Urinary Incontinence: 3 Steps to Prepare for Your Doctor’s Appointment

by General Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

The big day is just around the corner: your doctor’s appointment to evaluate and discuss treatment options for your urinary incontinence. Now that you have actually worked up the nerve to make the appointment, a little preparatory work will ensure that you walk away from your appointment with the solutions you seek.

Preparing for your appointment doesn’t have to be complicated, but you should take the time to do so. Good preparation leads to good communication during the appointment. Your doctor gets all the information he or she needs to accurately evaluate your condition. You get answers to your questions and can explore your treatment options. You can prepare for your appointment in three easy steps.

Step 1: Observe Your Symptoms
If you have been dealing with symptoms of urinary incontinence, this may seem odd, since no doubt you are quite familiar with your symptoms. However, your doctor will probably ask you some very specific questions, so you will need to observe your symptoms closely for a few days, and jot down some notes. In fact, some healthcare providers even ask their patients, when they schedule their appointment, to keep a voiding diary prior to the appointment.

Keeping a voiding diary is a good idea whether your doctor’s office requests it or not, and will help your doctor assess your situation more accurately. To keep a voiding diary, simply track of the following for a few days:

– when, how much, and what kinds of fluids you drink
–  when and how many times you urinate during the day
– how many times a day you experience leakage, how much you leak, and under what conditions (such as coughing or sneezing, or during the night)

Also jot down any other health issues you experience, even if you think they are not related to your urinary incontinence.

Step 2: Make Your List
In addition to keeping a voiding diary, jot down a list of supplements and medications you are taking, and write a list of questions you have for your doctor. The list will come in handy during your appointment and remind you to ask all of your questions. For urinary incontinence, you may wish to ask your doctor the following:

– what kind of urinary incontinence you have (stress, urge, mixed, or pelvic organ prolapse)
– whether your urinary incontinence symptoms can be improved or cured
– what kinds of tests you might need to assess your situation
– whether lifestyle changes or diet modification might help
– what kinds of conservative therapies might improve your symptoms
– whether your medications could be aggravating your condition
– whether there are medications that would help your condition
– whether surgery is necessary

Step 3: Gather Your Stuff and Prepare Yourself
On the day of your appointment, gather up all of your “stuff.” You’ll want to take your voiding diary, your list of questions, as well as a notepad and pen so you can write down important information during your appointment. If you were not able to list all of the medications and supplements you are taking in the step above, simply gather all the bottles and pills into a bag and bring them with you to your appointment. If you have difficulty seeing or hearing, be sure to bring your glasses or hearing aids.

You may also want to ask a close friend or family member come with you to your appointment. Your companion can help you remember to ask all of your questions, and remember important information. Finally, your doctor may want to do a pelvic exam, especially if you have scheduled an appointment with a urologist or urogynecologist, so you may want to take special care with your personal hygiene before your appointment.

Then, having thoroughly prepared yourself for your appointment, you are ready to fully explore the many available treatment options for solving your urinary incontinence issues.

Are You Coping With Rather Than Curing Your Urinary Incontinence?

by General Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We say the road to wet panties is paved with coping mechanisms. Women with urinary incontinence demonstrate extraordinary powers of coping—coping skills that start with baby steps. Unfortunately, while coping can help women deal with symptoms of urinary incontinence, it can also prevent these women from seeking real cure.

Does This Sound Like You?
You don’t have time to run to the bathroom at the grocery store so you try to “hold it” until you get home, only to discover that you don’t quite make it. Instead, you find yourself digging through your purse for your house keys while urine streams down your leg.

You decide you are never going to allow this situation to happen again, so you start scouting out and using bathrooms at various stores as you run errands. Maybe you carry an absorbent pad with you in your purse, or start wearing pants that are easy to pull down.

If your condition worsens, you might even start carrying a change of clothing with you or stop going to the gym for your morning workout to avoid the embarrassing “wet panty” look that sometimes happens. Before long, “girls night out” and dating fall by the wayside, not to mention sex.

Does this sound like you?

The Shrinking World of Urinary Incontinence
If you are coping with rather than curing your urinary incontinence, you are living in a shrinking world, whether you realize it or not. You live in a world confined to locations with convenient bathrooms. You are tethered to your purse, in which you carry absorbent pads and maybe a change of clothes. Perhaps even your fashion sense is now dictated by clothing that you can get off in a hurry. Plus, your social life diminishes as your fear of a public accident increases.

What you may not realize is that when you cope with urinary leakage instead of focusing on cure, you deny the effect it has on the quality of your life. Did you know that 40% of women experience urinary incontinence before they reach age 40? And 23% of women have urinary leakage before age 30. Are you prepared to “cope” with urine leakage for half of your life or longer?

Focus on Curing Rather Than Coping with Urinary Incontinence
It’s never too early to seek cure for your urinary incontinence symptoms because the earlier you seek help, the faster you will see positive results. According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Policy, urinary incontinence can be improved in 8 out of 10 cases. Those are pretty strong odds in your favor.

So what are you waiting for? Isn’t it time to stop living a shrinking world where you just cope with your urine leakage? Isn’t it time to start living your life to the fullest by focusing on cure instead?

Is Your Chronic Uncertainty about Urinary Incontinence Causing You Stress?

by General Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

According to a recent webinar co-sponsored by the American Urological Association, chronic uncertainty is one of the major forms of stress in today’s culture. More importantly, the chronic uncertainty associated with urinary incontinence can cause women to feel levels of stress similar to that felt by people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS). That’s a lot of stress!

What Women with Urinary Incontinence Stress About
Women coping with symptoms of urinary incontinence tend to stress about numerous issues on a daily basis, most of them dealing with uncertainty. They wonder if they:

– smell like urine
– will have an embarrassing accident and leak urine while in public or during sex
– can make it to the bathroom before an accident
– can find enough bathrooms at work
– will be able to get up the courage to ask for help
– will be able to afford adult diapers and other medical aids
– will ever find a cure for their urine leakage symptoms

… and that’s just a short list of worries that can cause a woman to feel chronic uncertainty.

The Stress of Chronic Uncertainty in Urinary Incontinence
The first few times they experience urine leakage, most women feel worry and embarrassment. When the symptoms of urinary incontinence don’t go away, but linger or even get worse, many women begin experiencing chronic uncertainty.

The stress of this uncertainty becomes a factor of everyday life, not just an occasional worry that pops up from time to time. In fact, this kind of stress can have such a strong effect that many medical organizations have recently started recognizing this kind of chronic uncertainty as a “health-related quality of life factor,” and begun using it as a factor in making policy decisions.

Are You Stressing Unnecessarily?
The worst thing about the stress associated with urinary incontinence is that it is usually unnecessary. There are many new and innovative therapies available today for women suffering from urine leakage, and the success rates of these therapies are very high.

So ask yourself what is worse: the daily stress you suffer from dealing with the uncertainty of urinary incontinence, or the possible embarrassment of seeking help from a health practitioner?

Avoid Chronic Stress and Get Help for Urinary Incontinence
Life is stressful enough without having to deal with urinary incontinence on a daily basis. Learn how women are successfully alleviating and curing their symptoms of urinary incontinence by reading these short stories:

Lost in Translation? Getting Treatment for Urinary Incontinence

by General Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

Women suffering from urinary incontinence often feel frustrated because they ask for help but don’t seem to get it. This isn’t surprising since, according to the American Urological Association, requests for help with urinary incontinence often get “lost in translation” at the doctor’s office.

For instance, a doctor may ask a patient if she suffers from urinary incontinence, but she may not understand the terminology and just says, “No.” So the woman doesn’t get the help she needs for her urine leakage symptoms. In addition, only about 50% of women suffering from urinary incontinence ever seek help, and only 23% of primary physicians ask their patients about this condition. The result? A lot of unnecessary wet panties.

How Request for Help Get Lost in Translation
During a recent seminar co-sponsored by the National Association for Continence, experts stressed the importance of women taking active steps to communicate clearly with their doctors. They listed many different ways in which a woman’s request for help for her urinary leakage symptoms could get lost in translation. Examples include:

Different Words
Many women don’t understand medical terminology or know what is considered normal when it comes to frequency of urination. A woman who makes many trips to the bathroom might say she does not suffer from urinary incontinence because she does really understand this phrase. She may just think that she goes to the bathroom a lot, not that she has a medical condition. Unless she tells her doctor that she “goes to the bathroom a lot” this conservation never goes any further, and the woman doesn’t get the help she needs.

Making Light of the Situation
Some women arrive at their appointment prepared with a list of questions about urinary incontinence. However, when the issue of urinary leakage is raised, they find themselves too embarrassed to discuss, and make light of the situation. They might laugh it off or make a joke about it. Again, end of discussion.

Doorknob Requests
Women who are embarrassed to discuss their urine leakage with their doctors often can’t bear to bring up the subject until the end of the appointment—literally when their hand is on the doorknob of the exam room and they are ready to leave. At this point, desperate for help, they may turn to their doctor and finally raise the issue. Unfortunately, this late in the appointment, the doctor rarely has the time to engage in a serious discussion or offer serious help, so the patient again does not get the help she needs.

How to Avoid Getting Lost in Translation
If you truly want to and are ready to address your urinary incontinence, there are definite ways you can avoid getting lost in translation when you finally arrive at your doctor’s office. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Be clear about the reason for your appointment when you schedule it. 
Practice saying the words “urine leakage” or “urinary incontinence” if you have to so that you can easily say these words when you book your appointment.

2. Write a list of your symptoms. 
Bring the list with you to your appointment. The list should include the number of times you use the bathroom, how often and how much you leak urine, under what circumstances you leak urine, how long you have experienced symptoms, and what steps you are currently taking to cope with your symptoms. Also be sure to include any medications you are taking.

3. Bring a friend to your appointment.
If you think you might chicken out when it comes to actually discussing your symptoms with your doctor during the appointment, bring a trusted friend or family member. Tell your “buddy” in advance what you want from your visit. Your companion can then remind you what you planned to discuss with your doctor if you forget or become too embarrassed.

Once you get past the barrier of actually asking for help, you will find the rest of the process much easier. Your job, as a responsible advocate for your own health care, is to ensure that you clearly make your request for help to your doctor. If you don’t understand what your doctor is asking or telling you, ask for clarification. Keep asking until you get the information in words that make sense to you.

Finally, if you don’t get the satisfaction you seek from one doctor, look for another. Check out our tips for finding the right doctor for you here:

How to Find the Right Doctor for Your Urinary Incontinence

Urinary Incontinence and Weight Gain: Breaking the Vicious Cycle

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

Women suffering from urinary incontinence (UI) find themselves in quite the quandary: they are told to lose weight to decrease urine leakage, but discover that they can’t because they leak urine when they exercise.

Thus begins the vicious cycle where incontinent women can’t exercise for fear of leakage, which causes further weight gain … and even more urine leakage. In fact, one study indicates that almost one-third of middle-aged athletes were incontinent while exercising.

The Runaway Weight Train
It’s not uncommon for women with UI to find themselves riding on the runaway weight train. In addition to the fact that these women can’t exercise because of urine leakage, other issues surrounding UI contribute to weight gain. For instance, many women suffering from urinary incontinence:

– isolate themselves, which leads to loneliness and depression, and then to emotional eating and bingeing
– are menopausal, an age at which weight gain happens more quickly and easily than earlier in life
– are sedentary, thus more likely to have urinary leakage according to the Nurses Health Study

Paradoxically, new studies also indicate that certain classes of women who participate in very strenuous exercise early in life are more likely to suffer from urinary incontinence later in life! It’s easy to see how the vicious cycle of urinary incontinence and weight gain keeps going around, faster and faster.

The Link between Exercise and Urine Leakage
So why do women leak urine during exercise? There are two main reasons. First, women who have UI symptoms usually have weak pelvic floor muscles, which regular exercise does not strengthen or tone. Only exercises like Kegels, which target the pelvic floor muscles, can strengthen these internal muscles.

Second, strenuous exercise that includes bouncing or jumping can put a lot of stress on pelvic floor muscles, causing weakness. Did you know that when you jump your pelvic floor has to withstand the force of 25 pounds of pressure from your internal organs slamming down on it? No wonder many women leak urine just stepping off a curb. This especially affects women who have stress urinary incontinence, meaning they leak when stress is applied to the abdominal cavity.

What to Do If You Leak Urine While Exercising
First and most importantly, don’t stop exercising! Weight gain can significantly worsen UI symptoms, while losing even a few pounds can improve those symptoms. If you leak urine while exercising, it’s time to seek help from a healthcare professional and research your options. There are many conservative therapies that can help you reduce or eliminate UI symptoms, along with minimally-invasive surgical techniques.

Even if you have sought help before to no avail, you should keep asking. Ongoing research has resulted in new therapies that are more effective and may help you return to your regular exercise routine, without urine leakage.

Not sure you’re ready to dive in and seek help? Here are some resources to get you started:

Taking PRIDE in Weight Loss Results in Drier Panties

Dreaming of Dry Panties? Help is Only a Call or Click Away

How to Find the Right Doctor to Treat Your Urinary Incontinence

Some Facts about Urinary Incontinence to Inspire You to Get Help

Dealing with Urinary Incontinence? Be Your Own Healthcare Advocate

by General Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

If you’ve been dealing with wet panties because of urinary incontinence but dreaming about dry ones, then wrap your mind around this:

Recent studies indicate that only about 50% of women suffering from urinary incontinence ever seek help, and only 23% of primary physicians ask their patients about this condition. 

At the same time, the Agency of Healthcare Research and Policy indicates that urinary incontinence can be improved in 8 out of 10 cases.

What does this tell you? It should tell you that there is plenty of help available for women with wet panties, but only if they raise the issue. That’s why it is so important for you to be your own healthcare advocate when it comes to your urinary incontinence.

Five Steps to Being Your Own Healthcare Advocate
No one can be a better advocate for your health than you. Here are five simple steps you can take to become your own healthcare advocate.

Step 1: Find a Doctor
Today there are many healthcare professionals who specialize in treating women’s urinary incontinence. If you’re not sure how to find the right doctor, ask around. Word-of-mouth is still the most common way most women find doctors. You can also ask your primary physician for a referral. Read more about how to find the right doctor for you here.

Step 2: Be Specific About the Reasons for the Appointment
When you schedule the appointment, be sure to let the physician’s office that you wish to discuss your urinary incontinence, since statistics show that if you don’t raise the issue chances are that the doctor won’t either. You may also need to remind the nurse or doctor at the beginning of your appointment.

Step 3: List Your Primary Concerns
During your appointment, be sure to raise your primary concerns about treating your urinary incontinence because your doctor can’t read your mind. Whether your concerns are about the cost of treatment, fear of surgery, lack of success with prior surgeries, or the possibility that your situation may be more serious than just urine leakage, lay your cards on the table so your doctor can address these concerns.

Step 4: Communicate About Yourself and Your Life
You are an expert on your own life. Your doctor is an expert on medical therapies that can help with your urinary incontinence. Your appointment should be like a meeting between two experts. Communicate with your doctor about what kinds of therapies will and won’t fit into your lifestyle. For instance, if you want to improve your symptoms but are not ready for surgery, your doctor can recommend some conservative therapies for you.

Step 5: Decide Whether You Will Take Your Doctor’s Advice
Your doctor can help you improve your urinary incontinence symptoms only if you are willing to follow the suggested therapies. If you feel you can’t follow the suggested approach, be sure to let your doctor know. He or she might be able to suggest some alternative therapies, or you may need to find another healthcare specialist with a different approach.

As you have probably realized the keys to being your own healthcare advocate are to take the needed action steps and to communicate clearly during the entire process. There are many physicians who are experts on therapies to treat urinary incontinence, but you are the only expert when it comes to yourself and your lifestyle. That’s why it’s so important for you to be your own healthcare advocate.

Debunking Yet More Funky Myths about Urinary Incontinence

by General Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

The amount of misinformation floating around about urinary incontinence (UI) continues to astound us, so much so that we feel the need to post yet another blog to debunk these myths. Here are just a few myths about urinary incontinence that we felt were particularly debilitating to women suffering from UI.

UI Doesn’t Interfere with the Quality of Life
According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, more than 62% of people suffering from UI rated their quality of life as “good or excellent.” This is despite the fact that in another survey, a high percentage said that the bathroom represents “a symbol of incarceration” because of the constant need to be near toilet facilities due to bladder issues. At the same time, only one in five people feel truly comfortable using bathroom facilities outside their own home. Still think UI doesn’t interfere with the quality of life?

Childbirth Does Not Put Women at Risk for UI
More than 1/3 of women surveyed by the National Association for Continence, including women who had UI symptoms, felt that having a baby did not increase the chances of urine leakage. To the contrary, statistics show that post-partum women are 2.5 times as likely to have UI symptoms as women who have not given birth.

I Don’t Need to See a Doctor about UI
Fifty percent of women suffering from stress urinary incontinence never see a doctor, and the variety of reasons they gave when surveyed for not seeking help are truly amazing:

– 64% said it wasn’t enough of a problem
– 34% assumed it was supposed to happen with age
– 22% were not asked by their doctor
– 19% dealt with it using absorbent pads
– 17% were not aware anything could be done
– 17% were too busy
– 10% didn’t have a doctor

Does this shock you? It shocks us. UI isn’t healthy or normal at any age, and the success rates for UI treatments are high for most women. Don’t just deal with your UI symptoms by yourself. Get help!

Don’t Know Where to Start?
Help abounds for women with UI. Whether you get Google UI treatments or you ask a close girlfriend for a referral to a doctor, there are plenty of resources to help relieve your symptoms. Read the other posts on this blog or check out your symptoms on the Wet Matters website. Here are also some additional online resources to help you out:

National Association for Continence

American Urologic Association Foundation

Medline Plus

Debunking Myths About Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI)

by General Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceUrinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

Can having too much sex cause SUI? What about drinking too much water during the day? If you experience stress at the workplace, will that cause you to have stress urinary incontinence?

Surprisingly, many women don’t know the answers to these questions—even women who currently have SUI. There are quite a few “old wives’ tales” about this condition floating around out there. Many women continue to believe them because, as it turns out, urinary incontinence is less understood than conditions like allergies or diabetes.

Beliefs About SUI – True or False?
What do you believe? Here are some statements about SUI that the National Association for Continence used to survey women’s beliefs about this condition. See if you can tell whether these statements are true or false.

Drinking a lot of liquids puts a woman at risk for SUI.
False. Forty-two percent of women believe this myth. In fact, drinking too little liquid can actually worsen symptoms of urinary incontinence. A better option would be to focus on strengthening your pelvic floor muscles to prevent leakage, and modifying certain aspects of your lifestyle. This may include bladder retraining and timing your fluid intake.

Feeling stressed at home or in the office is a risk factor for SUI.
False. Over one-quarter of the women surveyed believe this myth. Actually, the “stress” part of SUI means that you leak urine when you put stress on your abdominal cavity, such as when you cough or sneeze.

The average age of women when they first experience symptoms of SUI is 44.
True. In fact 40% of women first experience SUI symptoms even before they are 40, and 23% had symptoms before they were 30. Despite these statistics, over half those surveyed believe that the average age at which women experience SUI symptoms is 50 and over. This reflects the myth that SUI is a sign of aging.

Having too much sex puts a woman at risk for SUI.
False. Women ages 25-34 are most likely to believe this myth (29% of them do), while 20% of women ages 18-24 also believe it. In reality, a healthy active sex life that encourages you to exercise your pelvic floor muscles reduces the risk of SUI.

How Did You Score?
Were you able to tell which statements above were myths and which were true? Do you want to learn more about SUI and other forms of urinary incontinence? Stay tuned for our next blog post, in which we debunk yet more myths about this subject. Also, you can learn more about pelvic floor health by visiting the Wet Matters website:

New Moms and Kegels: Myths and Facts

by General Urinary IncontinencePelvic Floor WeaknessWomen's Healthcare

Kegel Facts
Here are some statistics you might not know about pregnant and post-partum women:

  • About 30% of post-partum women are affected by urinary incontinence (UI)
  • Kegels, done correctly, help 80% of women suffering from UI
  • 46% of pregnant women reported receiving no information about Kegels in one study (International Urogynecology Journal, January 2006)
  • 50% of women cannot locate the correct pelvic muscles to do a Kegel with just verbal or written instructions

Knowing these facts, is it any wonder that many new moms either don’t know about Kegels or don’t know how to do Kegels correctly?

Kegel Myths
Kegels Don’t Work
One popular myth among new mothers is that Kegels don’t work, meaning they don’t help with symptoms of pelvic floor weakness, like urinary incontinence or decreased sexual sensation. This myth is prevalent because many post-partum women are not given enough guidance to locate the right pelvic muscles to do a correct Kegel.

Says Sarah Hamilton Boyles, a urogynecologist and research director for the Providence Continence Center, “They’re hard muscles to engage. It’s not like flexing your biceps.” Many women tighten their inner thighs or buttocks rather than their pelvic floor muscles, and need “hands on” help to locate the correct muscles. Experts add that many women simply forget to do their Kegels consistently, leading to less than spectacular results.

Tip: If you are not getting good results from doing Kegels, consider asking for some “hands on” help from your obstetrician/gynecologist.

Kegels Hinder Labor and Delivery
Another myth is that over-toning the pelvic floor muscles by doing Kegels during pregnancy makes the pelvic floor too strong and less elastic, making labor and delivery more difficult.

A Norwegian study reported in the Journal Obstetrics & Gynecology debunks this myth. Women who did Kegel exercises three times a week by the 30th week of pregnancy had lower rates of severe tearing during childbirth, unplanned Cesarean sections, and deliveries requiring forceps or a vacuum.

In fact, a study done at Trondheim University Hospital in England indicated that women who did pelvic floor exercises during pregnancy experienced fewer instances of prolonged second-stage labor that lasted more than an hour. Other studies show that women who did Kegels during pregnancy also experienced fewer UI symptoms post-partum.

Tip: If you are pregnant, start doing Kegels now. Also consider doing perineal massage. If you are not sure how to do these, ask for help from your obstetrician/gynecologist. Remember, 50% of women cannot correctly isolate the correct pelvic muscles to do a Kegel with just written or verbal instruction, so get “hands on” help if necessary.

Startling Facts about Adult Diapers and Briefs

by General Urinary Incontinence

Did you know that:

  • Adult diapers and briefs currently make up 7% of our nation’s landfill?
  • Baby diapers currently contribute just 2-3% of landfill waste?
  • Diapers are the third largest type of landfill waste?
  • The average adult diaper or brief will take up to 200 years to decompose (the same amount of time as an aluminum can)?

In the coming years, adult diapers will contribute an increasing percentage to our landfills. Not only are adult diapers and briefs larger than baby diapers, but the number of adults using diapers is on the rise.

Most diapers go into landfills, which exist on the edge of cities and towns and are eventually covered by dirt. As towns and cities expand over time, they appropriate and build on top of these landfills. Housing developments spread across these previous trash dumps, leading some to wonder what future archaeologists will think when excavating these sites. Will they wonder about the anthropological meaning of so much plastic-backed paper products?

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
If you or someone you know uses adult diaper products, there are two major ways to reduce your carbon footprint, or as some call it, your carbon “buttprint”:

1. Use diaper boosters or diaper doublers. These are pads that go inside adult diapers, providing extra absorption and making each diaper last longer.

2. Use long-lasting adult diapers. These diapers have been very popular in Europe and are available mostly online. While the average store-bought adult diaper lasts 2-3 hours, these long-lasting diapers allow users to go 6-8 hours before needing a change.

You can read more about ways to “go green” with adult diapers in Gary Hirsch’s blog.

Of course, the best way to reduce your carbon impact is to get out of adult diapers altogether by reducing symptoms of urinary incontinence. If you haven’t already, ask yourself the three questions we posed in our previous post to see if you have done everything you can to get out of diapers.

Ouch! The Rising Cost of Living with Urinary Incontinence

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinencePelvic Organ ProlapseStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Incontinence

As if the constant fear of smelling like urine and the need to laundry daily were not enough, women living with urinary incontinence are starting to feel the financial strain of their condition as well.

According to the National Association for Continence, the average person suffering from urinary incontinence spends approximately $1,000 per year managing their incontinence, which includes the cost of absorbent products, laundry, and pessaries. That’s a hefty sum in these trying economic times, and does not include non-generic drug costs, which can exceed $1,300 per year.

On a national level, the cost of treating urinary incontinence is also on the rise, according to the National Institute of Health. Conservatively estimates put the cost at $20 billion, making the cost of treating this condition on par with that of treating arthritis. The cost is also significantly higher than the cost of treating conditions like breast cancer, pneumonia, or influenza. Not cheap.

At the same time, according to the National Association for Continence, about 17% of women dealing with urinary incontinence use tissues, paper towels, or toilet paper instead of absorbent products designed for urinary incontinence. If you’ve checked prices in the adult diaper section recently, then you know that toilet paper is a lot cheaper to buy than adult diapers, which cost on average $0.70 each and last only 3 hours. Unfortunately, while toilet paper is cheap it doesn’t offer the comfort or security of an adult diaper.

How to Get Yourself Out of Adult Diapers
If you are feeling the financial strain of buying adult diapers but can’t deal with wads of toilet paper anymore, then stop. Ask yourself these three questions:

1. Have I sought help for my urinary incontinence?
2. Have I gotten a clear diagnosis for my condition? (i.e., stress, urge, or mixed urinary incontinence, or pelvic organ prolapse)
3. Have I learned about all the treatment options available for my condition, and have I taken action steps to try one or more of these treatments?

If you answered “No” to any of the above questions, then you may be buying adult diapers when you don’t have to.

To get yourself out of adult diapers, the first step is to ask for help, whether from sympathetic women friends, your spouse, your doctor, or a specialist who treats urinary incontinence.

The second step is to get a clear diagnosis that you can understand. If you either can’t get a clear diagnosis or can’t get an explanation of your condition that makes sense to you, keep asking until you get what you need. You have to learn the causes of your condition before you can treat it. Learn more about the different urinary incontinence conditions on the Wet Matters website.

The last step is to evaluate the different treatment options available, and to try one or more of them. What many women struggling with urinary incontinence don’t realize is that no single treatment works for every woman. You may have to try several different treatments before you find a treatment or a combination of treatments that work for you. The important point is to keep taking action steps toward resolving your incontinence until you find a solution that works for you. Then you can dump those adult diapers in the trash for the last time!

Some Facts about Urinary Incontinence to Inspire You to Get Help

by General Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

Are you a woman suffering from urinary incontinence (UI)? Are you afraid to ask your doctor for help? If so, here are some facts and statistics about UI that may shock you, and give you the courage to ask for help.

You Are Not Alone
Between 13 and 18 million women are regularly affected by UI, and one in four women over the age of 18 has experienced UI. According to the American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP), the number of women affected by UI will only increase as baby boomers age (and there are currently about 79 million baby boomers). At the same time, studies show that about 50% of the women suffering from UI never ask for help. Women who do ask for help wait, on average, almost seven years before doing so.

You are not alone in dealing with UI or in hesitating to ask for help.

Doctors Are More Aware of the UI Problem
According to AAFP, primary care physicians are now seeing many patients complaining of UI. In fact, UI has become has now become a more prevalent issue than even diabetes or Alzheimer’s for these doctors. Urologists and ob/gyns are seeing the same rise in patients complaining of UI. As a result, UI is starting to become one of the issues to which doctors pay close attention. What does this mean for you?

Don’t be surprised if your doctor asks you about UI, and don’t be afraid to raise the issue if your doctor doesn’t ask.

UI is Not Normal at Any Age
An amazing 35% of the women who have never reported their UI symptoms to a doctor have not raised the issue because they assumed that UI was a normal part of aging. We’ve got news for you: UI is not normal at any age. While many aging women do experience UI, not all aging women do. More importantly, there are many treatments available for women experiencing UI at any age.

No matter your age, if you experience symptoms of UI you should get help.

Don’t run around with wet panties when you don’t have to. Arm yourself with knowledge by learning more about UI on this site, or ask for help from your doctor.

Women with Urinary Incontinence: Are You Deaf to Spousal Reassurance?

by General Urinary Incontinence

Many women who have urinary incontinence (UI) suffer from embarrassment, depression, and low self-esteem. This isn’t surprising, since studies show that many women with UI assume that it is a natural part of aging so they don’t seek help. Instead, they simply use coping mechanisms to avoid embarrassing situations—like limiting social activities, avoiding sex, and using adult diapers.

What is surprising is the fact that women with UI may have a great deal of difficulty overcoming the psychological and emotional impact of their condition, despite reassurances from their spouses. Riesa Gusewelle, a woman with UI, put it this way:

“I felt unattractive and unappealing. It stressed my sexual relationship with my husband, even though he reassured me that everything was fine. I was depressed and always felt that I could smell urine.”

Riesa is by no means unusual in feeling unattractive. In fact, some women are embarrassed to the point that they won’t share much of their symptoms or suffering with their significant other. Says one husband of a woman suffering from UI:

“Even though my wife had UI for 12+ years before she got help, she didn’t let her condition have much impact on my life. I think I was the first person she told about her condition, but I’m not sure. I’ve never found her UI to be offensive but it affected our sex life anyway. I’m not sure how much her incontinence affected our sex life, but I know it had a definite effect.”

Does this tell you how big a role embarrassment plays in the life of a woman with UI, despite reassurances from her spouse?

Does this sound like you? If so, please don’t turn a deaf ear to the help that’s available. Learn how you can create a positive outcome for your situation by reading our “How the Story Ends” section. Here we highlight the major therapies that are helping many women successfully lessen or cure their UI symptoms.

How Men Are Affected by Women’s Urinary Incontinence

by General Urinary Incontinence

Women suffering from urinary incontinence (UI) have a lot on their minds. Not only do they have to plan a day’s outing around convenient bathroom locations, but they also have to worry about wearing bulky pads and preventing embarrassing accidents. In fact, according to a study by theNational Association for Continence, 78% of women suffering from stress urinary incontinence were fearful of smelling like urine. The same percentage worried about soiling the furniture at a friend’s house.

And that’s only the public aspect of urinary incontinence. In private, women with UI deal with a very different problem: the effect of their UI on the men in their lives, specifically their spouses or lovers. UI and sex often don’t mix, and many women are afraid that their spouses or lovers will be “turned off” by urinary leakage during sex. The result? Less sex.

UI and Sex: A Vicious Cycle
According to gynecologist Amy Rosenman of the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, women who experience UI during intercourse feel anxious about it, which could eventually lead to sexual dysfunction, even in the most stable of marriages.

Imagine this vicious cycle. A woman is afraid of leaking urine during sex but is too embarrassed to discuss it with her spouse, so she avoids sex. Her spouse, unaware of the situation, feels hurt and rejected. Relationship issues arise, and when the couple does have sex, the encounter is less than enjoyable.

Or, if a woman is confident enough to discuss her UI issues with the man in her life, the result may be no better. One study, published in Social Science and Medicine, indicated that under certain conditions “having an incontinent wife put men at greater risk for depressive symptoms.” Another study shows that, among older couples, men are readily affected by their wife’s health issues, especially if the couple is close.

A Personal Look
How does a husband really feel about his wife’s UI issues? Here’s what one hubby said when asked about the subject.

“My wife lost her interest in sex due to the pelvic floor problems. She suffered from urinary incontinence after each of her three pregnancies. I didn’t see her incontinence as offensive but I felt helpless to solve the problem, even though I was the first person she confided in. I know my wife was very frustrated as she could no longer exercise and lost interest in sex. She got very little help from her ob/gyn when she asked for help. I’m glad that she eventually educated herself and took matters in her own hands. She started doing Pilates and using pelvic floor weights.”

What to Do?
What should you do if you are one of the men or women described in this blog post? Get help! UI is not a terminal condition, and there is a world of help waiting for affected women. Check out our “Is This You” section to learn more about the different kinds of urinary incontinence and how you can get help.

Taking PRIDE in Weight Loss Results in Drier Panties

by General Urinary Incontinence

Obese women who took PRIDE in their weight loss had drier panties, according to a study reported in the January 29, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

PRIDE actually stands for the Program to Reduce Incontinence by Diet and Exercise, and is a study sponsored by the National Institute of Health.

The study recruited 338 obese women who leaked urine at least 10 times per week. Half of the women participated in an intensive six-month weight loss program that included diet and behavior modification, along with exercise. The other half of the group were given information about weight loss but received no coaching.

The women who received active coaching lost an average of 8 percent of their body weight, or about 17 pounds. As a result, they leaked only about half as much, reducing leakage incidents by 47 percent.

The group of women who received only weight loss information did not fare as well. These women lost an average of only 1.8 percent of their body weight, about 3 pounds, and reduced their rate of leakage by 28 percent.

The good news is that even though the women in the second group did not lose as much weight, even the small amount of lost weight contributed to fewer incidences of leakage. Losing just 3 pounds meant these women leaked one-fourth fewer times.

The study goes on to report that the women in the weight-loss group were significantly more satisfied with the improvement in their incontinence than the women in the other group.

A little weight loss goes a long way. Are you ready to deal with your UI symptoms? If you are overweight, shedding a few pounds may be a very effective first-line treatment for your UI. Every pound you lose is one pound less of pressure pushing down on your bladder and pelvic floor. Less pressure equals less leakage.

Is it time for you to take PRIDE in weight loss and have drier panties?

How to Find the Right Doctor to Treat Your Urinary Incontinence

by Find the Right DoctorGeneral Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
It can be hard to ask for help with your urinary incontinence (UI). In fact, the average affected woman waits seven years before getting help. What can make the situation even worse is finally asking for help, and then showing up at the doctor’s office and not getting the help you need.

Discussing UI is embarrassing enough, and dealing with a doctor who is insensitive or doesn’t offer the right solutions for you can make you regret asking for help. So how do you find the right doctor to treat your UI? Women who have experienced successful treatment for UI typically get recommendations from one of these sources:

– Other women who have been treated for UI
– Referrals from their family doctor
– Advertisements or internet referral sites

Word-of-Mouth Still Works Best
No one understands the trials and tribulations of UI like another woman who has suffered the same symptoms. Ask women you trust if they have been treated for UI, and if they had a good experience from their care provider. According to the Women’s Sexual Health Foundation, asking women who have already been treated is an excellent way to find a care provider, since these women know “which doctors and other professionals have been helpful.” These same women “often know the inside scoop,” meaning they can provide a more personal view on whether the doctor showed a caring attitude, had the right knowledge, and offered useful treatments.

Your Family Doctor Knows You Well
If you don’t feel comfortable asking your women friends for referrals, check in with your family doctor. Chances are that he or she knows you pretty well. Many patients follow this route. A study by the Center for Studying Health System Change shows that seven out of ten people looking for a specialist relied on referrals from their primary care physician. One of the benefits of asking your family doctor for a referral is that he or she is likely to match you with a specialist who suits your personal treatment preferences and personality. They may also be able to refer you to a specialist who works within your health insurance plan.

Find a Specialist through Advertisements or the Internet
While it used to be taboo for doctors to advertise their services, these days it is a perfectly normal practice—and can help you find the UI specialist you need. A doctor who advertises a specialty in UI is likely to have a lot of experience treating this condition with a variety of methods.

Another option is to browse internet referral sites for doctors specializing in treating UI. If you do choose to use the internet as a referral resource, experts recommend that you look through multiple referral sites for greater accuracy. Also, place more importance on objective information (“Dr. X followed up within 24 hours to review my test results.”) than on subjective comments (“Dr. X was a jerk!”).

If you suffer from UI, there’s a world of help out there. All you have to do is ask. The three sources we discuss in this blog post should give you some great places to start looking for the right doctor to help you with your UI.

Giggle Incontinence is No Laughing Matter for Youngsters

by General Urinary Incontinence

As Samantha watched her 11-year-old daughter, Amy, shove a pair of urine-soaked jeans into the washer, she knew there was a problem. Amy had suffered a bout of “giggle incontinence,” a condition where children and young adults leak urine when they giggle or laugh. Some affected youngsters leak urine at the least giggle, while others don’t leak unless they laugh hard.

As children, both Samantha and her sister occasionally suffered from giggle incontinence, which can range from mild urine leakage to a complete emptying of the bladder. Apparently Samantha’s mother had, too. Now Amy has the same problem.

What Causes Giggle Incontinence?
Physicians have not pinpointed the exact cause of giggle incontinence, which affects about 7% of girls and 3% of boys in the U.S. Most children and young adults who suffer from this condition don’t have any physical abnormalities. Research indicates that this condition may be genetically-linked and can be passed down from parents to children.

It’s most likely that giggle incontinence happens because laughter can cause a loss of muscle tone in the pelvic region. Another possible cause is that some people “hold” their urine too long, causing an overfull bladder. Constipation may be a further contributing cause, since straining to have a bowel movement puts pressure on the bladder. Most affected youngsters stop leaking urine by the time they hit their teens, probably because of maturation of the brain and bladder.

Treatment for Giggle Incontinence
The treatment for urinary incontinence in children and young adults is similar to that for adults. Experts suggest the following treatments:

Practice Proper Voiding: Children past age 5 should void 4 to 7 times a day. Bladder training and following a voiding schedule may help reduce incontinence. In addition, teaching affected children to fully empty their bladders each time is useful.

Avoid Constipation: Those affected often experience relief from giggle incontinence when they add more fiber to their diets, and experience less constipation.

Use Medication: Certain drugs have been proven effective for reducing symptoms of giggle incontinence. However, parents need to take into consideration the side-effects of these medications, which include dry mouth and changes in mood, sleep, or appetite.

Practice Kegels: Studies have shown that people affected by giggle incontinence can reduce leakage by doing Kegels and strengthening their pelvic floor muscles.

Camouflage: Those embarrassed to go out in public because of leakage can reduce the visibility of symptoms by wearing dark clothing and using incontinence pads.

Behavior modification has also been studied as a form of therapy for giggle incontinence. One study, published in a 1995 issue of the British Journal of Urology, indicated that mild shock therapy was an effective approach. Children gave themselves a very mild shock on the back of their hand when they started the laugh. The shock served as a “noxious response” to giggle incontinence. Within a year, all the children in the study showed a 90% decrease in symptoms. Strange but true.

The good news is that giggle incontinence is not a “forever” condition for the majority of people affected, and parents can use the above suggestions to help their children reduce or completely eliminate symptoms.