Women’s Urinary Incontinence: More Than One Cause

by Mixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary Incontinence
“Why am I leaking urine?” This is one of the most common questions asked by women who experience urinary leakage. The answer to this question is not as simple or straightforward as it might seem, since there can be multiple causes for this condition. If you are leaking urine, then you may be looking for more than one culprit.

Risk Factors for Women’s Urinary Incontinence
Unfortunately, women are twice as likely as men to suffer from urine leakage. Part of the reason for this statistic is that pregnancy and childbirth are major contributors to urinary incontinence. Childbirth, especially vaginal deliveries, can stretch and tear the muscles and ligaments in the pelvic region, weakening the pelvic floor muscles and causing urine leakage.

Other risk factors that can contribute to urinary incontinence include:

Weight Gain and Obesity:Every pound puts downward pressure on the bladder and pelvic floor muscles

Aging:Muscles in the pelvic floor tend to sag, just like muscles everywhere else in the body

Smoking and Chronic Cough:Nicotine can irritate the bladder in some women while chronic coughing puts stress on the bladder, causing involuntary leakage

Menopause:Decreased levels of estrogen linked to menopause can lead to thinning of the urethral and vaginal walls, which in turn offer less support for the bladder

Medication:Certain classes of medicine, such as broncho-dilators and diuretics, can cause urine leakage

Urinary Tract Infections:Chronic infections in the bladder or urinary tract can eventually lead to urinary incontinence

Other causes include pelvic organ prolapse, dietary issues, and bladder stones. The key is to realize that more than one factor may be contributing to your urine leakage issues.

That’s why it is important to check with your healthcare provider as soon as you experience any symptoms of urinary incontinence. The earlier your doctor can diagnose your condition, the more easily your symptoms can be treated and cured. In addition, early detection means that conservative measures, such as physical therapy and lifestyle changes, are more effective.

Diseases That Contribute to Urinary Incontinence
In addition to the factors listed above, certain diseases can cause urinary incontinence. While this is more prevalent in the elderly or the ill, you are more likely to suffer urine leakage if you have or have had:

– Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease
– diabetes
– multiple sclerosis
– stroke
– pelvic floor or spinal cord injuries
– bladder cancer

As always, knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have about your condition the more you can contribute to your own health and well-being. To be your own best health advocate, especially when it comes to matters “down there,” take two important steps:

1. Contact your healthcare provider to get an accurate diagnosis and explore your treatment options.

2. Learn are much as you can about your condition. You may wish to learn more about the different types of urinary incontinence or read our no-cost ebook.

Good luck and remember that urinary incontinence is neither inevitable nor untreatable!

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Women’s Urinary Incontinence: Should You Consider Botox?

by General Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
If you suffer from overactive bladder or urge urinary incontinence, a specific form of women’s urinary incontinence, then you likely experience sudden urges to urinate but don’t have enough time to reach a bathroom.
Bummer.Conservative Treatment Options
Luckily, there are a number of conservative treatments for urge urinary incontinence or overactive bladder. Some of the most commonly used treatments include:

– pelvic floor exercises, or Kegels (see our ebook)
– bladder retraining
– fluid and diet management–
– oral or skin patch medication

For many women with urge incontinence or overactive bladder, one or more of these treatments may greatly improve or even cure their urine leakage symptoms. But for other women, these therapies don’t quite take care of the problem.

Should You Consider Botox for Urinary Incontinence?
For those women whose symptoms of urge urinary incontinence or overactive bladder do not respond to the above therapies, another option includes Botox injection. Normally used to get rid of lines and wrinkles on the face, Botox injections can produce excellent results for women with unresolved urine leakage issues when injected “down there.”

During this procedure, which is performed under local anesthetic, Botox is injected in small doses into the bladder wall in five to thirty locations, as well as into the urinary sphincter muscle. This paralyzes the detrusor muscle, one of the bladder muscles responsible for causing the bladder to empty suddenly and on its own.

Women with overactive bladder or urge urinary incontinence may still get sudden urges to urinate, but the bladder muscles become desensitized so that there is time to reach a bathroom.

Most women report that the procedure isn’t painful. Instead, some women experience a “pinching” sensation in the abdominal area, but feel no pain after the procedure is complete.

Is Botox Right for You?
Botox injections, while not currently FDA approved, do help women with urinary incontinence. A Swiss study conducted in 2004 reported that all participants were able to hold more urine in their bladders after the injections. Plus, participants emptied their bladders on average only four times a day instead of the typical twelve times per day.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that effects of Botox injections only last for six to twelve months. After that, women have to go back to the doctor for another series of injections. Each series of injections can cost upwards about $1,000, and most insurance companies will not cover this form of treatment.

If you are considering getting Botox injections to deal with your women’s urinary incontinence, weigh the pros and cons carefully. For some women, for whom more conventional treatments offer no relief, Botox injections are an attractive option for relieving urine leakage symptoms. Just be sure to find a competent surgeon who specializes in this kind of procedure. Your local beauty salon or medical spa won’t know how to handle this procedure!

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Women’s Urinary Incontinence: Pack a Small Bag When Out and About

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
An evening at the theater, an educational lecture, a “girls night out” … all of these activities should be fun and pleasurable, unless you suffer from women’s urinary incontinence. If you have a problem with urine leakage, then these social events can end up being torturous rather than fun.Pack a Bag for Social Events
Social events can become fun again with a little strategic planning. One way to deal with women’s urinary incontinence is to pack a small bag when you have to be out and about. And don’t worry, when we say “small bag” we mean small.

In fact, you can fit most of these items in your purse. To be prepared to deal with potential urine leakage accidents, carry these items around with you:

– an extra incontinence pad
– a tampon (wearing a tampon can support your urethra and prevent leakage)
– odor-neutralizing spray
– small fragrance spray

No big deal, right? The extra pad will keep you dry if you do have a urine leakage accident. The tampon will prevent further leakage, and the sprays will keep you smelling fresh and clean.

Some Additional Tips for Social Events
In addition to packing some extra supplies, you can also minimize embarrassment if you do have an accident by doing the following:

– watch what you eat and drink
– practice bladder retraining or timed voiding
– wearing dark clothing

Sounds simple, right? It can be. A little effort goes a long way when you deal with women’s urinary incontinence.

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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: When You Gotta Go at Night

by Mixed Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary IncontinenceUrinary IncontinenceWomen's Healthcare
Women with urinary incontinence have enough difficult staying dry during the day, when they are awake and conscious, but what do you do if you leak urine at night when you are sleeping?This is a symptom of urge urinary incontinence (UUI) or mixed urinary incontinence (MUI). It is also, according to the women who suffer from this problem, downright frustrating!

What Can You Do About Urinary Incontinence at Night?
Luckily, depending on the severity of symptoms, you can take steps to decrease urine leakage at night, or limit the amount of cleanup necessary. Here are three do-it-yourself steps you might want to try.

1. Bladder Retraining
Bladder retraining involves urinating at regular intervals during the day, whether you feel like you need to go or not. The goal is the increase the interval of time so that you urinate less and less frequently during the day. This will often relieve symptoms of nighttime urine leakage.

To assist you with bladder retraining, you may need to program your cell phone or a small timer to “beep” at certain intervals, reminding you to go to the bathroom. For instance, during the first week you may want to set the timer for an hour or 90 minutes. If you feel the urge to urinate before your timer has beeped, breathe deeply and relax. Do a Kegel or pelvic floor contraction or two or suppress the urge. Then urinate at the appointed time.

Each week gradually increase the interval between bathroom visits until you have reached a 3 hour interval. At this point you should definitely see improvement in your nighttime urine leakage symptoms.

2. Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor Muscles
When you strengthen your pelvic floor muscles with Kegels, they will help hold everything in place “down there” both during the day and at night. The key is to do “correct” Kegels. Many women think they are tightening the correct pelvic floor muscles during a Kegel, but in fact are squeezing their thighs or buttocks instead.

To learn how to do a correct Kegel, download our ebook, which has step-by-step instructions on how to perform a correct Kegel. The ebook also gives offers two great tests to help you measure the strength of your pelvic floor muscles.

3. Stop Fluid Intake before Bed
While you definitely need to stay hydrated during the day, since not drinking enough water can worsen symptoms of urinary incontinence, you can decrease night time leakage by stopping your fluid intake 3 hours before bed. Most women report that this 3-hour interval works well to decrease urine leakage at night.

Finally, to prevent messy cleanups or having the change your linens, consider sleeping on a waterproof pad or wearing an adult brief to bed. It can save a lot of hassle during the night so you can rest easy and have sweet dreams!

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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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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.

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to leave a comment, contact us, download our ebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Women’s Urinary Incontinence: 5 Requirements for Bladder Health

by General Urinary IncontinenceMixed Urinary IncontinenceUrge Urinary Incontinence
If you suffer from women’s urinary incontinence, you may be feeling quite frustrated about your wet panties, especially if you haven’t been able to solve your symptoms quickly.But hold on … the human anatomy is a complicated system, and everything has to work just right for you to avoid urinary incontinence.Did you know that your urinary system has to meet 5 requirements for you to urinate properly?

Really.

The 5 Requirements for Bladder Health
Having a healthy bladder, and resolving your urinary incontinence, means you urinate every three to six hours, which is typical for a healthy person. Unfortunately, if you have women’s urinary incontinence, you probably run for the bathroom far more frequently.

Why is that? One or more of these five functions may not be working well in your body, preventing you from going when you want to … rather than when your body forces you to go.

Requirement #1 for Bladder Health: A Big Enough Bladder
A healthy bladder can hold up to 2 cups of urine before it needs to be emptied. If, for some reason, the walls of your bladder don’t stretch enough to accommodate this amount of urine, you’ll either have urine leakage or need to visit the bathroom often.

Requirement #2 for Bladder Health: Feel the Urge
When your bladder is full, it sends a signal through your nervous system to your brain, which gives you the urge to go. That means that your nervous system has to be functioning properly, and your brain has to interpret the signal correctly. Due to injury, illness, or neurological conditions, some women do not get the sensation of a full bladder and end up instead with wet panties.

Requirement #3 for Bladder Health: Get a Move On
Once your brain sends you the message that you need to urinate, the next impediment is finding a bathroom quickly enough. Hence the “bathroom radar” many women with urinary incontinence develop. For some seniors, speed of movement is a difficulty. For other women, getting their clothes off quickly enough can be a problem. For this reason, many women end up wearing pants with elastic waistbands or other “easy off” clothing. This can definitely ruin a gal’s fashion sense!

Requirement #4 for Bladder Health: Control Those Bladder Muscles
To control your urination and prevent urine leakage, you need strong pelvic floor muscles, especially the muscle called the bladder sphincter. To improve the tone of your pelvic floor muscles, consider doing Kegels and other toning exercises specifically for your muscles “down there.” Many women do Kegels, but incorrectly, so they see very few results. To discover how to do a correct pelvic floor contraction and more, download our free ebook, which gives you step-by-step instructions.

Requirement #5 for Bladder Health: Empty the Bladder Completely
If you are able to get to a bathroom in time to avoid a leakage accident, but then can’t empty your bladder completely, then you’ll feel the urge to urinate soon. The inability to empty your bladder completely not only increases the frequency of your urge to urinate, but can also increase your risk of urinary tract infections. If you feel that your bladder is not emptying completely each time you urinate, check with an urologist. A quick test will confirm whether this is one of the causes of your urinary incontinence.

Steps You Can Take for Bladder Health
Hopefully this snapshot of the different requirements necessary for bladder health gives you an idea of where you body’s urinary system may be breaking down. Armed with this knowledge, you can better communicate with your healthcare providers about your situation.

In addition, check out these resources for women’s urinary incontinence:

Free Ebook: What’s Up Down There?
Online Resources for Women’s Urinary Incontinence

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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

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to leave a comment, contact us, download our ebook, or follow us on Twitter.

 

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!

 

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!

 

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:

Urinary incontinence – Not Just for Mature Women

by Mixed Urinary IncontinencePelvic Organ ProlapseStress Urinary IncontinenceUrge IncontinenceUrge Urinary Incontinence
If you pay attention to the commercials on TV for urinary incontinence (UI) products, you might think that UI is a condition that only affects “mature” women. Whether you see a gray-haired woman promoting adult diapers or an active grandmother discussing drugs for UI, you start to get the idea that UI and aging go together.But UI isn’t just a symptom of menopause or aging – it can be caused by a number of different factors, and affect women of any age. UI doesn’t just happen to baby boomers, it also happens to women with babies. Childbirth can tear and stretch muscles in the pelvic floor, causing pelvic floor weakness and urinary leakage.

Lifestyle factors can also cause younger women to experience UI. Younger women are at risk for UI if they are:

Overweight: being overweight by even 7-10% can double the chances of UI

Caffeine Drinkers: caffeine is a bladder irritant that can cause urine to leak unexpectedly

Constipated: straining or bearing down on a regular basis weakens the pelvic floor muscles

Involved in Competitive Sports: such as marathon running, triathlons and gymnastics

Smokers: constant coughing puts pressure on the bladder and pelvic floor muscles

Ladies, don’t be fooled by the commercials you see on TV. No matter what your age, if you start leaking urine unexpectedly, it is a sign that your pelvic floor muscles are not as healthy as they could be. Get help now!

Learn whether you have stress urinary incontinence, urge urinary incontinence, mixed urinary incontinence, or even pelvic organ prolapse. Discover how Kegels, lifestyle modifications, and other treatment options can help with your UI symptoms. The good news is that the sooner you start treating your UI, the better your chances are of experiencing complete cure.