There are many underlying factors that can lead to incontinence, and even though incontinence can occur at any age, it is still far more common among the elderly. As an elderly person becomes infirm and bedridden, they are twice as likely to have some kind of incontinence problem, and overall, men are half as likely as women to have a problem with incontinence as they age.
During the ageing process, the bladder is getting older right along with the rest of you. As your muscles become less pliable, so does your bladder, and this reduced elasticity yields a bladder that cannot stretch to accommodate the same volume of urine that it did when it was younger. Bathroom visits become more frequent as you age, so sometimes mobility can be the deciding factor between continence and incontinence.
As the bladder muscle weakens, it may not fully empty the bladder, which may result in overflow incontinence. The bladder muscle may also begin to suffer from unexpected spasms, which can result in the symptoms for urge incontinence resulting in either light or heavy incontinence. Along with the bladder, the urethra also looses strength and elasticity as you age, and when you couple this diminished strength along with kidneys that are not functioning up to par, you have the perfect recipe for incontinence. Since the job of kidneys is to concentrate the urine that is stored in the bladder, when they are not functioning properly, the likelihood of incontinence is compounded. It is not bad enough that your urethra and kidneys are compromised with age, but the pelvic floor muscles are also weaker in an older person. So you have a weakened support system for your internal organs; your urethra is not working as efficiently as it once did to hold back the flow of urine, and your kidneys are letting large volumes of liquid travel to your bladder. It is no wonder that incontinence is more prevalent in older persons than in their younger counterparts.
Then elderly women have a couple of additional factors working against them, which lead to the increased risk of incontinence. First, as they go through menopause, their hormone levels shift resulting in an estrogen deficiency, and secondly the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth result in more frequent incontinence among women than men. Older men still do have a little bit to worry about when it comes to incontinence though, because one of the side effects of prostate surgery can be incontinence. In the case of prostate surgery, incontinence can be permanent, or it may only be a temporary condition.
It is important to know that ageing is a contributor to incontinence, however, incontinence is not a normal condition of ageing. This means that if you have any signs of incontinence you should discuss them with your health care professional, because incontinence is a symptom of an underlying problem, which needs to be addressed. Your doctor can help to pinpoint the cause of your incontinence and recommend a treatment for it.
Further Incontinence Articles
- Purchasing Faecal Incontinence Pants
- What is Faeces Incontinence, and Why Does It Happen?
- Infection as a Cause of Bladder Incontinence
- Save Money with Washable Incontinence Pads
- Definitions of Incontinence
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Tags: Incontinence, overflow incontinence, pelvic floor muscles, urge incontinence
