Urinary Incontinence refers to the accidental loss of urine. In other words, Urinary Incontinence means that an individual looses control of its bladder. It can occur at any age, mostly women above the age of 50 experience this issue. Urinary Incontinence may be a temporary issue that may be the result of an underlying medical condition. This problem of urine loss may range from a little loss of urine to a large amount, of frequent wetting.
What are the Main Causes of Urinary Incontinence?
Urinary Incontinence is not an inevitable result of aging, but it has been observed that it occurs in older people. The main cause of the occurrence of this issue is the specific changes in the body function which may result from diseases, use of medicines, and/or the starting of an illness. Sometimes it is the first and the only symptom of a urinary tract infection. During pregnancy and after childbirth women are likely to develop urinary incontinence problems or after the hormonal changes of menopause.
What Are the Symptoms of Urinary Incontinence?
Below are a few of the commonly known symptoms of urinary incontinence. However, these symptoms differ from person to person. Symptoms are:
- Urgency to urinate and if not getting to the washroom on time leakage of urine occurs.
- When you do exercise or practice a movement leakage of urine occurs.
- When you sneeze, cough, or laugh leakage of urine occurs.
- On the onset of surgery or after the surgery leakage of urine occurs.
- Without the sensation of urine leakage, there is a constant feeling of wetness.
- The feeling of incomplete bladder emptying.
What are the different types of Urinary Incontinence?
Below are a few of the different types of Urinary Incontinence:
1. Urgency Incontinence: Urgency incontinence refers to a situation in which an individual is not able to hold urine long enough to reach a washroom. This type of urinary incontinence is associated with an increase in urination needs and feeling a strong and sudden need to urinate. The feeling a person gets during urgency incontinence may resemble other diseases and conditions, but then also sudden medical attention is needed.
2. Stress Incontinence: In this urinary incontinence type leakage of urine occurs due to coughing, sneezing, laughing, while doing exercise, lifting heavy objects, or various body movements that put pressure on the bladder. Due to the sudden onset of pressure bladder looses control and urine leaks which causes leakage of urine.
3. Functional Incontinence: In this urinary incontinence type a person is unable to reach the washroom on time due to which leakage of urine occurs. Physical conditions that are responsible for this condition may be arthritis, an injury, or other disabilities.
4. Overflow Incontinence: In this urinary incontinence type, a person experiences leakage of urine due to the amount of urine exceeding the capacity of the bladder to hold it.
5. Mixed Incontinence: In this urinary incontinence an individual feels two types of urinary incontinence at the same time. During mixed incontinence, an individual may be dealing with stress incontinence and overflow incontinence at one point of time. To identify which urinary incontinence type triggers mixed incontinence you need to pay attention to what you were doing when it occurred. By paying attention to the activity, you were doing at that time when mixed continence occurred you could manage it in a better way.
6. Reflex Incontinence: In reflex incontinence the bladder muscles contract and the urine leaks without any need to urinate. This situation can happen when the nerves responsible for sending signals to the brain that the bladder is filled are damaged. People with serious neurological impairments like multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, or damage from surgery or radiation treatment are more likely to experience reflex incontinence.
