Women who have symptoms of urinary incontinence–such as urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage–already know all about the embarrassment of always looking for a bathroom or trying to avoid a leakage accident. Sadly, there are other problems associated with women’s urinary incontinence that go beyond the embarrassment. In this article, we talk about the five most common problems women with urinary incontinence face, and some simple strategies for coping.

Five Common Problems for Women with Urinary Incontinence
Because urinary incontinence is one of the least-discussed health issues, due to the embarrassment factor, women with urinary incontinence probably don’t have a clue how to cope with the five common problems associated with urinary incontinence. No one talks about it, so no one knows the answer. It’s a vicious cycle. Hopefully, this article will help shed some light on these issues, and offer common-sense solutions to cope with the situation.

1. Lack of Understanding
The fact that women with urinary incontinence are often humiliated with leakage accidents is bad enough, but the problem often goes beyond accidents themselves. The coping strategies employed by affected women are often misunderstood or even openly criticized. For instance, family members may not understand why their mother or daughter or sister, or wife always needs to go to the bathroom. Husbands may become frustrated when a women refuses to have sex because of a potential leakage accident. Even friends may become sarcastic when a women refuses to go out on “Girls’ Night Out” because she has difficulty enjoying socializing when all she can think of is how to get to the bathroom–again! Thus women with urinary incontinence often fall prey to depression and anxiety because this condition is neither socially understood nor well-tolerated.

2. Lack of Exercise and Weight Gain
Another vicious cycle perpetuated by symptoms such as urinary urgency or leakage is lack of exercise, leading to weight gain, leading to more lack of exercise. If a woman leaks urine when she exercises (or has urinary urgency and needs to run to the bathroom multiple times during an exercise class), chances are that she will stop exercising altogether. The hassle is just too much. As a result, she gains weight. Every pound of added weight above the pelvis puts more pressure on the bladder, which only increases the chance of leakage. The woman feels even less like exercising. She gains more weight, and so on and so forth. This vicious cycle can also lead to anxiety and/or depression.

3. Skin Problems
To make matters even worse, a woman who experiences frequent urinary leakage is prone to skin problems. Because the skin in the pelvic area is constantly damp due to leakage, affected women are prone to skin ulcers, rashes, or infections. Skin problems in the pelvic area can cause even sitting to be uncomfortable, never mind exercise or sex.

4. Urinary Tract Infections
Incontinence puts a woman at higher risk for urinary tract infections (UTIs) than women who are not subject to urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage. As with the skin problems, UTIs simply make affected women uncomfortable on a physical level, in addition to any mental or emotional discomfort they already experience.

5. Trouble at Work
Because women affected by urinary incontinence are reluctant to discuss their condition with their doctors, they are far less likely to discuss the condition with their bosses or co-workers. Yet symptoms like urinary urgency and frequency may cause affected women to jump up in the middle of meetings to run for the bathroom, or disrupt a conversation at the water cooler for the same reason. Co-workers may become confused and take the disruptions the wrong way. Bosses may feel that affected women are not doing their jobs. This can lead to all kinds of communication issues and trouble at work.

Five Solutions for Coping with Problems Caused by Women’s Urinary Incontinence
So what is an affected woman to do? How does she cope with these five common problems that result from urinary incontinence? We have some common sense solutions that address all of these problems. Some of these solutions are easier to achieve than others, but even the difficult ones are not impossible. In the long run, integrating some of these solutions into daily life will alleviate the stress and burden that comes with coping with symptoms of urinary incontinence. We hope affected women will take this list seriously, and use what they can. These are tried and true methods that have helped thousands of women cope with or even overcome urinary incontinence symptoms.

1. Get Educated About Women’s Urinary Incontinence
Knowledge is power. The more affected women know about urinary incontinence, the more power they will have to cope with the associated problems. There are many online resources that women can browse on the internet to discreetly add to their knowledge of this condition. Or read our book, “A Woman’s Guide to Pelvic Health,” which was written specifically so affected women can become knowledgeable while learning in the privacy of their own homes.

2. Get a Medical Diagnosis
While this is often the common sense solution that affected women have the most trouble with, having a correct medical diagnosis is the starting point of call coping and possibly cure. Here is a short list of reasons to obtain a correct medical diagnosis:

• affected women know for certain “what’s up down there”
• appropriate therapies can be recommended rather than the affected woman coping as best she can with home solutions
• physicians can write letters to employers explaining the situation, possibly defusing trouble at work
• women who bring their spouses to the appointment can educate their spouses at the same time
• physicians can recommend other resources for affected women, including support groups for weight loss, etc.

3. Follow Through on Recommended Therapies
There is no point in experiencing the embarrassment of discussing the situation with a medical professional if no action is taken afterwards. While 50% of affected women are courageous enough seek help for urinary incontinence, many then fail to follow through on recommended therapies. These therapies can include pelvic floor retraining, pelvic floor physical therapy, medication, lifestyle changes, and/or surgery. As the Nike slogan goes, “Just do it.” Once the diagnosis has been obtained, the difficult step is already complete.

4. Educate Key People
Lack of knowledge leads to lack of understanding. For affected women, this means that spouses, children, friends, and people at work may not understand what is happening and why these women behave as they do. To reduce the emotional and mental stress of this situation, affected women may wish to discuss their situation with the key people in their lives. If discussion proves too difficult, a note from the doctor may suffice. Alternately, women can suggest their friends and spouses read the book suggested above. The people who really care will take the time to listen, learn, and understand.

5. Persistence
None of these solutions work all the time for all affected women. At the same time, many of these solutions will be useful to many affected women. If you are affected by women’s urinary incontinence, your main job is to look through and try as many of these solutions as seem reasonable to you. And then keep trying until you DO find solutions that work for you. For many women, this can mean trying several conservative therapies, serially or at the same time. This might mean handing their spouses and friends a book or pamphlet to read. This might mean getting a note from their doctor to hand to their employer. All of these steps are potentially humiliating or embarrassing in the moment, yet in the long run will pay off. What’s the payoff? Freedom from worry, misunderstanding, depression, anxiety, isolation, and–best of all–symptoms of women’s urinary incontinence. It doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

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