Symptoms and treatment of urinary incontinence. Live without barriers!

If you suffer from urinary incontinence or know someone with this condition, you recognize how embarrassing it can be. However, know that for the various types of urinary incontinence there are ways to control and minimize its impacts.

Understand what the symptoms and treatment of urinary incontinence are. Live without barriers!

WHAT IS URINARY INCONTINENCE AND WHEN CAN IT APPEAR?

According to the Portuguese Urology Association, urinary incontinence is “a pathological situation that results from the inability to store and control urine output.

More common among women and the elderly, this pathology can also affect men.

Urinary incontinence can occur at any age, in the form of a transient episode, as would be the case with a urinary tract infection, or a prolonged one.

In any case, even in chronic situations, urinary incontinence cannot be considered a normal situation, and should be monitored by a doctor and controlled with some treatments.

TYPES OF URINARY INCONTINENCE AND ASSOCIATED SYMPTOMS

Involuntary urine leakage takes on different intensities, from occasional small leaks to more severe and regular losses.

These symptoms result from the different types of urinary incontinence: stress, urge, mixed, overflow, functional, or nocturnal enuresis. Stress incontinence and urge incontinence are the most recurrent cases.

In the case of stress urinary incontinence, as the name implies, urine leakage occurs in association with an effort that increases intra-abdominal pressure.

In other words, we talk about involuntary losses when a person is laughing, coughing, sneezing, running, jumping, carrying weights…

The cause of stress urinary incontinence may be due to problems with the supporting tissues of the pelvic floor and urethral sphincter, mostly affecting women between the ages of 45 and 65.

Urge urinary incontinence, on the other hand, corresponds to a sensation of urgency to urinate and the inability to control/prevent urine output.

This happens even when the bladder is emptiest, so the need to urinate arises more than seven times a day and once a night.

These two types of incontinence can happen simultaneously, in what is called mixed urinary incontinence.

RISK FACTORS

Most cases of urinary incontinence arise in the elderly, due to aging, and women, associated with physical changes due to pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause.

Considering genetic predisposition as a major risk factor, the probability of having urinary incontinence problems increases further as a result of several factors:

. overweight
. be a smoker
. suffer from constipation
. having had surgery such as hysterectomy

From this we can understand that, effectively, lifestyles greatly influence the appearance of this problem.

TREATMENT FOR URINARY INCONTINENCE

In the case of stress urinary incontinence, there are two possible treatment approaches. One is the so-called conservative treatment, which involves changing lifestyle habits and strengthening the pelvic floor muscles with physical therapy.

Thus, in women, it is common for the problem to be controlled with pelvic strengthening exercises and with the daily use of incontinence pads for women (which come in different sizes for different degrees of urine loss).

As a last resort, there is the option of surgery.

In situations of urgency urinary incontinence, on the other hand, there are several approaches. Among the most recurrent are also changes in lifestyle habits and bladder training.

In addition, there are treatments using medication to relax the bladder muscle and neuromodulation.

The most appropriate treatment will always be the one your doctor determines, depending on the severity and complaints presented.

Finally, just as important as the medical follow-up is to know how to identify which products will facilitate the daily life of those who live with this problem.

Utilities such as incontinence diaper underpants, incontinence diapers, pads, and other incontinence accessories are designed to ensure maximum comfort and confidence by bringing freedom back into routines!

Understand what the symptoms and treatment of urinary incontinence are. Live without barriers!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We have a dedicated team that can advise you at any time.

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