What Can Cause You To Lose Control Of Your Bladder

Can Seizure Activity Cause Loss Of Bladder Control

How to Control Bladder Leaks and Get ‘The Knack’

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Try To Avoid Caffeine Carbonated Drinks Sugar Alcohol And Spicy Or Acidic Foods

Caffeine is a diuretic which makes you need to use the bathroom more often.
Carbonated drinks and sugar are thought to stimulate the bladder.
Alcohol switches off the ability of your body to concentrate urine. This means you tend to urinate more dilute, watery urine, which dehydrates you. Since you are dehydrated, you may drink more.
Acidic or spicy food may aggravate your overactive bladder and worsen your symptoms. Certain acidic fruit and juices like orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime can aggravate your bladder, too.

Try To Prevent Constipation

Constipation causes the colon to swell and strain because of increased abdominal muscle pressure. This can adversely affect the bladder muscles and may also increase the frequency and severity of OAB symptoms.

Eating more fiber, getting regular exercise, and staying hydrated can help prevent constipation. In addition, there are certain yoga poses including the Crescent Lunge, Cobra, and Legs up the Wall that can help relieve constipation and promote healthy bowel movements.

Those who experience chronic constipation should talk with a doctor to learn more about other ways to help manage their constipation more effectively, such as by taking medications or trying physical therapy.

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What Causes Urinary Incontinence

The causes of urinary incontinence depend on the type.

Stress incontinence is usually the result of the weakening or damaging of the muscles used to prevent urination, such as the pelvic floor muscles and the urethral sphincter.

Urge incontinence is usually the result of overactivity of the detrusor muscle, which controls the bladder.

Certain things can increase the chances of urinary incontinence developing, including:

pregnancy and vaginal birth
a family history of incontinence
increasing age although incontinence is not an inevitable part of ageing

Read more about the causes of urinary incontinence

How Can I Manage Incontinence At Home

Urinary Incontinence: 9 Tips to Get Your Bladder Under ...

Incontinence can be uncomfortable and disruptive. It can cause sleeping problems, make you feel ashamed or angry, or affect your daily life in other ways. In addition to working with your health care team to find the best treatment, there are things you can do at home to help make incontinence better or more comfortable.

Limit how much you drink, especially coffee and alcohol. Avoid foods that can irritate the bladder, including dairy products, citrus fruits, sugar, chocolate, soda, tea, and vinegar.
Go to the bathroom right before bedtime and any vigorous activity.
Wear an absorbent pad inside your underwear or disposable incontinence underwear.
Maintain a healthy weight. Extra weight can put pressure on the bladder and muscles that support it.
Go to the bathroom regularly each day. Do not wait too long or put off going.
Quit smoking. Nicotine can irritate the bladder. It can also make you cough and leak urine.
Do Kegel exercises. Ask your health care team about doing Kegel exercises at home. They can make your bladder stronger. To do Kegel exercises, first tighten the muscles you use to stop the flow of urine. Then, relax those muscles. Repeat the exercise several times. During this exercise, relax the muscles in your belly, buttocks, and thigh.

Finally, it can help to find support. Talk with your health care team or join a support group for people with bladder problems. It can help you feel better to know that other people are also dealing with incontinence.

How Is Urinary Incontinence Treated

You and your doctor or nurse will work together to create a treatment plan. You may start with steps you can take at home. If these steps do not improve your symptoms, your doctor or nurse may recommend other treatments depending on whether you have stress incontinence or urge incontinence or both.

Be patient as you work with your doctor or nurse on a treatment plan. It may take a month or longer for different treatments to begin working.

Medications That Can Cause Urinary Incontinence

Urinary , or the loss of bladder control, can be caused by various health conditions and physical changes, such as childbirth, changes in diet, infection, prostate issues, menopause, and neurological disorders. But there are also a number of medications can cause urinary incontinence in both men and women in a variety of different ways.

Medication
Diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide , furosemide , bumetanide , triamterene with hydrochlorothiazide	Increase urine production by the kidney	Frequent urination, overactive bladder, stress incontinence
Muscle relaxants and sedatives such as diazepam , chlordiazepoxide , lorazepam	Cause sedation or drowsiness relax the urethra	Frequent urination, stress incontinence, lack of concern or desire to use the toilet
Narcotics such as oxycodone , meperidine , morphine	Cause sedation or drowsiness relax the bladder, causing it to retain urine	Lack of concern or desire to use the toilet, difficulty in starting urinary stream, straining to void, voiding with a weak stream, leaking between urinations, frequency incontinence
Antihistamines such as diphenhydramine and chlorpheniramine	Relax the bladder, causing it to retain urine	Overflow incontinence
Alpha-adrenergic antagonists such as terazosin , doxazosin	Relax the muscle at the outlet of the bladder	Leaking when coughing, sneezing, laughing, exercising, etc.

From , Harvard Health Publishing

Image: Thinkstock

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How Do I Do Kegel Exercises

To do Kegels:

Lie down. It may be easier to learn how to do Kegels correctly while lying down. You dont have to lie down once you learn to do Kegels correctly.

Squeeze the muscles in your genital area as if you were trying to stop the flow of urine or passing gas. Try not to squeeze the muscles in your belly or legs at the same time. Try to squeeze only the pelvic muscles. Be extra careful not to tighten your stomach, legs, or buttocks .

Relax.Squeeze the muscles again and hold for 3 seconds. Then relax for 3 seconds. Work up to 3 sets of 10 each day.

Practice Kegels anywhere. When your muscles get stronger, try doing Kegels while sitting or standing. You can do these exercises at any time, such as while sitting at your desk or in the car, waiting in line, or doing the dishes. Dont do Kegel exercises at the same time you are urinating. This can weaken your pelvic floor muscles over time.10

If you are uncomfortable or uncertain about doing Kegel exercises on your own, a doctor or nurse can also teach you how to do Kegels. A pelvic floor physical therapist or other specialist may also be available in your area to help teach you how to strengthen these muscles.

Male Pelvic Floor Muscles

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If either medicine or physiotherapy dont work, surgery to support your bladder and urethra is an option for some types of urinary incontinence.

There are also things you can do to reduce the impact of urinary incontinence. You can train your bladder to improve control and increase the amount of urine you can hold. Talk to your doctor or incontinence health professional about a bladder training program.

If you are caring for someone with incontinence, make sure they can access the toilet easily and that its clearly signposted. Make sure their clothing is easy to remove and monitor their routine so you can remind them to go to the toilet regularly. You can read more about caring for someone with incontinence on the Continence Foundation of Australia website.

Causes Of Loss Of Bladder And Bowel Control

Certain nerves in your body control those muscles that allow the bowel and bladder to function properly. These nerves allow muscles in the body to contract and relax properly, which is important for feces and urine to be eliminated from your body. The nerves in your spinal cord receive signals from the brain and send them to the sphincter and bladder muscles to control their movement. There are muscles in the anus and rectum that control your bowels, whereas sphincter muscles release and control stool. It means that problems with these nerves can lead to problems with bowel and bladder function.

Causes of Bowel Incontinence

Any damage to the muscles around the anus may lead to bowl incontinence. This damage could be the outcome of vaginal childbirth this may also affect the nerves in this area. It is due to this particular reason that women are twice as likely to develop bowel incontinence as compared to men. Anal surgery may also damage the anal sphincters and nerves in this area.

Causes of Urine Incontinence

It is not always necessary to have a noticeable cause of loss of bladder and bowel control, but your doctor can help you identify the best treatment in this case. Certain conditions can cause urinary incontinence. For instance, it may happen due to poor overall health, vaginal childbirth, and any damage to the nervous system.

Causes Of Urinary Incontinence

Stress incontinence is usually the result of the weakening of or damage to the muscles used to prevent urination, such as the pelvic floor muscles and the urethral sphincter.

Urge incontinence is usually the result of overactivity of the detrusor muscles, which control the bladder.

Overflow incontinence is often caused by an obstruction or blockage in your bladder, which prevents it from emptying fully.

Total incontinence may be caused by a problem with the bladder from birth, a spinal injury, or a small, tunnel like hole that can form between the bladder and a nearby area .

Certain things can increase the chances of urinary incontinence, including:

pregnancy and vaginal birth

Find out more about the causes of urinary incontinence.

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What Is Neurogenic Bladder

Neurogenic bladder is when a problem in your brain, spinal cord, or central nervous system makes you lose control of your bladder. You may pee too much or too little. You could have symptoms of both overactive bladder and underactive bladder . You may not be able to fully empty it.

Itâs normal to have some stress and anxiety if you canât control when you urinate. Talk to your doctor about whatâs going on as soon as possible so you can start on a treatment to help manage your symptoms.

What Medications Treat Bladder Control Problems

Anticholinergic and spasm-relieving drugs are used in urge incontinence to suppress bladder contraction and relax bladder smooth muscle. This class of drugs includes darifenacin , dicyclomine , flavoxate , hyoscyamine , methantheline , oxybutynin , solifenacin , tolterodine , and trospium . Anticholinergic agents may help relieve urge incontinence.

Myrbetriq is a beta-3 adrenergic agonist indicated for the treatment of overactive bladder with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency, and urinary frequency.

Some tricyclic antidepressants , such as imipramine , have strong anticholinergic effects and may be prescribed to treat incontinence. Because the effects of newer, long-acting agents last throughout the day, they need to be taken only once daily, which makes them very convenient. Additionally, the effects of Detrol and Detrol LA are mostly limited to the bladder, thus lessening the prevalence of side effects typically caused by anticholinergic medications.

Medications are sometimes used in stress incontinence. These medications can have serious side effects, such as high blood pressure. They are not for everyone. These medications include adrenergic agonists, such as midodrine and pseudoephedrine , which increase internal sphincter tone.

No medications are effective in treating overflow incontinence. A drug called Urecholine has been FDA approved for overflow incontinence but has not met with a lot of success in clinical practice.

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Symptoms Of Stress Incontinence

Common in Women

Stress incontinence occurs when pelvic floor muscles weaken. The condition is the most common type of urinary incontinence in young women. Stress incontinence is the second most common type in older women. Activities like exercise, walking, stretching, bending, laughing, coughing, sneezing, or lifting place strain on weakened pelvic floor muscles, and that leads to leaks. Any activity that increases physical strain on pelvic floor muscles may lead to stress incontinence–even sex. The amount that leaks varies. It may be a few drops or up to a tablespoon or more, depending on severity.

Prevalence

Some studies suggest 24% to 45% of women over the age of 30 suffer from stress incontinence. If you suffer from urinary incontinence, you are definitely not alone. Weakness in not just the pelvic floor muscles, but also in the urethral sphincter often plays a role in this type of urinary incontinence.

How Are Bladder Control Problems Diagnosed

Your health-care provider will ask questions about your symptoms and the situations in which you experience urine leakage. He or she will also ask you about your medical and surgical history, medications, and habits. A thorough physical exam will include your abdomen, pelvis , rectum , and nervous system.

You may be referred to a specialist. Physicians who specialize in diagnosing and treating disorders of the urinary tract include urogynecologists and urologists.

A physical exam should be performed. In women, a thorough vaginal and pelvic exam along with a rectal exam should be performed. The quality of the tissue, the degree of prolapse , and evaluation of masses or tissue support is documented.

In men, an exam of the genitalia with attention to the urethral meatus and a rectal exam are performed. The character and size of the prostate are evaluated.

Which tests are performed depends on which type of incontinence your health-care provider suspects. A urine sample will be collected.

The amount and appearance of the urine will be recorded.
The chemistry of the urine will be analyzed .
The urine will be looked at under a microscope to check for infection and other abnormalities.
The urine will be cultured. A smear of urine is put in a small sterile dish and allowed to sit for a few days. If any bacteria grow on the dish, you probably have a urinary tract infection.

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Causes Of Overflow Incontinence

Overflow incontinence, also called chronic urinary retention, is often caused by a blockage or obstruction to your bladder. Your bladder may fill up as usual, but as it is obstructed you will not be able to empty it completely, even when you try.

At the same time, pressure from the urine that is still in your bladder builds up behind the obstruction, causing frequent leaks.

Your bladder can become obstructed as a result of:

Overflow incontinence may also be caused by your detrusor muscle not fully contracting, which means that your bladder does not completely empty when you go to the toilet. As a result, the bladder becomes stretched. Your detrusor muscles may not fully contract if:

there is damage to your nerves, for example as a result of surgery to part of your bowel or a spinal cord injury
you are taking certain medications

What Is The Treatment For Bladder Control Problems

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Many people who have incontinence do not seek treatment because they believe the only treatment available to them is surgery. This is a misconception treatments for incontinence include behavioral, medical, and surgical approaches.

Generally, behavioral therapies are the first choice because they are noninvasive and have no side effects, they are the safest. A variety of medical treatments are available. Surgery is usually reserved for people whose problem does not improve with behavioral and medical therapy.

Your overall medical condition, the type of bladder control problem you have, and your lifestyle will all determine which treatments are right for you. Talk to your health-care provider together you can come up with a treatment plan that works for you.

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What Steps Can I Take At Home To Treat Urinary Incontinence

Your doctor or nurse may suggest some things you can do at home to help treat urinary incontinence. Some people do not think that such simple actions can treat urinary incontinence. But for many women, these steps make urinary incontinence go away entirely, or help leak less urine. These steps may include:

You can also buy pads or protective underwear while you take other steps to treat urinary incontinence. These are sold in many stores that also sell feminine hygiene products like tampons and pads.

Duration Of Urinary Incontinence

Most cases of UI are chronic, and will remain so until treated. Depending on the cause, however, not all UI cases are chronic. If the cause is temporary, such as a vaginal infection or a urinary tract infection, the UI will stop once the issue is addressed.

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According to the Urology Care Foundation, women are at greater risk for UI than men because they have a shorter urethra than men. As a result, any weakness or damage to the urethra in a woman is more likely to cause urinary incontinence. This is because there is less muscle keeping the urine in your bladder until you are ready to urinate.