Stress Incontinence

Urinary stress incontinence is when you lose control of urine unintentionally while doing phyical activities like sneezing, laughing, exercise, or coughing. Although urinary stress incontinence can be curable, some medical doctors are not notified by their patients, as some of them feel embaressed or think that it cannot be cured. It is more common in women who have had children, or had a difficult delivery, and if you have a baby big in size. (Liou, 2009).

In the urethra the sphincter muscle, should squeeze out the urine by using this muscle. The wall of the bladder, known as the detrusor, has to stay relaxed, so the bladder can dilate. During urinary stress incontinence, the pelvic and sphincter muscle are not strong enough, casing pressure of the stomach. If a person starts to cough or sneeze the intraabdominal pressure rises, and both the bladder and the urethra have pressure forced upon them, causing continence. About 10% of peole have these symptoms and an average adults bladder can hold up to two cups of urine.

Below is a diagram showing a normal bladder and a bladder with stress incontinence. (Pelvicare.com)

Urinary stress incontinence can also be caused by Polyuria, when a person has too much production of urine. Drinking a lot of liquids can also cause this and also diabetes mellitus. Soft drinks such as sodas and drinks containing caffine can also trigger urine to leak out. In men, 40

or above, the enlargening of their prostate can cause incontinence or even cancer of the prostate. Other symtoms that can trigger incontinence are spina bifida, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and patients who have had a stroke. (Karlovsky, 2010).

Urinary incontinence consists of five types which are; (1) Functional incontinence (which is when you want to use the bathroom, but cannot reach it on time), (2). Overflow incontinence (when you leak out urine by accidentally before reaching the bathroom), (3) Urge incontinence (when you keep feeling like you need to use the bathroom, occurs mostly in older people), (4) Stress incontinence (when urine is pushed out when you laugh or sneeze, the pelvic muscles the weak), and Mixed incontinence is when any of the above types listed occur together.

Anyone stuffing from this problem should consult their doctor, they should not feel ashamed as it can be cured. The doctor will examine them, and look at the patients bladder diary and run some tests regarding their urine. This needs to be done for them to acknowlege what symptoms they have and cure them, further evaluation might also be recommended, like urodynamics. (Blow is a side view of a womans bladder and related structures. (Pelvicare.com)

Treatments for urinary stress incontinence would be to do some pelvic floor exercises such as Kegels, which is when