Supervised Pelvic Floor Training
I realize that this article is about self-help measures to stop stress incontinence, but understanding the differences between supervised and unsupervised pelvic floor strengthening is necessary for two reasons. First, supervised training is the widely accepted recommended approach so I would be doing a disservice not to mention it. Second, supervised training has been shown to be the more effective approach so if doing these exercises on your own fails to significantly improve your symptoms, all is not lost.
In contrast to unsupervised pelvic floor muscle training, training supervised by a pelvic health physiotherapist offers:
When Is Surgery Needed
Pelvic floor muscle training alone does not always help improve bladder control. Leaking urine can make it hard to cope with day to day life. In cases like this, surgery may be recommended to you.
Surgery should never be your first choice
All surgery has risks. You must discuss these risks with your surgeon.
What Causes Bladder Control Problems
Bladder control problems are mainly caused by damage to:
- pelvic floor muscles
- the tissues that support the pelvic floor muscles.
The pelvic floor muscles do a number of things. They help to:
- support the bladder
- help to hold the bladder, the uterus and bowel in their proper place.
Bladder control problems can start when the pelvic floor muscles are made weaker by:
- not keeping them active
For more information, see the brochure One in Three Women Who Ever Had a Baby Wet Themselves.
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How Can A Man Stop Dribbling After Urinating
How to Reduce Post Micturition Dribble. To push the last remaining drops of urine from the urethra the technique is as follows: After passing urine, wait for a few seconds to allow the bladder to empty. Place the fingertips of the left hand three finger-breadths behind the scrotum and apply gentle pressure.
If medications are used, this is usually in combination with other techniques or exercises.
The following medications are prescribed to treat urinary incontinence:
- Anticholinergics calm overactive bladders and may help patients with urge incontinence.
- Topical estrogen may reinforce tissue in the urethra and vaginal areas and lessen some of the symptoms.
- Imipramine is a tricyclic antidepressant.
Begin By Talking To Your Doctor
What should you do if youre experiencing bladder problems? First, speak up. People often dont bring up issues of incontinence with their clinical providers, either due to embarrassment or because they feel there are no available options that can helpor that surgery may be the only option, says Tomas Griebling, M.D., professor of urology and senior associate dean for medical education at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. But the symptoms can almost always be eased, Hochman says.
So start by working with a general practitioner, who can determine whether there may be an underlying cause for your symptoms. Urgency, incontinence, and urinary frequency can be caused by urinary tract infections or kidney stonesor, in men, a prostate infection or prostate enlargement. Medication you take to treat other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, insomnia, and pain, can also lead to bladder leaks.
Your doctor might ask you to keep a diary of how often you urinate, when you have leaks, and how much liquid you consume. That will help define the problem and pinpoint the triggers.
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Urinary Incontinence: Vaginal Sling Procedure
Overview
The vaginal sling procedure is also called the pubovaginal sling procedure. Its a type of surgery used to treat urinary incontinence in women.
Urinary incontinence is the medical term for the inability to control your bladder. This condition leads to the leakage of urine. For example, you may experience urine leakage after coughing or sneezing. Or you may experience strong and sudden urges to urinate, which lead to urine leakage when you cant make it to a toilet in time. If you have severe urinary incontinence that affects your daily life, your doctor may recommend a vaginal sling procedure to treat it.
When you urinate, a circular-shaped muscle around your bladder relaxes and releases urine into your urethra. Your urethra is the tube that leads from your bladder to the outside of your body. In the vaginal sling procedure, your surgeon will use a piece of tissue or synthetic material to make a sling around your urethra. This will help keep your urethra closed and prevent urine leakage.
Should You Have Surgery
If your symptoms are making your life difficult, surgery may be the answer. You need to think about a few things:
Your age. If youâre young, keep in mind that bladder prolapse can happen again. Even if you have surgery now, you may end up needing another operation down the road. If youâre older, any other health issues you have may affect your decision.
Your plans about having children. If you want more children, itâs best to hold off on surgery until you decide your family is complete.
Your general health. Surgery has some risks, such as infection, blood clots, or problems with the anesthetic. If you have a heart condition, diabetes, or breathing difficulties, any of these things could make an operation riskier. So could smoking or obesity.
Also, talk with your doctor about the chances that surgery could cause new problems. You might develop urinary incontinence — urine leaking out without your control. Sex might become uncomfortable, and you might feel pain in your pelvis.
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When To Seek Medical Advice
See a GP if you have any type of urinary incontinence. Urinary incontinence is a common problem and you should not feel embarrassed talking to them about your symptoms.
This can also be the first step towards finding a way to effectively manage the problem.
The GP may also suggest you keep a diary in which you note how much fluid you drink and how often you have to urinate.
Find out about diagnosing urinary incontinence.
Urinary Incontinence After Prostate Surgery: Everything You Need To Know
Undergoing a prostatectomy can be difficult. And for many men, finding that they are incontinent post surgery may come as a shock.
But rest assured that there are many treatments available to manage incontinence treatment after surgery. Read below for some of the most common questions we receive about incontinence after prostate surgery.
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Gentle Exercise And Resistance Training
Building your core, leg, and pelvic muscles through gentle exercise like walking or resistance training will help you stop leaks.Since excess belly fat puts you at a higher risk of experiencing these embarrassing leaks, maintaining a healthy weight through targeted nutrition and gentle exercise is a critical piece in maintaining your health for the decades to come.
Frequently Asked Questions Expand All
- What is stress urinary incontinence ?
Stress urinary incontinence is the leakage of urine with physical activity, such as exercise, or when coughing, laughing, or sneezing. It is a common problem in women. SUI can be treated with both nonsurgical and surgical treatment methods.
- What causes SUI?
SUI is a pelvic floor disorder. These disorders occur when tissues and muscles that support the urethra, bladder, uterus, or rectum are damaged.
In SUI, the sphincter muscle that controls the flow of urine from the bladder to the urethra may weaken. Or the muscles that support the position of the bladder and the urethra may weaken. Weakness in these muscles may occur from pregnancy, childbirth, or aging.
- What nonsurgical treatments may help with SUI?
If you have SUI and your symptoms bother you, your health care professional may suggest nonsurgical treatments first. Lifestyle changes, such as drinking less fluid, limiting caffeine, stopping smoking, and losing weight, can help decrease the number of times you leak urine.
Other nonsurgical options include pelvic muscle exercises , physical therapy and biofeedback, or use of a pessary. Another option is an over-the-counter product that is inserted into the like a tampon. If these treatments do not improve the problem, surgery may help.
- What are the surgical treatments for SUI?
Surgery improves SUI symptoms in most women. There are different types of surgery for SUI:
-
Colposuspension
Medical history
Cause of the problem
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Exercises Your Leaky Bladder Wants You To Do
There are exercises for your butt, your legs, your arms, your spare tire, even your ever-texting achy thumbs. So considering the bladder itself is a muscleand its surrounded by other musclesit makes sense that you can whip that puppy into shape, too.
Of course, unless you already have the occasional leakage due to aging, genetics, or childbirth, you might not focus much exercise attention on your bladder. But strengthening those down-there muscles can stop so-called stress incontinence in its tracks, says Candace Howe, MD, a board-certified ob-gyn in private practice in Newport Beach, California. Who wants to undergo surgery? Howe says. Im a surgeon, and I tell my patients I wouldnt want to! If we can fix incontinence with exercise, thats preferable.
When Suzanne Andrews, host of Functional Fitness, was experiencing urinary incontinence after the birth of her son, her doctor told her to consider surgery. As an occupational therapy clinician, Suzanne was seeing patients with the same symptoms and realized her exercise background could help. She created the 30 Day Bladder Fix, a pelvic floor strengthening DVD that combines seated and lying-down exercises to help control incontinence. I remember the day I realized I didnt have it anymore, Andrews says. I sneezed and nothing came out!
Why Do You Leak After Prostate Surgery
There are a few factors that contribute to urine leakage after surgery. The main one is the prostate tissue that was removed during surgery.
In some cases, this can cause nerves around your bladder to be damaged, and this makes it difficult for you to control your urinary flow.
This is more common in older men who have had more time for this nerve damage to occur.
So that is the main reason why you are having urine leakage after prostate surgery. But do not despair! There are many ways that you can stop it from happening in the future!
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How Long Will I Have Incontinence After Prostate Surgery
Men will typically have a urinary catheter inserted which will help drain the urine from the bladder after the surgery. The catheter is needed until the urethra heals, which typically takes anywhere from 1-3 weeks. After the catheter is removed, it can take several weeks or more to completely stop leaking. Most men who experience a loss of bladder control have symptoms for 6 months to 1-year post prostate surgery. However, a small percentage of men may continue to experience problems past the one-year mark.
Overactive Bladder Syndrome What Is It
OAB is defined as the urgent desire to urinate which is usually associated with frequent urination as well as excessive urination at night. About 1/3 of people who suffer from OAB experience urinary incontinence, known as OAB wet, with the remaining 2/3 of people having OAB dry. It is important to ensure that other conditions causing irritation to the bladder lining are not mistaken for OAB, e.g. urinary tract infections, bladder stones, and bladder tumours.
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What Causes Bladder Leaks
There are two main types of urinary incontinence:
Stress incontinence
If you have this type, activities that raise the pressure inside your abdomen cause urine to leak through the ring of muscle in your bladder that normally holds it in. Coughing, sneezing, jumping and lifting heavy objects could lead to a leak.
Going through childbirth, smoking or being overweight can raise the risk of stress incontinence for women, Wright says. Stress incontinence in men is rare, and when it arises, its often due to prostate cancer treatment, such as radiation or surgery.
Urge incontinence
With this type, your brain, spinal cord and bladder dont work together properly to allow you to hold and release urine at the right time. Your bladder may suddenly empty itself without warning. Or you may feel like you need to urinate frequently, a problem called overactive bladder.
Some diseases that affect the nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis or stroke, can cause this kind of incontinence, says Wright. In men, an enlarged prostate may be the culprit. But in many cases, doctors dont know what causes urge incontinence.
It is possible to have both types of incontinence at the same time.
What Are Other Symptoms Of Urinary Incontinence
Besides the already-mentioned hallmark symptoms of each type of incontinence, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases says that other symptoms might include:
- Leaking urine without any warning or urge
- Wetting your bed while sleeping
- Leaking urine while having sex
Another symptom of urinary incontinence is urinating oftenâmore than seven times per day or more than once at nightâsays Dr. Sheyn.
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Top Supplements For Leaky Bladder
If bladder leaks are disrupting your days and youre ready to take some practical steps that will make a BIG difference, supplements are a great starting point. Here are a few that are easy to find and can address your leaks from the root to get you some relief:
- Magnesium can help prevent the muscle spasms that lead to urge incontinence. Magnesium is an essential mineral for maintaining healthy muscles, reducing inflammation, optimizing estrogen levels, and more. You can get my recommended magnesium supplement HERE.
- Pumpkin Seed Oil has been shown to reduce inflammation and support a healthy bladder. It shows promise as a natural treatment for overactive bladder for women in menopause. You can find pumpkin seed oil supplements at health food stores or online just make sure you trust your source!
- Vitamin D deficiency can manifest itself as urinary incontinence, as well as a whole host of other symptoms . A majority of women are deficient in vitamin D to the extent that they will benefit from supplementing, and its an essential vitamin for bladder, pelvic, bone, and hormone health. All women over 40 should consider supplementing vitamin Dand you can get the best, most absorbable form HERE!
Best Surgery For Urinary Incontinence In Women
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Peeing when you dont want to can make life stressful. If you pee when you cough, exercise or laugh, or find yourself urgently needing to go to the toilet and not getting there in time, it can be difficult to talk about and cope with, and you may find it embarrassing.
Thankfully, however, there are various things that can help. In some cases, if you and your doctor have already tried non-surgical treatments , or your doctor identifies that your condition needs a different type of help, you may need surgery or a medical procedure.
So read on to learn about surgical treatments and procedures for some of the common types of urinary incontinence, including stress, urge and overflow incontinence.
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How Soon After Starting Kegel Exercises Will Urinary Incontinence Get Better
It may take 4 to 6 weeks before you notice any improvement in your symptoms.10
Kegel exercises work differently for each person. Your symptoms may go away totally, you may notice an improvement in your symptoms but still have some leakage, or you may not see any improvement at all. But even if your symptoms dont get better, Kegel exercises can help prevent your incontinence from getting worse.
You may need to continue doing Kegel exercises for the rest of your life. Even if your symptoms improve, urinary incontinence can come back if you stop doing the exercises.
Risks Involving Bladder Surgery
- Strictures Scar tissue inside the bladder, ureters, or intestines.
- Obstruction of the intestines or ureters.
- Blood clots in the lungs or legs.
- Infection at the surgery site.
- Damage to organs near the bladder.
- Some forms of bladder surgery, due to a cancer for example, make the patient infertile because reproductive organs may be removed in the process.
- If men had their prostate and seminal vesicles removed during surgery, then they may experience erection problems.
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Support Healthy Estrogen Levels Throughout The Transition To Menopause
Estrogen is an essential piece of your health, but it can be tricky to get the balance rightespecially during perimenopause. Its one of the first hormones that starts to change, but it doesnt just slowly decline over timeNo, its more like a loopy, crazy, adrenaline-junky roller coaster ride than a slow, steady descent.Since estrogen is spiking and dipping so unpredictably, it is absolutely essential to support both healthy estrogen production AND elimination to keep the level where it should be .Since low estrogen is a primary root cause of pelvic dysfunction and bladder leaks, focusing on these healthy levels will go far beyond band-aid solutions to help prevent the issue in the first place.The 2 key players for estrogen in perimenopause and menopause are your adrenals and your liver.Your adrenals take over producing estrogen as your ovaries decline in this function, so their health becomes critical after 40. Then your liver kicks in to help activate the estrogen as well as cycling it out once it has done its duty. Your livers detoxification process is crucial to make sure estrogen metabolizes in the correct way .