo. This disease affects women twice as often, especially after the age of 40, during menopause, but also during pregnancy and after childbirth.
Urinary incontinence comes in several forms:
- stress urinary incontinence – this occurs mainly when sneezing, coughing, laughing and exercising. The woman then passes uncontrolled larger or smaller portions of urine without feeling any pressure on the bladder,
- urgent urinary incontinence – this is a leak of urine preceded by a feeling of urgency (a sudden, unmanageable urge to urinate)
- mixed urinary incontinence – a combination of stress urinary incontinence and urgency.
Causes of urinary incontinence
There are many causes of urinary incontinence. It turns out that the problem is quite complex, as it may involve not only the physical sphere, but also the mental one and lifestyle.
Past illnesses have a great influence on the development of the disease. I am talking here primarily about diabetes, overweight, recurrent infections of the genitourinary system, diseases with a neurological background (e.g. depression) and genetic factors. Incontinence occurs both during pregnancy and after childbirth, more often in women who gave birth by force of nature – it causes damage to the pelvic floor, weakening of the muscles that build the urethra and the Kegel muscles. The problem often appears in menopausal women, which is directly related to endocrine disruption and weakening of the pelvic floor muscles with age.
Interestingly, both too little and too much physical activity predispose to the development of urinary incontinence problems. As are smoking, alcohol abuse, prolonged states of stress and anxiety, life in a hurry, and poor intimate hygiene (or lack thereof, which is conducive to infection).
How do I talk about urinary incontinence?
Research confirms that the main reasons why patients did not report urinary incontinence to their doctor were: shame (33%), lack of knowledge about treatment options (28%) and the belief that HM is a normal consequence of childbirth and aging (23%). Patients still feel a great deal of shame before telling their doctor about urinary incontinence (similar to men and prostate problems). Underestimating the symptoms and not treating them only worsens the symptoms with time.
That’s why talking to your doctor is so important. This is a topic that you should raise, for example, during your next visit to your GP. In the case of more advanced problems, it is recommended to consult a specialist urologist or urologist.
Urinary incontinence is not a natural consequence of aging. It is also not a natural consequence of pregnancy or natural childbirth. It can be effectively limited or completely removed. Especially that one of the consequences of this disease are problems with maintaining hygiene and unpleasant smell, which often prevents women from, e.g. group exercises in the gym, dancing or cycling.
Treatment of urinary incontinence
Initially, therapy is limited to diet modification and lifestyle changes. It is important to eliminate diuretics from the diet and to change the amount of fluids consumed. You should provide the body with the necessary ingredients for the proper functioning of the urinary bladder and urinary tract, such as pumpkin seed extract, horsetail herb extract, bearberry leaf extract. It is also very important to prevent urinary tract infections, maintain a proper body weight, and avoid stimulants (alcohol, nicotine).
The second important element in the treatment of urinary incontinence are appropriate exercises to support the pelvic floor muscles (the so-called Kegel exercises). Kegel activation can be done even in the workplace, because the exercises are completely invisible to third parties. On the web you can find guides for women with urinary incontinence, which show step by step how to perform Kegel exercises. After a few weeks of regular training, the muscles of the reproductive tract, urethra and bladder are significantly strengthened.