Tuesday 3 March 2015

Less Intrusive Urinary Incontinence Treatment

By Olivia Cross


Few people are able to speak up about the urinary incontinence due to its embarrassing nature. The problem was common in the old a while back but now affects people across different age groups on both genders. Over three quarters of those who seek urinary incontinence treatment are women.

Depending on the severity and type of incontinence, doctors could prescribe drugs, perform surgeries, and suggest some exercises to strengthen pelvic floor muscles or train the bladder. Here are some of non- surgical urinary incontinence treatments available. It is good to note if incontinence is caused by another ailment, you would receive treatment for the condition before or along with the incontinence treatment. Such conditions include fistula (a tear in the uterus caused by prolonged childbirth) and prostrate enlargement in men.

Changing few aspects of your lifestyle is the first form of treatment that does not involve medical intervention. Your urologist may suggest that you modify some habits to relieve the symptoms. Such changes could be lowering the intake of water and other fluids in the day so as to bring down the amount of urine that you generate.

You may also be asked to reduce caffeine intake as it increases the amount of urine that would be produced by your body. Caffeine can found in many sports energy drinks, coffee and cola drinks. Obesity can also affect the effectiveness of your bladder; losing weight could help alleviate the problem.

There are muscles at the pelvic area that control the passage of urine. They are found around the urethra and the bladder and keep the passage shut until one is ready to urinate. If they get weak or some condition damages them, they may be strengthened by a therapy. The therapy involves physical contraction of the muscles by a patient. It is performed at least thrice a day with at least eight contractions every session. The progress of patient is monitored by the doctor and program adjusted accordingly.

When the pelvic floor muscle exercise does not help improve the situation, the doctor may recommend a device to measure and stimulate electrical signals in the muscles. The electric stimulator is a small probe that is inserted into the vagina in women and anus in men. Some current is passed to the body through the device and helps contract the muscle as you exercise them. It is a little unpleasant but very beneficial.

If you are diagnosed with urge incontinence, bladder training may be the very first treatment that you would encounter. This may be offered together with pelvic training above. This training involves techniques to help increase the length of time between when you felt the urge to urinate and the actual time you pass the urine. The training takes about a month and half.

For women with weak pelvic floor muscles and are unable to exercise them, vaginal cones could be of assistance. These are small weights that are inserted into vagina to help in pelvic floor muscle training. You are meant to hold the weights in place with your pelvic muscles. The weights come in different weights but, you start with the lightest to the heaviest. This kind of treatment is very helpful for women that suffer from stress incontinence.




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