Urinary Incontinence Information

Aging could be a difficult process to go through. It sometimes comes with unsightly changes and inconveniences that anyone wishes would never happen to them.

On the physical side of it, all the precious parts that make a gorgeous you could deteriorate. Your face and skin would be wrinkled to show the world how much of life you have been through. Your back will slightly arch, making your posture no longer the beauty queen type.

Your health may also suffer as years are added to your age. All your unhealthy activities brought about by an unhealthy lifestyle would definitely take a toll on your body in the long run. There are reasons why old people are less active and less mobile. There are reasons why they are almost defenseless against the common illnesses. Most of those reasons can be found on a single look at how you have lived your life. But since it is too late to revert, your last resort is to be in constant contact with a health professional about the treatments you may undergo to delay the aging process in your case.

One ugly mark of aging is loss of bladder control or Urinary Incontinence. When you are aged 65 and above, you will most likely find it hard to control wetting your underwear. But do not blame your age for it. Anyone may suffer from Urinary Incontinence. It’s just that, it is nine times more common in older people than their younger counterpart.

Urinary Incontinence is a condition where you fail to control your urine from leaking out. Although a condition in itself, involuntary loss of urine is often caused by another medical condition. This makes it more complicated than it may seem.

There are different types of Urinary Incontinence. The first one is Stress Incontinence, which is a mild condition of urine loss due to physical activities that put pressure in the abdomen. Laughing, coughing, sneezing, or exercising may increase pressure on the bladder, causing it to leak out. Lower estrogen levels in women may also decrease muscle control around the urethra and increase the chances of uncontrolled wetting. Women in menopausal stage are likely to contract Stress Urinary Incontinence due to this reason.

There is also Urge Incontinence, wherein urination occurs for no definite reason apart from involuntary contraction of the bladder. This may crop up after serious damage in your nervous system has been made due to injuries, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and stroke. Severe harm in the bladder nerves and muscles is the common cause of Urge Incontinence.

Functional Incontinence is the condition that is associated with old age. This type of Urinary Incontinence is mainly due to failure to recognize a need to go to the restroom, where the restroom is actually located, or get to the restroom in time. Problems in mobility and communication and thinking processes are often the triggers of Functional Incontinence.

Overflow Incontinence, meanwhile, occurs with constant dribbling in the bladder, making you feel that it is never emptied. The weakening of bladder muscles often cause incomplete urination resulting to Urinary Incontinence. Blockage in the urethra due to stones and tumors also provides the same results.

The last type of Urinary Incontinence is Mixed Incontinence. It is the condition where a combination of any of the above occurs at the same time. Stress and Urge Incontinence are the common players of Mixed Incontinence but some cases showed the appearance of other types as well.

When you have Urinary Incontinence, it means that the coordinated activity of your muscle tissues in the bladder and the urethra is disturbed. As explained above with the different types of this ailment, the disturbed process can be caused by either anatomic, pathologic, physiologic, or congenital factors. Most of the factors that trigger Urinary Incontinence like childbirth, urinary tract infections, and vaginal irritation occur to women. That is why it is found more frequently in women than in men. Then again, men are not exempted altogether because Urinary Incontinence can also be caused by common conditions like constipation. It may also come as a side effect of certain medications. Urinary Incontinence may also be brought about by crippling diseases such as Arthritis or nerve-damaging illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Urinary Incontinence may also happen in children. Studies showed that bedwetting and diaper-wearing is found likely even in children who are well in the elementary school. Supposedly, children are properly toilet-trained at age three. If they are not, you can consider it as part of growing up or a sign of Urinary Incontinence. No matter what causes the loss of bladder control, urine leakage is embarrassing for people of any age group. The good news is, treatments are available for anyone who is willing and emotionally brave to seek medical attention.

Patients with Urinary Incontinence are often too ashamed to seek treatment. This should never be the case because this condition can be controlled, if not cured, with the aid of correct diagnosis. To confirm whether one has Urinary Incontinence or not, a series of Urinalysis, Stress test, Blood test, Ultrasound, Urodynamics, and Cystoscopy is undertaken. Possible candidates for the condition are also asked to keep note of their Incontinence patterns for days or weeks.

Treatments for Urinary Incontinence are currently dime a dozen. Your treatment choice depends on the level of your condition and your personal requirements as well. As with any disease, the simplest treatment is tried out first. If any of the first cures did not make any difference, then it is time to go for more complicated types of treatments. Medications coupled with exercises are the most common form of treatments for Urinary Incontinence. Some cases, however, even requires surgery.

All the telltale signs of aging, may it be physical, emotional, or intellectual will come out at one point in your matured life or another. How you have lived your life could delay or rush their existence but they will surely do. If you want to be exempted from such an embarrassing and inconvenient condition as Urinary Incontinence, you must remember to take good care of yourself. No amount of treatment can equal an ounce of caution. Prevention, as is often said, is better than cure.