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Incontinence is not a disease, but a symptom of a problem with the lower urinary tract. There are different kinds of incontinence, but regardless of what it is called, when your bladder causes you to alter your lifestyle, it is time to talk to your healthcare professional.
Bladder control problems can occur when any part of the urinary system fails to function properly. Considered abnormal at any age, overactive bladder is a highly prevalent condition that affects both men and women — but is more common in women.
Many people never report overactive bladder symptoms because they mistakenly fear that effective treatment is not available, or that their symptoms are normal consequences of aging or having children. Only your healthcare professional can diagnose your bladder control problem and determine if the right treatment for you includes the evadri Bladder Control System.
Types of Urinary Incontinence include:
Overactive Bladder
Overactive bladder is a sudden, intense desire to urinate followed by leaking urine. This type of urine leakage is caused by involuntary bladder contractions that occur as the bladder fills. These involuntary contractions, similar to spasms, result in a sensation that the bladder is full when it is not.
Three of the most prevalent symptoms of overactive bladder include:
- Urinary frequency: urinating more than eight times in a 24-hour period
- Urinary urgency: a strong and sudden urge to urinate
- Urge urinary incontinence: unwanted urine leakage (referred to as "wetting accidents") that happens shortly after urgency. With urge urinary incontinence, a person may feel the need to urinate, but is unable to hold it until reaching the restroom. Urine loss is usually in amounts large enough to soak undergarments and other clothing. For many, the sound of running water is enough to induce urine leakage.
Another common symptom of overactive bladder is nocturia, or waking up more than two times during the night to urinate. This medical condition affects men and women of all ages, although the occurrence increases with age.
A wetting accident may be predictable and could be triggered by such things as the sound of running water; or the sudden loss of urine can be totally unpredictable.
Stress Incontinence
In addition to overactive bladder, many people experience stress incontinence. This condition involves involuntary urine leakage due to poor muscle control while lifting, coughing, sneezing, running or exercising. This type of bladder control problem occurs when the valve or sphincter that controls the ability of the bladder to hold or store urine can not withstand the increased pressure from the abdomen.
The valve or sphincter weakness may occur in men following prostate surgery or in women following pelvic surgery. Stress incontinence may be seen in women who have multiple pregnancies and vaginal deliveries.
Risk factors for stress incontinence include advancing age, childbirth, smoking and obesity. Conditions that cause chronic coughing, such as chronic bronchitis and asthma, may also increase the risk of stress incontinence.
Mixed Incontinence
The symptoms of mixed incontinence are a combination of stress incontinence and the symptoms of overactive bladder. In a number of studies, about one third of the women over the age of 18 appeared to have mixed incontinence.8
| 8. | Nitti VW Reviews in Urology 2001;3(Suppl):S2-S6 |
