Women’s sexual health - Urinary Incontinence

Ever had on of those embarrassing moments when you accidentally pee on your undies just when you’re about to rush into the bathroom? Unless if you’re preadolescent and you simply don’t make sense yet about your bladder, then you maybe on UI.

UI stands for Urinary Incontinence and is the cause for all the embarrassment that is due to the loss of control in the passage of our urine. The most common scenario for this is when somebody has the inability to hold their urine until a restroom or any place else’s that is appropriate for such activities. If you think you’re alone in this embarrassment, think again. In just the United States alone, there are more than 13 million who are experiencing thins incontinence for both male and female. Women, however, have almost twice as much tendency to develop a UI than the men because of how their reproductive systems are designed.

Types

Other than the common failing of the rushed bathroom trip, other types of urinary incontinence would include stress incontinence, the functional incontinence and the overflow incontinence. UI can range from small discomforts due to slight losses of urine and up to severe and frequent wetting of underwear.

There is also the urge incontinence, which we had already touched on. This is the inability to hold urine just enough to reach an appropriate place to pee. This abnormality is more found in people who have conditions such as stroke, dementia, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. However, the might also be an indication that there are other diseases which warrant more medical attention.

Stress incontinence refers to one also of the most common type of incontinence which involves uncontrollable leakage of urine on ordinary activities like exercise, sneezing, laughing, coughing, lifting of heavy objects. There are more of these body movements that leads to stress incontinence especially because of the pressure put on the bladder during such activities.

The functional incontinence pertains to urine leakage that is a result of being unable to reach an appropriate place for peeing just in time due to limiting physical conditions. An example of this physical condition is arthritis and even physical handicaps.

The last type of incontinence is the overflow which is a urine leakage that happens when the amount of urine that is produced generally exceeds what the person’s bladder can hold.
   
SIGNS
To know whether or not you are having a UI, the signs and symptoms to watch out for are the following:

• inability to urinate
• inability for retention of urine
• urinating more than usual without a known bladder infection
• having to rush to the toilet
• losing desire to urinate if not able to get to toilet in time
• pain during filling up of the bladder
• pain during urination without a known bladder infection
• tendency towards bladder infections
• leakage of urine which prevents activities
• leakage of urine especially after surgery
• weakness of the urinary stream with or without feeling that the bladder is completely emptied
• abnormal urination especially when related to a nervous system abnormality like stroke or spinal cord injury.

Treatment of Urinary Incontinence

The treatment of UI is often started with a detailed personal and family history of health and related problems. Along with this is a physical examination which focuses on the urinary system, nervous system, reproductive organs, and some urine samples.

Patients will eventually be referred to a urologist. These are physicians who specialize in diseases that is related to the urinary tract. The treatment of UI may include modification of certain behavioral techniques which include pelvic muscle exercises, biofeedback, and bladder training. There might also be medication prescribed or surgery if the incontinence is associated with structural problems like that of an abnormally positioned bladder or a blockage in the urinary track.

For temporary coping up of UI, there are specifically designed absorbent undergarments which are no more bulky than normal underwear but can absorb accidental urinations. Incontinence may also be managed thru inserting a catheter in the urethra which can enable you to collect urine into a container.