Incontinence

Are you suffering from accidental, involuntary flow of urine from your body? While this issue can be embarrassing, it’s very common and can be treated.

Urinary incontinence can affect patients differently. You may be experiencing loss of bladder control, a sudden urge to urinate or an overactive bladder.

There are three main types of incontinence:

• Stress urinary incontinence usually occurs due to weakened or damaged pelvic floor muscles. This could be as a result of pregnancy, childbirth, previous pelvic surgery, aging or obesity. You may experience loss of bladder control when you place stress on your bladder, especially when coughing, sneezing, lifting heavy things or laughing.

• Urge incontinence is the consequence of overactive muscles that contract too often around the bladder. You may feel a sudden, intense urge to urinate.

• Mixed incontinence can include a combination of the symptoms above.

• If the symptoms begin to affect your daily activities, it’s time to seek help from an expert.

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What causes urinary incontinence?

There are also other reasons why a woman may leak urine. Sometimes it’s caused by an illness, in which case bladder control returns when the illness goes away.

For example, bladder infections and infections in the vagina can cause incontinence for a short time. Being unable to have a bowel movement or taking certain medicines also may make it hard to control your bladder.