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Urinary incontinence - Women

Urine incontinence in women

Urinary incontinence is when someone has any reported involuntary loss of urine. It is a symptom and not a disease that can appear either as a loss of a few drops of urine or as a complete inability to hold urine.

Types of incontinence in woman

Stress incontinece: Any reported involuntary loss of urine during exercise, straining, coughing, or sneezing. It happens due to insufficient support of the urethra or insufficiency of the urethral sphincter and occurs when intra-abdominal pressure is increased.
Urge incontinence: Any reported involuntary loss of urine accompanied by urgency. This is a part of overactive bladder syndrome which has a complex of symptoms dominated by urgency and frequency while it may be accompanied by urge incontinence and nocturia.
Mixed-type incontinence: The patient shows both stress and urge incontinence.

Urinary incontinence - Women

How do I know which type of incontinence do I have?

The main differences between the types of incontinence are listed at the table below:

Events during urine loss	Stress Incontinence	Urge Incontinence
Coughing, sneezing, straining, lifting weights, exercising	Yes	No
Arriving at the toilet on time	Yes	No
Frequency	No	Yes
Urgency	No	Yes
Nocturia	No	Yes
Sexual intercourse	During penetration	During orgasm
Volume of urination	Normal	Small
Volume of leakage	Small	Large

Is it important to identify the type of incontinence?

Yes, because the treatment is different. The treatment of Stress Incontinence is mainly surgical, but the treatment of Urge incontinence is mainly pharmaceutical, while in Mixed incontinence we treat the most disturbing condition first.

How is urinary incontinence in women treated?

Stress Incontinence:

Limitation of fluid intake and frequent bladder emptying
Pelvic floor exercises: to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor (sphincter mechanism).
Surgical treatment: Mainly by placing a vaginal tape under the urethra without applying tension, preventing its movement during the increase of intra-abdominal pressure.

Urge Incontinence:

Change in lifestyle: limiting the intake of factors that may irritate the bladder (coffee, chocolate, spicy foods, alcohol, carbonated drinks, etc.)
Pelvic floor exercises - bladder retraining: exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles that when contracted strongly can inhibit bladder contraction and prevent incontinence.
Medication: nowadays there are many pharmaceutical preparations that have a very high efficiency in the treatment of urge incontinence.
2^nd line treatments: in a few cases where previous treatments fail, intravesical injection of specific medicinal substances and electrical neurostimulation can give results.

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Urinary incontinence - Women

Urinary incontinence - Women

Urine incontinence in women

Types of incontinence in woman

Urinary incontinence - Women

How do I know which type of incontinence do I have?

Is it important to identify the type of incontinence?

How is urinary incontinence in women treated?

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