Urinary incontinence is a common problem that affects millions of people around the world.
It is a very embarrassing ailment, so patients rarely inform their doctor about it. Since urinary incontinence is a chronic disease, its treatment is quite long, but often has great results.
So don’t wait to report this problem to your doctor! It is worth going to a specialist as soon as possible, who will accurately determine the cause and help in choosing the right treatment, and the later we see a doctor, the more difficult it will be to cure this ailment.
Symptoms and symptoms
Depending on the type of urinary incontinence, different symptoms are experienced. The main types are distinguished:
- stress incontinence
- urgency incontinence
- mixed incontinence
Stress urinary incontinence is related to the loss of urine due to a sudden increase in pressure in the bladder. The pressure in the bladder rises, for example, when you laugh or sneeze, lift something heavy, or while exercising.
Usually a small amount of urine is released, but when the bladder is full it may be that quite a large amount of fluid is released.
Urgency incontinence is when you leak urine at or shortly after you feel a sudden and intense urge to urinate. Most often, letting go occurs because, despite the signal to go to the toilet, the body reacts very quickly, unexpectedly and cannot be controlled. The need to urinate suddenly can arise in different situations, such as when you suddenly change position or when you laugh. In this case of urinary incontinence, it is quite common for the letting off to occur during sex, especially during orgasm.
This type of urinary incontinence is associated with several more symptoms. Patients also complain of an increased frequency of urination, also at night. All of these symptoms are caused by an overactive bladder.
Mixed urinary incontinence is a combination of stress urinary incontinence and urgency incontinence. This type of urinary incontinence is associated with the involuntary leakage of urine with the accompanying sensation of a sudden urge to urinate, as well as when sneezing or strenuous exercise.
Less common types of urinary incontinence are:
– Bedwetting, which is urine leakage when you sleep. This type of NTM often appears in childhood and can persist into adulthood. It can be as simple as letting go or emptying your bladder completely. During the day, the urinary continence mechanism usually works properly. Unfortunately, most often it is impossible to find out the very cause of this phenomenon.
– Continuous urinary incontinence is a symptom of constant uncontrolled leakage of urine.
– Extra-urethral incontinence is a type of NTM, when urine leakage occurs through other openings than the external opening of the urethra, i.e. through the so-called fistulas.
What causes NTM?
Depending on the type of urinary incontinence, there are different causes that cause this condition.
There are several general reasons that favor NTM. These include, among others:
- pregnancy and natural childbirth,
- obesity,
- NTM in family interview,
- older age – however, NTM is not necessarily associated with older age.
The causes of exercise-induced NTM are related to weakness or damage to the pelvic floor muscles (more commonly known as the Kegel muscles) or the bladder sphincter muscles.
Muscle damage or weakness may be caused by:
- damage during childbirth, more often natural than by caesarean section,
- increased pressure on the abdomen, for example during pregnancy or when someone is obese
- physical damage to the bladder, caused by surgery in its vicinity, e.g. during the removal of the uterus in women or the prostate in men,
- neurological conditions that affect the brain and spinal cord, such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis
- certain medications.
There are several causes of urgency incontinence:
- drinking too much alcohol or coffee, which is irritating to the lining of the bladder and is also diuretic
- too little fluid intake – in this case, the urine produced in the bladder is very concentrated, which irritates the lining of the bladder and makes it hypersensitive,
- diseases of the lower urinary tract, e.g. infections or cancer,
- neurological diseases.
In search of medical help
Urinary incontinence is a very embarrassing problem, but it is really worth asking a specialist for help. This will be the first and most important step in the fight against this ailment that makes life very difficult and causes great discomfort every day. It is also worth knowing that in the case of urinary incontinence, the symptoms do not go away by themselves, but only get worse with time, and the disease itself gets worse. Consequently, the later we see a doctor, the more difficult and longer the treatment.
Often the problem of urinary incontinence can be diagnosed by a primary care physician. In addition to the interview, he or she will order additional tests, including gynecological examination in women and rectal examination in men.
What is the treatment of urinary incontinence?
First, the doctor will ask you to change your lifestyle in order to improve your urination habits. This may include comments regarding:
- losing weight, reducing or eliminating the consumption of coffee and alcohol,
- Kegel exercises, selected and taught by a specialist,
- bladder exercises, under the supervision of a specialist, thanks to which it will be possible to predict and react in a timely manner to the upcoming drop.
It is also recommended to use hygiene products, e.g. urine-absorbing insoles or the so-called manual urinals (that is, small bottles that you can use in an emergency).
If that doesn’t work, or the type of urinary incontinence is different, your doctor may prescribe medications or electrostimulation. Surgical treatment is used in serious cases. Medicine has newer and more effective techniques at its disposal.