Major Types of Incontinence
Stress Incontinence
According to the Urinary Incontinence Consensus Conference of 1998, stress Incontinence is the most common form of incontinence. It is triggered when pressure on the bladder is increased (mostly through increased pressure from the abdominal wall). Whenever this pressure on the bladder exceeds the pressure holding the neck of the bladder closed urine leakage results. This loss of bladder control commonly occurs during activities such as laughing, sneezing, lifting heavy objects, jumping, coughing, and sneezing, during exercise, getting out of a chair or bed, or straining to push or pull something. Major risk factors for stress incontinence include pregnancy, childbirth (especially multiple childbirths), menopause, and aging. Other causes include pelvic fracture, radical prostatectomy, and bladder neck surgery. Anything that causes the pelvic floor muscles to be overstretched or damaged can lead to stress incontinence. Over half of all women who have been pregnant have had at least one episode of stress incontinence, and at least one third of all women who have given birth have experienced stress incontinence. In many to most cases strengthening of the pelvic floor will reduce or eliminate the occurence of stress incontinence. Recommended devices for the treatment of stress incontinence appear in the Female Incontinence section of the site..
Urge Incontinence
Urge incontinence refers to a condition which is experienced by patients as a sudden strong urge to urinate despite the fact that there is no apparent reason; often times this occurs on the way to the bathroom, while drinking a small amount of liquid or while listening to running water. In rare cases brain or spinal cord injury render the bladder " overactive ". It is more common that the muscles around the bladder are simply overactive and certain stimuli result in involuntary voiding reactions before the bladder is full. The most common cause of urge incontinence is inappropriate or uncontrollable bladder contractions due to nervous system problems in and around the bladder (rather than brain or spinal cord injuries). Stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can all cause urge incontinence. Urge Incontinence is a major symptom of Over Active Bladder (OAB). Other risk factors for urge incontinence include aging, obstruction of urine flow, inconsistent emptying of the bladder and a diet high in bladder irritants (such as coffee, tea, colas, chocolate and acidic fruit juices). In many cases strengthening of the pelvic floor will reduce the occurence of urge incontinence by strengthening the pelvic floor and giving more control during the periods of urgency. Recommended devices for the treatment of stress incontinence appear in the Female Incontinence section of the site.
Overflow Incontinence
Overflow incontinence is caused by the overfilling of the bladder without the desire to urinate. The bladder is usually in a state of not being properly innervated. People with overflow incontinence do not sense the fact that their bladder is so full that it can not hold any more urine. The bladder can often be stimulated to empty, but this must be triggered from a mechanism other than just normal relaxation of the sphincter muscles. Urine is lost in overflow incontinence whenever the pressure inside the bladder exceeds the pressure that the muscles holding the bladder closed are exerting. If you can imagine that the muscles surrounding the bladder could only hold the pressure exerted by 400ml of urine and that the person in question can not feel that their bladder is this full already, then whenever the kidneys deposit any amount of urine that exceeds 400ml, the extra urine will squirt out of the bladder and then return the bladder to its maximum holding capacity of 400ml. The bladder for people suffering this type of incontinence does not send the proper signals of urgency to urinate, so often times they will need to put themselves on a toileting schedule. A bladder that is full all of the time is more susceptible to infection, so this along with being losing urine at undesired times are the major problems with overflow incontinence. Because of the nature of overflow incontinence kegel exercises will generally not improve the outcome. Consult you physician or a urologist to recieve proper reccomendations to decrease incidence of this condition.