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What are the causes of urinary incontinence?
Urinary incontinence is caused by problems with the nerves and muscles that help the bladder to pass or hold urine. The pelvic floor muscles that support your urethra, bladder, uterus, and bowels may become damaged or weak after pregnancy, childbirth, or menopause. With weakened muscles, your bladder and urethra are forced to work harder to hold urine.
Unfortunately, the extra pressure or stress on the bladder and urethra can cause urinary leakage or incontinence. Urinary incontinence may also have other causes. You may experience incontinence due to aging of the bladder muscles, being overweight, nerve damage, or surgery in the reproductive organs, such as a hysterectomy.
Certain medications, caffeine, or infection may cause temporary incontinence as well. Furthermore, the condition may also be a result of urinary tract infection, multiple sclerosis, stroke, a brain tumor, Parkinson’s disease, spinal injury, or urinary stones.
While urinary incontinence can happen for both men and women, it is twice as common for women. Women can have urinary incontinence at any age—though it is more frequent in older women due to hormonal changes during menopause. Plus, since the female urethra is shorter, any damage or weakness to it will likely cause urinary incontinence.
The 2 Major types of urinary incontinence
• Stress incontinence
As the name suggests, stress incontinence occurs when there is stress or pressure put on your bladder. Because your pelvic floor muscles are weakened, any stress or pressure easily triggers the release of urine.
When you have stress incontinence, everyday actions that use the pelvic floor muscles, such as sneezing, laughing, jumping, lifting heavy objects, or coughing, tend to cause urine leakage. This also includes sudden physical activity and movements.
Stress incontinence is the most common type of incontinence and the most frequent in younger women. The risk of this condition is increased when you are smoking, overweight, or have gone through childbirth.
• Urge incontinence
Also called overactive bladder, urge incontinence occurs when your brain and spinal cord do not work properly with the bladder to allow you to hold urine and release it at the right time. The bladder may suddenly empty itself without warning, or you may feel like you need to pass urine more frequently.
As a rule, urge incontinence is identified by having to pass urine more than eight times a day—and usually passing only a little urine once you get to the bathroom.
It is a common condition in older women and tends to affect those with nervous system disorders, such as stroke or multiple sclerosis.
Treatment Options
The treatment offered for urinary incontinence varies from case to case. For a less severe condition, your female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery (FPMRS) physician may advise small changes to your lifestyle.
You may be encouraged to quit smoking, avoid caffeine and alcohol, lose weight, practice urge suppression, retrain your bladder, and perform pelvic floor exercises.
Your urogynecologist may also prescribe medical devices, like urethral insert and vaginal pessary, to help you control stress incontinence.
Additionally, fillers such as carbon beads and collagen may be applied for plumping up the tissues where urine is released from the bladder to help hold it.
In some cases, your FPMRS physician may recommend bladder-relaxing Botox, estrogen replacement therapy, or drugs like pseudoephedrine to help tone up the urethra. Likewise, electrical nerve stimulation procedures, such as sacral nerve stimulation and tibial nerve stimulation, are options that may be considered.
If these do not work, your urogynecologist may recommend surgery, such as the sling procedure or retro-pubic colpo-suspension to correct the underlying problem and relieve symptoms.
Advanced Urology Institute
AUI was developed as a single-specialty physician led organization to respond to the mounting changes in healthcare. Solo-practitioners and small groups cannot keep up with the increased governmental burdens and continue to stay focused on providing the highest level of care to their patients. We believe that by combining our efforts, geographically disparate Urology groups can function most efficiently and effectively to deliver the highest quality medical care to our patients.
We Value Patient-Centered, Evidence-Based Care
As a patient, you can be certain that you are a critical member of our treatment team. We will answer your questions and strive to provide the best services and the best care, based on your individual needs, preferences, and choices. AUI Physicians emphasize the use of proven treatment guidelines within our specialty, to optimize clinical decision making. Through our internal measures, our involvement in research studies, and our passion for continuous learning, you can be confident that our treatment team is providing you with the best treatment options.
Please Contact Advanced Urology Institute Today.
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(352) 259-4400
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