Urinary incontinence

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Female urinary tract

Male urinary tract

Other measures include:

• Regulate your bowels to avoid constipation. Try increasing fiber in your diet.
• Quit smoking to reduce coughing and bladder irritation. Smoking also increases your risk of bladder cancer.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeinated beverages, particularly coffee, which can overstimulate your bladder.
• Lose weight if you need to.
• Avoid foods and drinks that may irritate your bladder like spicy foods, carbonated beverages, and citrus fruits and juices.
• Keep blood sugars under good control if you have diabetes.

Medications that may be prescribed include drugs that relax the bladder, increase bladder muscle tone, or strengthen the sphincter.

Surgery may be required to relieve an obstruction or deformity of the bladder neck and urethra. Uterine or pelvic suspension operations are sometimes needed in women. Men may require prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland). Incontinence can sometimes be managed by artificial sphincters. These are synthetic cuffs that are surgically placed around the urethra to help retain urine.

If you have overflow incontinence or cannot empty your bladder completely, a catheter may be recommended. But using a catheter exposes you to potential infection.

PREVENTION

Performing Kegel exercises while you are pregnant and soon after delivery may help prevent incontinence related to childbirth.

Discuss incontinence with your doctor. Gynecologists and urologists are the specialists most familiar with this condition. They can evaluate the causes and recommend treatment approaches.

Call 911 or go to an emergency room if any of the following accompany a sudden loss of urine control:

• Difficulty talking, walking, or speaking
• Sudden weakness, numbness, or tingling in an arm or leg
• Loss of vision
• Loss of consciousness or confusion
• Loss of bowel control

Call your doctor if:

• You have been constipated for more than one week.
• You have difficulty starting your urine flow, dribbling, nighttime urination, pain or burning with urination, increased frequency or urgency, or cloudy or bloody urine.
• You are taking medications that may be causing incontinence. DO NOT adjust or stop any medications without talking to your doctor.
• You are over 60 years old and your incontinence is new, especially if you are also having trouble with your memory or caring for yourself.
• You have the urge to go often, but are only passing small amounts of urine.
• Your bladder feels full even after you have just urinated.
• Incontinence persists for more than 2 weeks even with exercises to strengthen your pelvic muscles.