Women are more likely to suffer from incontinence than men. This predisposition is largely due to the fact that women give birth, which is an act that can bring great joy and can also wreak havoc on women’s bodies. Sometimes pregnancy itself can cause incontinence in women.
During pregnancy, the uterus grows to a point where it applies a lot of pressure to the bladder. This may result in stress incontinence. A woman with a large, gravid uterus may find that she leaks urine when she coughs, sneezes or laughs. Lifting heavy objects may also cause incontinence in women who are pregnant. Stress incontinence during pregnancy is usually transient and ends when the pregnancy does, because the uterus returns to its pre-pregnant size.
Childbirth itself can cause trauma to many structures, including the muscles of the pelvic floor, which help to control urination, and nerves. Conditions that may predispose a women to damage to these structures during childbirth include the following:
Use of forceps or vacuum extraction
Large birth weight babies (>4000 grams)
Multiple births
Prolonged labour
Precipitous birth (baby comes too quickly)
Induced labour using drugs
Episiotomy (performed to enlarge the vaginal opening)
Sometimes damage caused by childbirth is not evident for years after a woman gives birth. When a women experiences new-onset urinary or faecal incontinence, her doctor will want to know about the circumstances surrounding her pregnancies and births. Multiple pregnancies and births may make a woman more likely to experience incontinence.
Incontinence in women need not be permanent. There are many treatments and therapies that may improve or cure incontinence. Many women who experience incontinence assume that there is nothing that can be done, and they do not seek medical advice. Seeing a doctor is the first step to curing incontinence, and incontinence in women should never be viewed as a normal event.
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