Women’s Urinary Incontinence Linked to Depression

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
When it comes to urinary incontinence, what goes on in your head could be related to what goes on “down there”! According to a study published by obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Jennifer Melville of the University of Washington:Depressed women are 148% more likely to be affected by women’s urinary incontinence than women who were not depressed.

So what’s going on here … or down there?

Which Comes First: Urinary Incontinence or Depression?
When it comes to women’s urinary incontinence and depression, the question of which condition shows up first may be akin to the question about chickens and eggs. Either condition could trigger the other.

Dr. Melville points out that neurotransmitters like serotonin, which are affected by depression, may also affect the brain chemicals that control the bladder. This means that chemical changes in the brain brought on by depression may also contribute to the onset of women’s urinary incontinence.

For instance, in one study, conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia and University of Michigan, it was reported that women who were depressed after giving birth had a higher incidence of urge urinary incontinence than new mothers who were not depressed. This study, presented at the 2005 meeting of the American Urogynecologic Society in Atlanta, clearly links post-partum depression with women’s urinary incontinence.

On the other hand, as Dr. Melville states, women’s urinary incontinence is a difficult chronic condition to deal with, and can lead to depression. Specifically, she says, “Incontinence so severely affects some women’s quality of life that they may become socially isolated and embarrassed. And, over time, that could lead to depression.”

So what comes first: women’s urinary incontinence or depression? Researchers are not clear yet, but there is a definite condition between the two conditions. Luckily, both conditions are treatable.

For resources on women’s urinary incontinence, we suggest you start with our no-frills free ebook on women’s pelvic floor health:

Download the “What’s Up Down There?” Ebook

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Women’s Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Floor Stimulation

by General Urinary IncontinencePelvic Floor WeaknessStress Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
In our last blog post we talked about the use of biofeedback as a way to resolve symptoms of women’s urinary incontinence. In this blog post, we discuss another similar kind of therapy called pelvic floor stimulation.

As the name implies, pelvic floor stimulation involves the use of very light electrical impulses to stimulate the pelvic floor muscles into contracting. Before you freak out, know that the stimulation is neither painful nor scary. It is effective for many women who have weakened pelvic floor muscles.

How Pelvic Floor Stimulation Works
As with biofeedback, the stimulation is delivered through either a tampon-like device inserted into the vagina, or stick-on electrodes placed around the anus. The electrodes are then connected to a machine that delivers a very controlled amount of electrical stimulation.

Many women describe the sensation of pelvic floor stimulation as a tightening and lifting of the pelvic floor muscles. Others find the sensation more like a tingling or tapping sensation, and it is never painful.

Pelvic floor stimulation is an effective conservative therapy for women’s urinary incontinence, andstress urinary incontinence in particular. This therapy treats the nerves which control the pelvic floor muscles, and can help women strengthen these muscles. While home pelvic floor stimulation machines are available, for the most part this therapy is done under the supervision of a physical therapist, nurse specialist, or physician specializing in urinary incontinence.

If you feel that this kind of therapy would help you resolve your urinary incontinence issues, ask your physician or urologist. If they are not knowledgeable about this kind of therapy, chances are that they can refer you to a specialist who can help you.

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Stress Urinary Incontinence: Did You Know There are Two Types?

by General Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
Women’s urinary incontinence is a real pain in the panties! Luckily, if you are a woman who has urinary incontinence, you are not powerless because knowledge is power.The more you know about urinary incontinence, the more you can act as your own powerful healthcare advocate.

If you have stress urinary incontinence, then here’s some information you’ll want to know: there are actually two types of stress urinary incontinence.

The Two Types of Stress Urinary Incontinence
As the name suggests, with stress urinary incontinence you leak urine when you put stress on your abdominal cavity. This can happen when you sneeze, cough, step off a curb, or jump around during aerobics class. Depending on the severity of your case, “stress” can range from something as powerful as a high kick in a karate class to something as low-key as standing up.

So why does “stress” to the abdominal cavity cause urine leakage? There are two reasons, hence two types of stress urinary incontinence. The two types are:

  • urethral hypermobility
  • intrinsic sphincteric deficiency (ISD)

With urethral hypermobility, when the abdominal pressure increases, the urethra shifts position, allowing urine to leak out. With ISD, the urethra doesn’t move but the ring of muscles that seal the bladder and keep it from leaking does not seal properly, which also allows urine leakage.

Most physicians believe that the majority of women with stress urinary incontinence have at least some degree of ISD.

What You Can Do About Stress Urinary Incontinence
There are many conservative therapies that you can try to alleviate your urinary leakage problems. For instance, many physicians recommend one or more of the following:

Even if you have tried one of these therapies with little or no success, it’s worth your while to combine two or more of therapies to see if you get a better result. Many women cannot resolve their urine leakage with a single approach, but have good results when they combine conservative treatments. Give it a try!
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Do High Impact Exercises Cause Women’s Urinary Incontinence?

by General Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary Incontinence
This is question often asked by women who participate in high-impact sports like gymnastics, track-and-field, and aerobics … and it’s a great question. So what’s the answer?No … but there’s more to the story than a simple one-word answer.

According to a study by Ingrid E. Nygaard, M.D., prolonged high-impact activity does not contribute to women’s urinary incontinence later in life. Nygaard’s study compared women Olympic athletes who participated in high-impact sports, such as gymnastics and track-and-field, with female Olympian swimmers (low-impact).

In the study, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of urinary incontinence symptoms between the women who did high-impact sports and the women who participated in low-impact sports.

In other words, participation in high-impact sports does not cause women’s urinary incontinence later in life.

The Exception to the Rule …
However, women who already have urinary incontinence will find that participation in high-impact sports may worsen their existing symptoms. Studies indicate that women who experience urine leakage, especially from stress urinary incontinence (SUI), leak less when they participate in lower-impact exercises, such as swimming or walking.

Luckily, any woman who experiences urinary incontinence can use a variety of conservative approaches to reduce symptoms, and can often return to a regular exercise routine.

If you leak urine and would like to return to your regular exercise program, a great place to start is to test the strength of your pelvic floor muscles, and then learn to do a correct pelvic floor contraction, also called a Kegel. It’s all in our free ebook called “What’s Up Down There?”

Download the Ebook Here

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Women’s Urinary Incontinence and Menopause Don’t Always Go Hand-in-Hand

by General Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

Really, no kidding. 

Women’s urinary incontinence can and does regularly occur when mature women reach menopause, but it doesn’t have to.

Despite the popular belief that urinary incontinence is “natural” or “normal” when a woman reaches menopause, it simply isn’t true for all women … especially women who have been exercising their pelvic floor muscles.

Why Does Urinary Incontinence Occur with Menopause?
Like almost everything associated with menopause, urinary incontinence occurs because of the hormonal shifts in a woman’s body during this phase of life. Primarily, levels of the female hormone estrogen drop significantly during and after the process of menopause.

This is significant because estrogen is important for keeping the bladder and urethra healthy. Also, lower levels of estrogen in the body contribute to thinning of the urethral, vaginal, and bladder lining. With a thinner lining, the pelvic floor muscles responsible for keeping urine from leaking tend to weaken, which can lead to urinary incontinence.

What Kinds of Urinary Incontinence are Common Post-Menopause?
Women going through menopause or who are post-menopausal most commonly experience eitherstress urinary incontinence (SUI) or urge urinary incontinence (UUI).

With SUI, urine leaks when you put any pressure on your abdominal cavity, such as when you sneeze, laugh, or step off a curb. This happens because the weakened pelvic floor muscles that are supposed to keep urine in the bladder can’t withstand the sudden increase in abdominal pressure, and allow urine to leak.

With UUI, you experience a sudden and urgent need to urinate, often before you have time to reach the bathroom. This occurs because the bladder muscles squeeze at the wrong time. Many women with UUI feel the urge to go when they hear the sound of running water.

What Should Menopausal Women Do?
If you are experiencing urinary incontinence during or after the process of menopause, seek help from your doctor, whether it be your regular family doctor, your gynecologist, or your urologist.

One of the common conservative medications prescribed for your situation is transvaginal hormones, specifically estrogen. Estrogen, has been shown to increase blood flow, improve nerve function, and rejuvenate the tissues in the urethra and vagina.

Transvaginal hormones have been shown to prevent urinary tract infections in post-menopausal women. These hormones are available in the form of creams, tablets, or a time-release intravaginal ring.

Note that transvaginal hormones are different than oral hormone replacement, which may actually worsen incontinence symptoms for some women.

Ready to Get Help?
Here are some resources to help you get help you want and need for your urinary incontinence:

How to Find the Right Doctor for You
Discreet Online Resources 
Learn More about Urge Urinary Incontinence
Learn More about Stress Urinary Incontinence

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Women’s Urinary Incontinence: Peeing by the Clock Can Help

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceUrinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
If you are a woman with urinary incontinence, you can actually take steps to prevent or decrease urine leakage accidents. One of these steps is called “timed voiding.” As the name suggests, it means you urinate according to a schedule … or pee by the clock.Timed Voiding Alleviates Urinary Incontinence Symptoms
Timed voiding is one of the conservative therapies that doctors often recommend for women suffering from urge and mixed urinary incontinence. Timed voiding is part of the therapy called bladder retraining. There are two ways to practice timed voiding, or peeing by the clock.

Timed Voiding Method #1 for Women’s Urinary Incontinence
The whole point of timed voiding is to retrain your bladder so that you urinate when you choose to, not when your bladder decides to “let go.” The first way to practice timed voiding is by delaying urination by 10 minutes when you feel the need to “go.”

Although this may be difficult at first, there are two ways to help you create this delay. One way is to focus your attention elsewhere for 10 minutes. Read a book, watch television, or otherwise distract yourself.

The other way is to do some Kegels, if possible, to buy yourself some time. This also strengthens your pelvic floor muscles.

Once you have been able to delay urination for 10 minutes, work on extending the delay to 20 minutes. This may take a while, but keep working at it. This “retrains” your bladder in a mind over matter kind of way.

Timed Voiding Method #2 for Women’s Urinary Incontinence
The second method to “pee by the clock” is to actually set a schedule for your urination. This usually means scheduling bathroom breaks every 2-3 hours. By setting and following this kind of schedule, you are retraining your bladder. Now you are in control of your bladder rather than the other way around.

As with the first method, this will take a little bit of practice. You may have to adjust your fluid intake as well to accommodate your schedule. However, this method does work for many women with urinary incontinence, especially if you are strict about following your set schedule. This method also means that your voiding more closely mimics that of a healthy bladder. Women with healthy bladders urinate six to eight times per day, rather than 10 or more times.

Timed Voiding Takes Practice
As with all conservative approaches to managing women’s urinary incontinence, consistency is the key. Practicing one or both timed voiding approaches above will, over time, change the way your bladder works. When added to other conservative therapies, including medications and pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation, timed voiding can be especially effective.

Give it a try. This method is discreet and can be practiced in the privacy of your home. What have you got to lose other than your wet panties?

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Women’s Urinary Incontinence: Check out SitOrSquat.com for the Nearest Toilet

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
Women’s urinary incontinence is a pain in the … panties! The wet panties, that is. If you are a woman suffering from urinary incontinence, then knowing the location of the nearest bathroom is always a priority.In your local area, that’s probably not an issue since you are familiar with the territory. But what if you have to take a business trip or are going on a family vacation? Are you then up a creek without a toilet?

Nope. Because technology will come to the rescue!

SitOrSquat.com is Help for Women’s Urinary Incontinence
If you can use a computer, then you’ve got a lot of resources at hand if you have to travel, and don’t know where to find bathrooms. Just visit this website, designed especially for people with incontinence:

http://www.sitorsquat.com

The website has three major features:

  • Helps you find a toilet near you (just type in your location)
  • Offers an online support community
  • Provides mobile applications for iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Android, or via text messaging
The website is amazingly simple to use. We put in our location (Austin, Texas) and immediately got a map filled with literally dozens and dozens of toilets. It also tells you whether the toilet is open or closed (if possible), and the name of the location where the toilet is located (like Starbuck’s).If you know of a toilet in your area that does not show up on the map, you can also use their “Add a Toilet” function to add it to the map.

Women with urinary incontinence need all the help they can get when traveling … so if you are planning a trip soon, be sure to check out the website before you leave home. You might also want to check out these additional travel tips to help your trip go more smoothly:

Travel Tips for Women with Urinary Incontinence

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Women’s Urinary Incontinence: Better Get Mad Not Sad

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

If you suffer from women’s urinary incontinence, chances are that you will experience one of two emotions about your situation: you’ll be mad or you’ll be sad.

Well guess what? It’s better to be mad rather than sad. 

Why Being Mad is Better than Being Sad
When it comes to women’s urinary incontinence, you are far better to get angry about your situation than to feel sad or depressed.

Why? Because studies show that women who feel sad or depressed about their situation are less likely to see help.

In addition, women who are sad or depressed are more likely to:

  • Overeat, which only contribute to urine leakage
  • Abuse alcohol or sedatives, both of which dull the senses and can interfere with the awareness of the need to urinate
  • Lack the incentive to get up and go to the bathroom

While getting angry isn’t necessarily the healthiest emotional response, anger is a more active emotional response. The woman who is angry or frustrated enough about her urine leakage is more likely to pick up the phone and make an appointment with her doctor to get help.

The Bottom Line about Urinary Incontinence
The bottom line, literally, is that when it comes to urine leakage and wet panties, you are far better served if you get mad about your situation than if you just feel sad. Sadness and depression are stagnant emotions, and tend to keep you stuck in the status quo.

If you feel sad or depressed about your urinary incontinence, then stop it. Get mad instead! Think about all the parts of your life that you are missing out on because of your urine leakage problem. Think about all the social situations you no longer attend, all the friends you no longer see, and all the sex you might be missing out on.

Then get mad … and get help! Here are some tips to help you choose the right doctor, prepare for your visit, and use the right words at your appointment:

Find the Right Doctor
3 Step to Prepare for Your Doctor’s Visit
Use the Right Words at Your Appointment

 

Bladder Health: Did You Know the Bladder Shrinks with Age?

by Stress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary Incontinence
Get this: As you age certain parts of your body get larger (like your nose or ears) while other parts shrink, like your bladder. 

Yikes! That’s bad news for those with women’s urinary incontinence. Leaking urine is bad enough, but the fact that the condition might worsen with aging due to a shrinking bladder can be downright depressing.

At age 25, the average person’s bladder can hold about two cups of urine before it has to be emptied. By age 65, that amount decreases to just one cup. That means twice as many trips to the bathroom.

Bladder Health: What to Do About the Shrinking Bladder
So what does a woman do about her incredible shrinking bladder? That’s a good question.

The answer is simple: train your bladder. 

If you are otherwise fairly healthy, you can train your bladder so that you go when you want to, rather than when your bladder dictates you must. With bladder training, you are taking steps toward restoring bladder health.

Bladder Training and Bladder Health
The goal of bladder training is to learn to urinate before you have the urgent urge to go, or after you successfully reduce or eliminate the urge. Learning to urinate before the urgent need is upon you helps because running for the bathroom only makes urine leakage worse. Running tends to jiggle the abdominal organs, which increases the pressure on your bladder … and you end up with urine leakage.

With bladder training you focus on increasing the amount of time between urination. This technique is most effective for women with stress urinary incontinence or urge urinary incontinence (also called overactive bladder).

How to Train Your Bladder
To train your bladder, start out by urinating every two hours during the day, whether or not you feel you have to go. After you have successfully mastered this schedule, gradually increase the time between urination by half hour increments, until you reach four hours. Four hours is a reasonable period of time between urination, and at this point you won’t find the urge to go interfering with your life.

During bladder training, if you feel the urge to go during the two hour window, stop what you are doing and remain still. At the same time, perform a pelvic floor muscle contraction, also called a Kegel. Squeeze your pelvic floor muscles several times quickly, and do not relax fully between squeezes. These are similar to “quick Kegels,” and will help suppress the urge to urinate. Also stay calm and take deep breaths. Once the urge has passed, walk slowly to the bathroom while continuing to do some quick Kegels.

Bladder Health Takes Practice
As with all new exercises, bladder training takes practice. Don’t worry if your first attempts at doing this exercise don’t succeed. Just stay focused and keep practicing. Eventually your pelvic floor muscles will become much stronger and you will feel the urgent urge to go less frequently. Also consult your physician to see if there are other conservative therapies that will complement bladder training.

Finally, if you are not sure how to do a correct pelvic floor muscle contraction (and about half of all women are not), check out our step-by-step ebook that gives you step by step instructions.

Download the “What’s Up Down There” ebook here.

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Ladies: When are Wet Panties Good and When are They Bad?

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
Wet panties can be good … under the right circumstances, like when things are about to heat up the bedroom. Wet panties can also be bad, especially for women who suffer from urinary incontinence.

When we panties are a good thing, women have no worries. It’s when wet panties are a bad thing, due to urine leakage, that the situation starts to go downhill.

Wet Panties and Women’s Urinary Incontinence: A Bad Thing
When women have the “bad” kind of wet panties, they start worrying about things like:

– whether they smell like urine
– when the next “accident” might happen
– where the nearest bathrooms are located
– whether to start buying pads, diapers, or other incontinence products
– how to keep their urinary incontinence a secret

Wow, that’s a lot of stuff to worry about. Luckily, for many women, conservative treatment can transform the “bad” kind of wet panties to the “good” kind.

Kegels: One Way to Go from “Bad” to “Good” Wet Panties
Did you know that according to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Policy, 8 out of 10 cases of urinary incontinence can be improved? What’s more, a review of recent studies on the effects of Kegel exercises indicates that women who did the exercises were anywhere from 2.5 to 17 times more likely to be cured of stress urinary incontinence symptoms.

Toning your pelvic floor muscles with exercises like Kegels (pelvic floor muscle contractions) is a great way to transition from the icky form of wet panties to the sexy kind of wet panties.

Add to that the fact that studies indicate increased pelvic floor strength leads to more satisfying sexual sensation for many women, and you have more reason than ever to do Kegels. To top it off, having a healthy sex life can actually increase the tone of a woman’s pelvic floor, which decreases the risk for stress urinary incontinence.

Talk about things getting better and better! You do Kegels, which leads to better sex and decreased symptoms of urinary incontinence. More sex tones your pelvic floor muscles even more, which further decreases risks for stress urinary incontinence.

You can’t lose, right?

How to Get Started with Kegels
Right, except here’s the problem: many women do Kegels, but incorrectly. Instead of contracting their pelvic floor muscles, many women tighten their buttocks or other parts of their body. Some women even push down on their bladder while doing what they think are Kegels. None of these approaches will strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.

To ensure that you are doing Kegels correctly, and to assess the actual strength of your pelvic floor muscles, download our free ebook. This ebook gives you specific step-by-step instructions for doing a correct pelvic floor contraction, and troubleshoots all the problem areas that most women encounter. Plus, the ebook has two great “quickie” tests to help you assess the strength of your pelvic floor right now. You can get the ebook here:

Download the “What’s Up Down There?” ebook here

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Female Urinary Incontinence: Are You Afraid to Sit on Your Friend’s Couch?

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinencePelvic Floor MusclesStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

Although this may seem silly to women who don’t have urinary incontinence,it is nevertheless true.

According to a landmark study conducted by the National Association for Continence (NAFC) the fear of soiling a friend’s furniture with urine leakage ranks as one of the top fears for women with urinary incontinence.

Here are the top fears of women who have urinary incontinence:

– 78% of women surveyed said that one of their greatest sources of potential embarrassment would be leaking urine on a friend’s upholstered furniture

– 78% said they feared that they smelled like urine

– 76% were afraid that other people would know they had urinary incontinence

Is it any wonder that women with urinary incontinence become more and more isolated? Is it any surprise that these women cut off social contact and refuse to venture out?

More importantly, do these fears resonate with you?

What to Do If You are Afraid to Sit on a Friend’s Couch
If you are one of the women who share the fears listed above, here are some tips to help you feel safer about sitting on your friend’s couch. If you haven’t already, you need to seek help from a qualified health professional to get a correct diagnosis and explore your treatment options. In addition, here are some conservative steps you can take on your own to prevent urine leakage while sitting on your friend’s couch.

1. Avoid Bladder Irritant Food and Drinks
Although your friend is likely to offer you everything from coffee to wine during a social visit, both of these are bladder irritants, and are likely to increase your chances of a urine leakage accident. Stay away from acidic food and drinks, as well as caffeinated and alcoholic beverages. Ask for plain water or herbal tea instead. Learn more about the food and drink to avoid here.

2. Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor Muscles
Doing exercises like Kegels, which are pelvic floor muscle contractions, can strengthen your pelvic floor and prevent leakage accidents. If you are not sure how to do a Kegel (or are not sure you are doing Kegels correctly), download our ebook for some quick instructions. 

Start by doing Kegels at home. Once you are proficient at doing them, take then on the road with you. Practice Kegels while waiting in line at a fast food joint or while idling in your car at a stoplight. More importantly, if you feel a urine leakage accident about to happen, do a couple of quick Kegels. This often buys you some time so you can make it to the bathroom before the accident.

3. Limit Fluid Intake and Practice Bladder Training
If you know you are going to visiting with friends, limit your fluid intake before you leave your house. You might need to experiment with this to find out how long before you leave the house you need to decrease fluid intake. Don’t stop drinking fluids altogether, as this can actual worsen urinary incontinence symptoms, but do learn your body’s reaction to fluids so you can time your fluid intake correctly.

Also, you can practice bladder training, starting at home. When you feel the urge to urinate, hold off visiting the bathroom for a few minutes. Work you way up to a 10 minute delay. This bladder delay technique will serve you well if you are visiting friends and feel the sudden urge to urinate.

Stay Social to Avoid Isolation and Depression
The whole point here is that you shouldn’t be afraid to sit on your friend’s couch, even if you do suffer from symptoms of urinary incontinence. With a little planning and some practice at home, you should be able visit all of your friends. In fact, it is important to stay socially connected with your friends and family.

Women with urinary incontinence typically decrease their social connections over time, and begin isolating themselves. This can often lead to depression, weight gain, and worsening urine leakage … it’s a vicious cycle. Staying socially and physically active are major factors in helping you keep your urinary incontinence symptoms at bay.

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Photo credit: Free Digital Photos

Women’s Urinary Incontinence: The Many Faces

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinencePelvic Floor WeaknessStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary Incontinence

If you think that the face of women’s urinary incontinence is an aging baby boomer headed for assisted living, then think again. 

Contrary to popular opinion, urinary incontinence affects women of all ages, from the teenager who suffers from “giggle incontinence” to the young woman athlete who strains something “down there.”

And then there’s the 30-something mother who suddenly finds herself in wet panties post-partum, and the 45-year-old career woman who suddenly can’t work out because she leaks urine every time she gets on the treadmill.

Still think you recognize all the faces of women’s urinary incontinence?

Women’s Urinary Incontinence by Age Group
Urinary incontinence isn’t normal at any age, and yet it can happen to females at any age. We’re all familiar with the poor bladder control in toddlers, but few women expect to deal with the problem again until much later in life. Unfortunately, it happens, though for different reasons at different points in our lives.

Giggle Incontinence in Youngsters
As the name suggests, giggle incontinence happens to young adults in their pre-teen and teenage years, usually when they giggle or otherwise put pressure on their bladders. This condition affects about 7% of young women in the U.S., and 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.

The good news is that giggle incontinence can be treated with conservative measures and behavior modification. Read more about resolving giggle incontinence here.

Young Women
Women in their 20s and 30s often develop symptoms of urinary incontinence for a variety of reasons. Avid athletes who participate in high-impact sports can develop weakened pelvic floor muscles or suffer injuries in their pelvic region, resulting in urine leakage. Some young women have naturally weak pelvic floor muscles, which can also cause urinary incontinence. For these women, conservative measures, such as doing correct Kegels, can strengthen their pelvic floor muscles and often resolve urine leakage issues.

Post-Partum Women
Many a post-partum woman has returned to her normal exercise routine only to discover that she now leaks urine. The effects of pregnancy and vaginal deliveries can weaken a woman’s pelvic floor muscles, causing urinary incontinence. Although many women do Kegels during pregnancy and post-partum, a large number of them do this pelvic floor contraction incorrectly, which does little to alleviate their urine leakage. Luckily, learning to do correct Kegels and using other conservative measures, such as medication and behavior modification, can often help these women resolve their symptoms.

Baby Boomers
While this is the most recognized face of women’s urinary incontinence, the baby boomer woman who has urinary incontinence may also be the one least likely to seek help. Many older women assume that urine leakage is just a normal sign of aging, so don’t ask their doctors for help. If you are a baby boomer with urinary incontinence, don’t let your age stop you from getting the help you need. There are many options available to women at any age for dealing with urinary incontinence, so be sure to explore all of your options!

Explore the Many Faces of Women’s Urinary Incontinence
In this blog post we cover the faces of women’s urinary incontinence by age group, but there are also different faces associated with the three kinds of urinary incontinence, which are stress, urge, and mixed. Women with weak pelvic floor muscles can also experience pelvic organ prolapse and decreased sexual sensation. Learn all the different faces of urinary incontinence, decide if one of them belongs to you, and get on the road to recovery by starting with these links:

Is This You?
What’s Up Down There? A Free Ebook on Women’s Pelvic Floor Health

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Urinary Incontinence: Not How Much but What You Drink That Matters

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

The first reaction many women have to urinary leakage is to cut back significantly on their fluid intake. After all, it does make sense that what goes into your body must come out. That means the less fluid you take in, the less likely you are to leak urine, right?

Not necessarily.

Actually, decreasing your fluid intake too much may actually irritate your bladder, which can cause more urine leakage, not less. To avoid this you need to drink enough fluid to stay hydrated, usually between four and nine cups of water per day. To improve symptoms of urinary incontinence, focus on what and when you drink. This applies to stress, urge, and mixed urinary incontinence.

What Should You Drink to Avoid Urine Leakage?
It turns out that what you drink, along with when you drink, has more effect on symptoms of urinary incontinence than how much you drink. Any fluids that irritate your bladder should be avoided, while water is always a good choice.

It may surprise you how often you drink fluids that may irritate your bladder. For instance, do you chug a couple cups of coffee or tea to wake yourself up in the morning? Or maybe you slurp down a soda with lunch, and drink another in the late afternoon to help yourself stay awake. Finally, you drink a glass of wine with dinner to relax at the end of a long day.

Unfortunately, all of these are on the “do not drink” list for women with urinary incontinence. Coffee, tea, and most sodas have caffeine, which irritate the bladder. Ditto for the carbonation in the soda and the arylalkylamines in the wine. You might be surprised at how much your urinary incontinence symptoms will improve just by cutting these drinks from your daily menu. Choose water or decaffeinated teas instead.

When Should Your Drink Fluids to Avoid Urine Leakage?
When you drink fluids can also significantly impact urinary incontinence symptoms. To reduce urine leakage, drink the majority of your water in the morning. Reduce fluid intake after 6 p.m. (or two to three hours before bedtime) to decrease nighttime voiding and incontinence.

Making just a few simple changes in what and when you drink fluids can significantly improve your symptoms of urinary incontinence. If you don’t believe it, keep track of your leakage accidents for a week before making any changes. Then, change your fluid intake habits and track your results. You will surprise yourself!

 

Can Stress at the Office be Causing Your Stress Urinary Incontinence?

by General Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
Nope. Not really.As logical as it might seem that stress at work could lead tostress urinary incontinence, that’s not how it really works. Even so, one-fourth of women surveyed believed this myth to be true.Stress at work is one thing. With urinary incontinence, the word “stress” refers to a different kind of stress – basically any stress on the abdominal cavity.

For instance, you place stress on your abdominal area when you cough, sneeze, or lean down to pick up your toddler. In short, any increase in abdominal pressure equals stress, which causes you to leak urine.

What does all of this mean to you if you have stress urinary incontinence? It means that a bad day at the office won’t cause your symptoms to get worse. That’s pretty reassuring, since most of us are under a lot of stress these days!

Want to know more? Separate the facts from the myths about female urinary incontinence by clicking the links below. In these articles, we tell you what is factual and what is merely an “old wives tale.” You might be surprised by what you read!

Debunking Myths About Stress Urinary Incontinence
Debunking Yet More Funky Myths About Urinary Incontinence

 

Triggers for Women’s Urinary Incontinence

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceUrinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
If you suffer from symptoms of urinary incontinence then knowing how to prevent leakage accidents probably tops your list of important things to know.There are many ways to treat the various types of urinary incontinence–stress, urge, and mixed–and sometimes knowing what triggers your incontinence symptoms can help you prevent accidents.

Triggers for Urinary Incontinence
Depending on what form of urinary incontinence you have, the events that trigger urine leakage will vary. With stress urinary incontinence, triggers include anything that increases pressure on or inside your abdomen, usually some form of physical activity or exercise. For some women the trigger can be as slight as stepping off a curb or walking vigorously. For others, the trigger may be more extreme, such as sneezing, picking up a heavy object, or doing aerobic exercise.

If you have urge urinary incontinence, your triggers are different. For most women, hearing the sound of running water or feeling the sensation of water on their hand can trigger the uncontrollable urge to urinate. Spicy foods, carbonated beverages, caffeine, and other foods and drinks that irritate the bladder can also trigger urge urinary incontinence.

For women with mixed urinary incontinence, any of the above triggers may bring on a leakage accident.

Finding Your Triggers for Urinary Incontinence
If you are not sure what triggers your urinary incontinence, keep a journal for a week or so. Track your food and water intake, as well as any events that seem to trigger urine leakage. You can also experiment with some lifestyle habits to see whether they improve or worsen your symptoms. Some good places to start experimenting include:

– decreasing your intake of caffeinated, alcoholic, and carbonated beverages
– stopping or decreasing smoking
– increasing your fiber intake to reduce constipation

You will also want to record the times and amounts of urine leakage, as well as how often you make it to the bathroom to urinate. All of this information will help your doctor determine your type of urinary incontinence and the best ways to treat it.

The more you know about your urinary incontinence, the more empowered you will be as an advocate for your own health and well-being. No matter how long you have dealt with urinary incontinence, it’s never too late to start improving your situation. So get some pen and paper, and start tracking your triggers!

 

Think Wet Panties are Just a Sign of Aging? Think Again!

by General Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare

A lot of mature women are walking around with wet panties when they shouldn’t be.

And we’re not talking about the “sexy” kind of wet panties; we’re talking about the wet panties you get from urinary incontinence.

Why are these women walking around with wet panties?

Because many of them (34%) think it’s a normal sign of aging, so they just shrug it off rather than getting help from a health care professional.

Well we’ve got news for you: urinary incontinence is not normal or healthy at any age.

The idea that female urinary incontinence “just happens” as we age is one of the biggest myths about this condition. For instance, many women believe that the average age at which women experience stress urinary incontinence symptoms is 50 and older.

That simply isn’t true.

In fact, 40% of women first experience stress urinary incontinence symptoms before they are 40, and 23% had symptoms before they were 30.

Still think that urinary incontinence automatically goes hand in hand with aging? It doesn’t. So much for that myth!

Want to know more about urinary incontinence? Click the links below to get the facts about female urinary incontinence, debunk the myths, and learn where to get help for your wet panties!

Debunking Myths About Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI)
Debunking Yet More Funky Myths about Urinary Incontinence
Urinary Incontinence – Not Just a Problem for Mature Women
How to Find the Right Doctor to Treat Your Urinary Incontinence

 

Stress Urinary Incontinence Symptoms Improved by Kegels, Really!

by Stress Urinary Incontinence

Many women suffering from symptoms of stress urinary incontinence are told to do Kegels, which are exercises designed to tone your pelvic floor muscles.

Many of these women actually do their Kegels, which is great news, since these exercises have been shown to be effective in reducing stress urinary incontinence symptoms.

At the same time, many of these women are doing their Kegels incorrectly, which is bad news. Here’s why:

1. These women don’t get any relief from their urinary incontinence symptoms. 

2. This gives Kegels and other pelvic floor retraining techniques a bad name, since these women claim Kegels “just don’t work.” 

3. Many of these women could experience relief from their symptoms if they learned to do Kegels correctly.

So let’s see if we can shed some light on this situation. First, let’s review the statistics about the effectiveness of Kegels.

Kegels Do Work, Really!
Studies show that women with stress urinary incontinence strongly benefit from doing Kegels. For instance, a review of recent studies on the effects of Kegel exercises indicates that women who did the exercises were anywhere from 2.5 to 17 times more likely to be cured of symptoms.

In addition, in another study 70% of women with urinary incontinence who used vaginal weights saw improvement in their symptoms after four to six weeks of using them. The Mayo Clinic supports this data, indicating that many women experience relief from their stress urinary incontinence symptoms 8 to 12 weeks after starting to do Kegels.

So Why Don’t Kegels Work for Many Women?
That’s a good question. If Kegels and other pelvic floor retraining methods are so effective for women participating in these studies, what’s going on with the other women for whom Kegels achieve “don’t work”?

Two factors: correctness and consistency

Although doing a Kegel, which involves contracting the pelvic floor muscles, can seem like a “no brainer,” a staggering 50% of women do this exercise incorrectly, usually because they cannot locate and engage the right muscles. Instead they contract their buttock or thigh muscles. Some women may need to seek some “hands on help” from a physical therapist before they can engage the right muscles.

Consistency is the other issue. Many women think, “Oh, I should do my Kegels!” but then forget to actually do them. For Kegels to work, they should be done daily. Many physicians suggest women do Kegels for life, especially if they have experienced stress urinary incontinence.

Kegels and pelvic floor retraining exercises, when done correctly and consistently, can and do relieve symptoms of stress urinary incontinence. Plus, they are so subtle that you can do them while your car is idling at a stoplight or while you are waiting in line for some fast food (some of the women in the picture above may be doing Kegels … who could tell?).

If you suffer from symptoms of stress urinary incontinence, doing correct and consistent Kegels should definitely be on your “To Do” list … don’t you think?

Read more about Kegels and New Moms

Healthy Bladder: Foods and Drinks to Avoid this Holiday Season

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary Incontinence

Healthy Bladder: Foods and Drinks to Avoid This Holiday Season

The holidays are just around the corner, and for women dealing with urinary incontinence, all that holiday food can look like a minefield rather than a tasty buffet! They spend their time wondering which foods and drinks are going to bring on a leakage accident, and which are “safe.”

If you have suffered from urinary incontinence for a while, then you probably already know that certain foods and drinks can irritate the bladder and cause urine leakage—definitely not something you want to happen at the big Christmas party.

Have a Healthy Bladder This Holiday Season
The key to preventing urine leakage accidents this holiday season is to stay away from two categories of food and drink. Avoid foods and drinks that:

– are acidic
– contain arylalkylamines (tyrosine, tyramine, tryptophan, aspirate, and phenylalamine)

Foods and drinks in these two categories both tend to irritate inflamed areas of the bladder and urethra, and cause leakage.

Acidic Foods and Drinks to Avoid
There are lots of acidic foods and drinks out there, but during the holiday season these are the ones that you are most likely to encounter:

– alcoholic or carbonated drinks
– spicy food
– citrus fruits or juices
– other fruits including apples, cranberries, grapes, pineapples, strawberries and plums
– tomatoes
– anything that contains vinegar
– caffeinated drinks

Foods and Drinks Containing Arylalkylamines to Avoid
Don’t even bother trying to pronounce the word “arylalkylamines.” Just try to avoid eating or drinking the following at holiday parties:

– Drinks: champagne, beer, wine
– Vegetables: avocados, fava and lima beans, onions
– Fruits: bananas, figs, cranberries, pineapple, prunes, raisins
– Other Goodies: cheese, chicken livers, chocolate, corned beef, mayonnaise, nuts, sour cream, soy sauce, and yogurt

Everything in Moderation
If the list of food and drink to avoid this holiday season looks horrible, don’t panic. Your holiday food doesn’t have to be limited to bread and water. Just avoid overdoing when it comes to eating or drinking the items on the lists above.

Plus, there is help if you overdo it. If you find yourself stuffing down Christmas chocolates because they are too good to avoid, you can dilute the effects of your overindulgence by drinking plenty of water. Drinking plenty of water may reduce urine acidity and dilute any effects of these specific irritants. Another option you can try is an over-the-counter supplement called Prelief. Taking Prelief at mealtime may help reduce bladder irritation and leakage accidents.

The bottom line is this: having dry panties this holiday season just means being a little choosier when it comes to what you eat and drink. You should definitely eat, drink, and be merry during the holidays. If you do all of that with a little discretion, you’ll see more of your friends and less of the bathroom!

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

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: