Urinary Incontinence

What is Urinary Incontinence?

The urinary sphincter muscle holds your urine inside your body. When you relieve yourself, you voluntarily loosen this muscle to release urine. But sometimes the urinary sphincter weakens, causing you to lose control of your bladder.

The most common type of urinary incontinence is stress incontinence. This involves urine that leaks due to pressure on your bladder. Coughing, sneezing, laughing, exercising, and lifting can cause stress incontinence.

Women may also experience other types of urinary incontinence, including:

• Urge Incontinence: sudden, intense urge to urinate and inability to hold your urine
• Overflow Incontinence: ongoing urinary leakage due to problems emptying your bladder
• Mixed Incontinence: a combination of two or more types of incontinence

What Causes Urinary Incontinence?

A variety of factors can contribute to urinary incontinence. These include:

• Pregnancy
• Vaginal childbirth
• Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
• Aging
• Menopause
• Obesity
• Recent gynecological procedures
• Diabetes

Neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis, can also result in urinary incontinence.

Can Urinary Incontinence Be Treated?

Your treatment for urinary incontinence will vary, depending on your symptom’s type and severity. Your physician may suggest starting with lifestyle changes, medication, or pelvic floor exercises to improve your bladder challenges. If these steps fail to help sufficiently or your symptoms are moderate to severe, he may recommend a minimally-invasive procedure that brings a quick recovery, such as:

• Sacral neuromodulation therapy, with Axonics or Interstim, regulates nerves involved in bladder control, reducing the urgency and frequency of incontinence and overactive bladder symptoms 
• Botox for relaxation of the bladder muscles involved in causing overactive bladder with urge incontinence
• Urethral bulking through the cystoscope, to reduce leaking with coughing and sneezing, including Bulkamid, a soft, water-based gel that can be used to restore the natural closing of the urethra
• Tension-free vaginal tape (TVT), the “gold standard” for stress incontinence has an up to 90% success rate and has been safely used for over 20 years

To learn more about female urinary incontinence or your treatment options, call Alabama UROGYN or request an appointment. Our experienced professionals are here to help you get to a place of greater wellness and comfort.