Urinary Incontinence in Women: Problem You Should Take Care

Urinary incontinence in women over 50 is quite common, but we can also see it in women above the age of 30 (27.8% to 42.8% in Indian women).

Women suffering from urinary incontinence, have an urgency to urinate frequently. Their life affected by it badly and they feel ashamed to attend any social gathering, due to the frequent need of going to the toilet.

If you are among the women, who are suffering from urination problems, you can check below its causes, types, symptoms, home remedies, and treatment:

 Urinary Incontinence and Its Causes and Symptoms

Urinary incontinence is a frequent urination problem, so you are unable to control your urine, which results in you frequently feeling the need to go to the toilet, and sometime your urine leak on your clothes.

 Causes:  

• Weaken pelvic floor muscles due to childbirth, age, pregnancy unable to shut your bladder.
• After menopause women produce less estrogen, which keeps their bladder healthy, less estrogen increases the risk of urinary incontinence.
• Neurological problems like Parkinson's,  Alzheimer's, spine injury  send the wrong signal to the nerve associated with the bladder
• Urinary tract infection can affect your bladder badly, it will irritate your bladder badly, causing you to have a urge to go to toilet continuously
• Other factors like caffeine, alcohol, age, obesity are also the reason for urine incontinence

Symptoms:

You are unable to control your pee and frequently go to the toilet to empty your bladder. Sometimes leaking occurs due to exercise and sneezing or little amount of pressure.

 Types and Diagnosis

There are different types of urinary incontinence in women; doctors can treat you according to your type.

• Urgency incontinence - You feel a strong urge to urinate and are unable to control it and you visit the toilet more often
• Stress incontinence - When you squeeze, cough, or do any physical exercises, causes pressure on your bladder, which results in a sudden leakage of urine.
• Functional Incontinence - Functional disability due to any disease like Parkinson's, Arthritis creates difficulty for you to move and you are unable to go to the toilet on time.
• Overflow incontinence – If you always feel that your bladder is full and produces more urine than its capacity to hold, chances are your bladder is overflowing. Common in people with a chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis, strokes, or diabetes.

 Diagnosis:

Your doctors can perform these tests to diagnose your condition

• Ultrasound of your kidney, uterus allows doctors to see the internal organ and helps in evaluating your bladder capacity
• Urine culture test to check whether you are suffering from a urine infection or not
• Cystoscopy is a thin tube with a tiny camera on the other end, inserted into your urethra and bladder, to see a closer look inside

Treatments of Urinary Inontinence in Women

You can go through some treatments suggested by your doctors, which are really helpful for you to control urinary incontinence.

• Bladder training helps you to control your urge and stretch your time to go for a pee
• Kegel exercises improve the conditions of many patients and basically strengthen your pelvic floor muscles.
• Provide mild electrical stimulation to your pelvic floor muscles, stimulate your muscles to control your bladder
• Medications such as anticholinergic and vaginal estrogen help you to control this condition
• As their doctors suggest, people with stress incontinence opt for bulking agent procedures, that improve the lining of their urethra.

 Home remedies of Urinary Incontinence in Women

Home remedies have no side effect, but if your condition is serious, you can use it together with your medical treatment for better effect.

• Take Magnesium-rich food like corn, potatoes, spinach, and nuts to help control your pelvic muscles spasm, which could relieve your incontinence
• Vitamin D rich source is sunlight, but you can also get it through fish, chicken and its supplements help you to build strong bones
• Smoking causes you to cough more, which increases your risk of getting stress incontinence. Quitting smoking is the best idea for a patient like you
• Avoid caffeine and beverages, because it has a diuretic impact and causes you to urinate more often.
• Control your weight

Urinary incontinence in women can be controlled with proper treatments and exercises. Many women control it and cure it by taking proper advice from their doctors, doing daily exercises, and eating healthy foods. Follow the right direction and you'll live a life without any embarrassment.