It means the loss of bladder control. The two most common types of urinary incontinence affecting women are stress and urge incontinence, also known as overactive bladder. Incontinence affects twice as many women as men. It can be due to pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause.
Of course, it is not easy to let others know about your issue. So today, we’ll talk about how you can treat incontinence while keeping it a secret from others.
What Causes Urinary Incontinence in Females?
Urinary incontinence is usually caused by problems with the muscles and nerves that help the bladder hold or pass urine. Certain health events unique to women, such as pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause, can cause problems with these muscles and nerves.
Pregnancy:
As many as 4 in 10 women get urinary incontinence during pregnancy. As your unborn baby grows, they push down on your bladder, urethra, and pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy. Over time, this pressure may weaken the pelvic floor muscles and lead to leaks or problems passing urine. It is recommended to wear washable incontinence underwear during that time. Keep in mind that leaking urine always carries a risk of bacterial attack. Using barrier creams should keep these fear of yours at bay.
Childbirth:
Problems during labor and childbirth, especially vaginal birth, can weaken pelvic floor muscles and damage the nerves that control the bladder. Most bladder control problems due to labor and delivery go away after the muscles have had some time to heal. If you still have bladder problems six weeks after childbirth, talk to your doctor, nurse, or midwife. But as it is just a temporary situation, in most cases, you should be perfectly fine while using panty liners.
Menopause:
Some women have bladder control problems after they stop having periods. Researchers think having low levels of estrogen after menopause may weaken the urethra. The urethra helps keep urine in the bladder until you are ready to urinate. Also, like all muscles, the bladder and urethra muscles lose their strength as you age. It means you may be unable to hold as much urine as you get older. To avoid awkward situations, consider using incontinence pads which are designed to rapidly absorb large amounts of liquid, and lock them in quickly to prevent leakage
Treatment for Women:
Treatment for urinary incontinence depends on the type of incontinence, its severity, and the underlying cause. A combination of treatments may be necessary. If an underlying medical condition is causing your symptoms, your doctor will treat that medical condition first.
Your doctor may recommend incontinence products or less invasive treatments to start with and move on to other options if these techniques don’t help.
Bladder Training:
It will help you to delay urination after you get the urge to leave. You can start by waiting 10 minutes each time you feel like urinating. The goal is to increase the time between toilet trips until you’re only urinating every 2.5 to 3.5 hours. However, during bladder training, you must wear incontinence underwear to avoid mess and embarrassment.
Double Voiding:
It will help you learn to empty your bladder more completely to avoid overflow incontinence. Double voiding means urinating, waiting a few minutes, and trying again.
Scheduled Toilet Visits:
Urinate every two to four hours instead of waiting for the need to go to the toilet.
Watch Your Diet:
To reduce bladder leaks by avoiding certain foods, drinks, and ingredients, including Alcohol, Artificial sweeteners, Caffeine, Carbonated beverages, Chocolate, Citrus fruits, tomatoes, Corn syrup, Honey, and Spicy foods.
Quitting Smoking:
Smoking makes you cough, which makes it hard to hold urine in. When you do it a lot, the muscles in your bladder can get more irritated. You should probably quit smoking as it is the leading cause of bladder cancer.
Fluid Management and Nutrition:
You may need to reduce or avoid alcohol, caffeine, or acidic foods. Reducing fluid intake, losing weight, or increasing physical activity or vitamin supplement intake can also alleviate the problem.
Urgency Suppression:
Urgency suppression is a way to control the sudden feelings of needing to go. It’s another type of bladder training. It can include distracting your mind, deep breathing, and Kegels.
Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises:
Your doctor may recommend doing these exercises frequently to strengthen the muscles that help control urination. These techniques, also known as Kegel exercises, are particularly effective for stress urinary incontinence but can also help urge urinary incontinence.
Bottom Line:
Suppose you need any medical product to help you with incontinence or other issues. Reach out to the AvaCare Medical store. Their product experts are highly knowledgeable and offer well-fitted, thinner, profiled absorbents in all sizes, fits, and styles to meet the needs of every single lady out there.
They offer a wide selection of medical products for your better being, including walking aids, daily living aids, skin and wound care, and other medical equipment. For queries, call us at 1.877.813.7799 or email at [email protected]
