Urinary Incontinence

What is Urinary Incontinence?

Urinary incontinence is when you’ve lost control of your bladder, whether it’s a tiny amount or complete loss. Many women find urinary incontinence an embarrassing condition that they don’t want to talk about, but it’s common and treatable.

What are the Types of Urinary Incontinence?

There are four primary types of urinary incontinence, with stress and urge incontinence being the most common.

• Stress Incontinence: If you leak urine during your run or after a sneeze, you may be experiencing stress incontinence. This type of urine loss usually results from pressure on your bladder.
• Urge Incontinence: Also referred to as overactive bladder, urge incontinence causes you to feel a strong need to urinate that may sometimes result in urine loss before you make it to the bathroom. Urge incontinence may result from an infection, a neurological disorder, or diabetes.
• Functional Incontinence: If you can’t make it the bathroom due to a physical condition, such as severe osteoarthritis in your knees, then you may have functional incontinence.
• Overflow Incontinence: Overflow incontinence causes you to lose small amounts of urine because you were unable to completely empty your bladder.

You may also have mixed incontinence, which is a combination of two or more of the different types of incontinence.

If your urinary incontinence is affecting your quality of life and restricting your outings, you should schedule an appointment with a women’s health expert at West Coast Obstetrics & Gynecology.

How is Urinary Incontinence Treated?

Treatment for urinary incontinence may depend on the cause and the severity of your urine loss. The team at West Coast Obstetrics & Gynecology may first recommend lifestyle changes to improve control over your bladder, such as:

• Bladder training with a set bathroom routine
• Pelvic floor exercises to strengthen muscles
• Holding in your urine as long as you can

Medication may also be prescribed to relax your bladder muscles and improve your control. Use of vaginal estrogen cream may also be recommended to help improve vaginal and urethral tissue to prevent urine leakage.

If vaginal prolapse is the cause of your incontinence, the team may insert a pessary, which is a vaginal ring that supports pelvic muscles.

For kind and caring treatment of all your health care needs, including urinary incontinence, call West Coast Obstetrics & Gynecology or schedule an appointment using the online booking button.