Urinary incontinence is a common problem for men and women throughout the world. Any loss of bladder control is a sign of urinary incontinence. In fact, around 20 million Americans currently have or have had signs of urinary incontinence at some point in their lives. This statistic doesn’t include any of those who have signs, but do not report them to the doctor out of fear or embarrassment. There are many signs, types, risk factors, causes and symptoms of urinary incontinence. We’ll go over them here.
What are the Signs of Urinary Incontinence?
There are many different things that can be seen as a loss of bladder control. The most basic one being that urine leaks through due to an underlying circumstance. Examples of these circumstances are:
- Functional Incontinence – This is a term that means a person is unable to make it to the toilet due to a physical or mental disability.
- Overflow Incontinence – When the bladder becomes too full and you are unable to empty in time, overflow of urine may cause a small amount of leakage.
- Urge Incontinence – When someone has a large urge to urinate and they are unable to withhold it.
- Mixed Incontinence – A combination of both urge and stress incontinence.
- Stress Incontinence – This term defines a loss of urinary control due to physical contractions. Such as coughing or sneezing.
Narrowing Down the Source
Urinary incontinence is usually a symptom of your lifestyle and underlying health conditions. Here is a list of different things that can lead to urinary incontinence.
- Alcohol
- Too Many Fluids
- Caffeine
- Bladder Irritation
- Medications
- Pregnancy
- Childbirth
- Age
- Hysterectomy
- Interstitial Cystitis
- Inflammation of the Prostate Gland
- Bladder Stones
- Bladder Cancer
- Prostate Cancer
- Obstruction
- Neurological Disorders
- Obesity
- Smoking
All of these can be an underlying cause of urinary incontinence and it is important to be honest with your doctor about everything you’re involved with and even slight symptoms or signs you notice. Once the source of the urinary incontinence is located, then treatment will begin. Again, urinary incontinence is not a disease, but a symptom of behaviors and personal health.
