There are 3 kinds of urinary incontinence - stress, urge and overflow.
What is Urinary Incontinence?
Urinary incontinence happens when a person loses control over the bladder.
This is usually due to the weakening of the bladder muscle. While some may empty the bladder completely, some may just experience a dribble.
People who experience urinary incontinence may find this condition embarrassing and also, this interferes with daily routines. A visit to the doctor can also help to understand the condition and rule out other possible causes of the condition.
Types of Urinary Incontinence
There are 3 kinds of urinary incontinence - stress, urge and overflow.
Stress incontinence happens during certain types of physical activities. This includes exercising, sneezing, coughing, even laughing
Urge incontinence happens when you lose control of the bladder as soon as you have a sudden and strong urge to urinate. Quite often, the person cannot make it to the toilet in time.
Overflow incontinence happens when you don’t completely empty your bladder when you urinate. Some of the remaining urine in your bladder may leak out later. This is also known as dribbling.
Risk factors for urinary incontinence
Old age- Bladder and urethra muscles are weakened in old age.
Obesity- Excessive body weight increases pressure on their bladder and surrounding muscles hence weakens the muscles and causes a leak to more likely occur when the person sneezes or coughs.
Smoking- Regular smokers have higher tendency of developing prolonged coughs that lead to incontinence.
Gender- Women are more susceptible to stress incontinence than men especially if they have had children.
Disease & conditions: Diabetes, kidney disease, spinal cord injury, neurologic disease, stroke, prostate disease may cause incontinence.
