The Health Knowledge Foundation in Germany said that urinary incontinence means losing the ability to control the bladder, noting that women are more susceptible to urinary incontinence due to the weakness of their pelvic floor muscles, according to what was published by the German News Agency.
Two types
The Foundation added that urinary incontinence is divided into two types: stress and urgency, explaining that stress urinary incontinence means losing control of urine when exerting physical effort such as lifting objects or when laughing or coughing.
Urge urinary incontinence is a sudden and strong urge to urinate even when the bladder is not yet full. Small amounts of urine may be lost or the bladder may be completely emptied before reaching the toilet.
Several reasons
The Foundation added that urinary incontinence may be due to several causes, such as bladder diseases such as bladder stones or bladder infections, neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, or multiple sclerosis, back and spinal cord injuries, diabetes, stroke, and hormonal changes such as estrogen deficiency during menopause in women, in addition to To psychological factors.
Some factors also increase the risk of urinary incontinence, such as family history, excessive obesity, smoking, and diuretic medications.
Treatment methods
The Foundation indicated that urinary incontinence can be combated by practicing exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and training the bladder by creating a toilet use schedule that includes going to the toilet at specific times.
It is also possible to resort to medications, which work to counter excessive contraction of the muscles in the bladder wall, as well as medications, which help relax the muscles, which leads to increasing the storage capacity of the bladder.
Since nerve impulses are responsible for emptying the urinary bladder, electrical stimulation can also be used to stimulate the nerves involved.
If urinary incontinence is due to a hormonal cause, estrogen therapy can be used.
In severe cases, surgery may be performed to install a device to regulate the bladder’s pacemaker.
If the cause of urinary incontinence is psychological and not organic, then psychological treatment is required.