Female Urinary Incontinence

FEMALE URINARY INCONTINENCE

Urinary incontinence is defined as the condition when one is unable to hold the urine until getting to a toilet. It is reported that over 13 million people in the United States, including both male and female, young and adults, experience incontinence. Incontinence is reported as a temporary condition which is often a side effect of an underlying medical complication.

The cases of incontinence in women are twice that in males. A range of factors including pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause affects the female urinary tract in a number of ways that contribute towards incontinence. However, some of the other reasons for the condition may include neurologic injury, birth defects, strokes, multiple sclerosis, and physical concerns associated with aging.

The rate of incontinence in older women is higher than in younger women. However, there has been no inevitable connection between age and incontinence.

While it is an embarrassing condition, the good news is that incontinence can be treated. When the muscles of the bladder do not act normal, they fail to hold or release the urine. The contraction of the tissues of the bladder results in urination. As the urine passes from the bladder to the urethra the sphincter muscles of the urethra relax and the urine is passed out of the body. The primary reason for incontinence is the work failure of the muscles in the bladder or the sphincter muscles of the urethra.

Types of Urinary Incontinence

• Stress: When one leaks the urine during physical movement (coughing, sneezing, exercising).
• Urge: When leakage is large and at unexpected times, including during sleep.
• Functional: When physical disability, external obstacles, or problems in thinking or communicating causes urination.
• Overflow: When the urine leaks from the bladder unexpectedly in small amounts.
• Mixed: When stress and urge incontinence have combined a cause.
• Transient: When a condition such as infection or medication causes temporary incontinence.

How is Incontinence Treated?

• Exercises: Kegel exercises are the best for Urine Leakage Treatment in Ludhiana, Punjab. It’s strengthening or retraining pelvic floor muscles and sphincter muscles. You can perform these exercises without any equipment.
• Electrical Stimulation: Mild doses of electrical stimulation are exerted to the lower pelvic area to strengthen the muscles. The procedure might also involve the placement of electrodes in the vagina or rectum for better stimulation.
• Biofeedback: The process involves the use of measuring devices that help track the body’s functioning. With a note about bladder and urethral muscles contraction timing, one can gain control.
• Timed Voiding or Bladder Training: Timed voiding (urinating) and bladder training are techniques that use biofeedback. In timed voiding, you fill in a chart of voiding and leaking. From the patterns that appear in your chart, you can plan to empty your bladder before you would otherwise leak. Biofeedback and muscle conditioning–known as bladder training–can alter the bladder’s schedule for storing and emptying urine. These techniques are effective for urge and overflow incontinence.
• Medications: Medication is effective in treating many types of leakage. Different drugs act differently on the bladder muscles, including relaxing or strengthening them. There are certain drugs that work on tightening the muscles at the bladder neck and urethra as well as some others that release estrogen, a hormone that is reported to promote the function of the bladder.
• Pessaries: A pessary is a stiff ring-like device that is placed inside the vagina and inserts the pressure on the wall of the vagina and the nearby urethra. The urethra is repositioned with the pressure and ultimately affects the stress leakage.
• Implants: In case of loss of mass, doctors suggest injecting substances into the tissues around the urethra. This is a way to treat stress incontinence. Collagen and fats from the patient’s body are used.
• Surgery: In case none of the above-mentioned treatments work, the doctor recommends surgery. The primary reason for incontinence is the hanging of the bladder down in the vagina. The surgeries are focused on pulling the bladder up to a more normal position. In case of severe stress incontinence, the surgeon may use a wide sling to secure the bladder in place. This way, the bottom of the bladder and the top of the urethra is compressed and any chances of further leakage are avoided. An artificial sphincter, a doughnut-shaped sac may also be implanted in the urethra in very rare conditions.
• Catheterization: In the case where the incontinence is caused because of the inability of the bladder to empty completely (overflow incontinence) or a condition where bladder fails to empty because of poor muscle tone, past surgery, or spinal cord injury, the doctors might install a catheter to empty the bladder. A catheter is a medical device that appears like a tube. It is inserted through the urethra into the bladder where it helps drain the urine. The use of catheters may be limited to once in a blue moon or on a permanent basis, in case of permanent catheter installation, there is a tube attached to it which further attached to a bag that one carries around the leg. The bag collects the urine that the body passes out. The constant use of a catheter may cause a urinary tract infection and hence it is important to keep a watchful eye over any changing statics.