Feeling an urgent need to get to the restroom on a regular basis? Leaking when you laugh or cough? Can’t make it through the night without leakage? You're not alone. Many women experience urinary incontinence as they age.
Symptoms can be minimal, such as leaking urine when you sneeze, to more serious symptoms that interrupt your daily life because of consistent leakage and frequent urges to urinate.
There are many causes for this health issue.
Causes of female incontinence
- Pregnancy and childbirth: While pregnant, it's common to experience temporary incontinence or an urgency to urinate, because of the pressure of the uterus on the bladder. After childbirth, long-term or chronic issues with incontinence may be due to damaged or weakened pelvic muscles that control the bladder.
- Menopause: Rapidly changing hormone levels during menopause may affect the bladder and urethra, causing incontinence.
- Medication: Some medications, like diuretics, sedatives and anti-depressants, may cause bladder control challenges.
- Health issues: If you have a neurological disorder, such as multiple sclerosis, experienced a stroke or have a spinal injury, you may have bladder control problems due to a disruption of nerve signals. Having diabetes, cancer and pelvic floor disorders also can cause urinary incontinence.
- Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs): UTIs irritate the bladder and may cause incontinence. You may experience more UTIs as you age due to hormonal changes after menopause.
- Constipation: Constipation stresses nerves that cause incontinence.
- Lifestyle choices: Drinking coffee and alcohol may temporarily increase your urge to urinate. Additionally, a healthy diet is key, as being overweight increases the risk of incontinence.
- Genetics: If there’s a history of urinary incontinence in your family, you're at a higher risk of having it as well.
Types of urinary incontinence
- Stress: If stress is placed on the bladder, such as when you’re lifting something heavy, sneezing or laughing, you may experience a small amount of leakage.
- Urge: This is often referred to as an “overactive bladder” where you feel a frequent, intense urge to urinate, even if your bladder isn't full. Involuntary leakage often results in this case.
- Overflow: When your bladder doesn’t fully evacuate all the urine, you may experience frequent, sometimes constant, leakage. This may also lead to a UTI.
- Mixed: If you experience symptoms of both stress and urge incontinence, it's called mixed incontinence.
Solutions for incontinence
- Proactive prevention: Practice pelvic floor exercises, avoid caffeine and alcohol, eat more fiber to prevent constipation, keep a healthy weight and empty your bladder completely before any physical activity.
- Wearing protection: To offer more peace of mind and freedom to continue enjoying activities, wear protective undergarments that help absorb leakage.
- Medication: Medications can help control urges and urinary incontinence. Talk to your primary care provider about these options.
- Physical therapy: Your provider may refer you to a physical therapist who'll determine the muscle strength of your pelvis and create a personalized therapy plan for you.
Talk about it
While this topic may not be easy to discuss with your provider, it’s very common for women to experience urinary incontinence. The sooner you ask about solutions, the sooner you may find relief from worrying about leakage and your proximity to the restroom everywhere you go. Make an appointment with your primary care provider today if you're experiencing any symptoms of urinary incontinence.
This blog was reviewed by a MercyOne medical provider.
