Treatment for Urinary Incontinence

Baptist Medical Center is committed to providing high quality evaluation and compassionate treatment for all types of urinary incontinence.

Services for incontinence are provided at Baptist by:
The Continence Clinic at Baptist Medical Center
Mississippi Urology Clinic
Southeast Urogynecology at The Women's Specialty Center
The Woman's Clinic

What is it? Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine at a time that is neither convenient nor socially acceptable. Take this quiz to see if you may have a significant problem with your bladder. 1. Do you ever have trouble holding your urine? 2. Do you ever lose urine when you don't want to? 3. Do you ever wear a pad? 4. Do you ever leak urine and is it a social embarrassment for you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to know that there is help available to you. Many people turn to the use of absorbent materials and supportive aids without their condition being properly diagnosed and treated. Many people are embarrassed about their condition and do not seek help when there is usually something that can be done to correct the problem. It is very important to understand that incontinence is not a natural part of aging and that the vast majority of patients can be treated and/or cured of their incontinence.

 

 

There are many different types of incontinence, some of which are temporary and some that are more permanent. Even with people who have the more "permanent" forms of incontinence, many can be managed, improved significantly or cured. Urinary incontinence is a common problem that anyone can suffer from regardless of age.

• More than 25 million Americans suffer from some type of urinary incontinence; it affects women twice as often as men.
• One in four women will have incontinence at some time in their life.
• Urinary incontinence costs Americans more than $23 billion a year.
• Two out of three people with incontinence can be cured.
• 15-30% of persons older than 60 years of age are affected by significant incontinence, although it can affect both men and women of any age.

Five Types of Incontinence
Stress incontinence is the most common type of incontinence. Leakage usually occurs during coughing, laughing, sneezing, exercising or when an activity puts pressure on the bladder. Stress incontinence in women is most commonly associated with a previous history of childbirth.

Overflow incontinence is when there is constant or frequent small amounts of leakage of urine from a bladder that does not empty. As the bladder remains full, the muscle stretches as more urine accumulates in the bladder. Over time, the muscles become less effective at contracting to empty the urine.

Other conditions such as diabetes may cause the bladder to not empty completely and cause the symptoms described above. Certain medications such as over the counter cold and hay fever pills may also cause these symptoms.

Urge incontinence is another common type of incontinence. The sudden sensation to urinate and the inability to control that urgency resulting in the loss of urine characterize this type. The urge to urinate happens suddenly and there is often little or no warning time for the person. Urge incontinence is common in the elderly, but can happen in younger people. This form of incontinence may be associated with other medical conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

Reflex incontinence is another less common form of incontinence and is usually related to spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, or other neurological disease. These patients have a hyperactive urinary bladder that just contracts by reflex. Many of these patients have no voluntary control of urination.

Total incontinence is often related to severe anatomic problems such as fistula (an abnormal communication between the bladder and the outside world), or from multiple previous surgeries with resultant scarring of the bladder outlet and sphincter mechanism. Many patients with total incontinence have multiple causes and, therefore, multi-modality treatment is often indicated.

Causes of Incontinence
There are many cause of urinary incontinence. Some of these causes can include:

• Pelvic floor relaxation (dropped bladder)
• Urethral scar from previous surgery (instrinsic sphincter deficiency)
• Urinary tract infection
• Overactive bladder
• Constipation
• Certain medications
• Increase dietary intake of caffeine, alcohol, artificial sweeteners and carbonated beverages
• Previous radiation therapy to the pelvis

Listen to our "Women's Health Inside Out" podcast series on treatments for incontinence:
:: Click here for Part One
:: Click here for Part Two