Urinary Incontinence

Leakage of urine is generally called Urinary Incontinence (UI). However, there are multiple types of UI. The most commonly encountered are Stress UI, Urge UI, or a combination of both. In stress UI, women leak urine whenever they have increased intra-abdominal pressure such as sneezing, coughing, or exercising. In Urge UI, women leak with a sudden urge to urinate and before they can get to the bathroom. Many women also have a mixed symptom pattern with some stress and some urge UI symptoms. The reasons for UI include bladder infection, pelvic support problems, bladder lesions, and medications. Typically your doctor will take a detailed history, physical exam, and a urinary diary to figure out what type of UI you are suffering from. The other tests may include a urine test for infection, postvoid residual urinary measurement, and urodynamic test. Options for treating incontinence include lifestyle changes, bladder training, physical therapy, the use of devices that are placed in the vagina, medications, bulking injections, and surgery. To mitigate incontinence you can lose weight, avoid constipation, stop smoking, drink less fluid and caffeine, and seek treatment for frequent coughing. Your health care provider may first suggest nonsurgical treatment. Often, several treatments are used together for the best effect. If other treatments do not improve the problem, surgery may help.