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Frequent Causes of Urge Incontinence in Men

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Urge incontinence in men can be a frustrating problem. Symptoms may include a sudden, urgent need to urinate, followed by incontinence if a toilet is not readily available. Many men suffer from urge incontinence to varying degrees without understanding that, in many cases, it can be helped or even cured with proper treatment. What causes urge incontinence in men? There can be many contributing factors, which include the following:

Diabetes – Diabetes can damage the nerves that affect control of bladder function.

Stroke, Parkinson’s disease and MS (multiple sclerosis) – All of these conditions can lead to problems with emptying the bladder that cause the bladder to become overly full. This overfilling can, in turn, lead to urgency and incontinence.

Prostate Disease – The prostate gland, which surrounds the urethra at the bladder neck, is a frequent cause of urge incontinence in men. Enlargement of this gland, cancer of the prostate or treatment to cure cancer of the prostate may all cause the symptoms of urge incontinence in men.

Overactive Bladder – In overactive bladder, the urge to urinate may occur frequently and may be so strong that the urge cannot be ignored. Overactive bladder symptoms may be due to nerve damage, as discussed above, or may be caused by an unknown factor.

Infection – A bladder or kidney infection can cause symptoms of urge incontinence in men. This condition is generally very treatable with appropriate antibiotics, but may be overlooked as a simple cause of the problem.

Obesity – Being overweight can put increased pressure on the bladder, and may worsen symptoms of urge incontinence in men.

Constipation – Being constipated can also cause urge incontinence. Stool that impacts in the lower intestine may place extra pressure on the bladder and urethra, causing the sensation of urgency.

Urge incontinence in men should always be addressed by a physician. Although it may be embarrassing to admit this problem to your doctor, discussing the issue may lead to a cure. However, if the problem cannot be entirely resolved, your doctor may be able to improve symptoms so that they are less bothersome.

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What is Urge Incontinence?

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

One of the most prevalent types of urinary incontinence in older adults is urge incontinence,. So it is important to understand what is urge incontinence. You may also hear this type of incontinence called a spastic or overactive bladder, because it is caused by abnormal bladder spasms or contractions. It manifests itself as a very sudden and strong ‘urge’ to urinate. While the involuntary loss of urine may seem like a disease unto itself, it is actually a harbinger of an underlying problem, and as such it should not be ignored.

When you notice the symptoms of urge incontinence beginning, you will want to let your doctor know, and he or she can help you to determine the source of the problem. There are many different things that can cause urge incontinence, so it is a good idea to have a medical professional evaluate your individual problem. When you suffer from urge incontinence the spasms in the bladder cause such a sudden and violent contraction, that urine is forced through the strong sphincter muscles normally charged with regulating the flow of urine.

The key then, is to find out why the contraction occurs in the first place. There are many different reasons why the bladder may experience sudden and strong contractions, and this is why it is important to discuss your problem with a medical health professional. Your doctor can determine if some sort of nerve damage has occurred possibly as a result of disease or injury. By the same token, this condition can occur as a result of damage to the spinal cord.

Despite best efforts, there are many times when the exact cause cannot be found even though a trigger is found like the bladder may be stimulated into contracting at the sound of running water. However, even if you do not find the exact cause of your urge incontinence, it is important to rule out some major diseases as the cause.

The symptoms for urge incontinence are pretty straight forward. Accompanied by an involuntary urine leakage, you are constantly feeling the urge to urinate. The leakage happens both during the day and at night, and in some cases the problem can be cured while in other cases it simply needs to be managed.

Urge incontinence is generally treated with behavior modification, medication or surgery depending on the underlying cause of the condition. So now that you have answered the question, what is urge incontinence, you can work with your medical professional to manage your particular situation in the best way possible. At DryForLife we have been helping our customers deal with their incontinence challenges for over forty years, and now we are ready to help you.

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Postponing the Need for Incontinence Pads for Women

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Urinary incontinence affects one in three women over the age of sixty, and women are twice as likely as men to develop problems with incontinence. Women are commonly afflicted with stress incontinence, which occurs as a result of weakened pelvic floor muscles. These muscles are weakened as a result of pregnancy, childbirth or menopause. Urge incontinence and overflow incontinence can also occur as a result of nerve damage to the bladder, kidney stones, infection or spinal damage. There are any number of different causes for a woman’s involuntary urination prompting the need for incontinence pads for women.

However, a Swedish study that was published in an issue of Fertility and Sterility draws a strong connection between oral contraceptive use and a measurable decrease in incidents of urinary incontinence among women approaching menopause. The study was conducted as a web based survey. The surveyors questioned over 10,000 women from the Swedish Twin Registry who were older than twenty three and younger than fifty. The line of questioning was interested solely in the connection that oral contraception has with any increase or decrease of urinary incontinence. The study found that as women used birth control their risk of suffering from symptoms of stress incontinence, urge incontinence or a combination of the two was severely diminished. Overactive bladder sufferers also realized a reduction in their symptoms, but not enough to consider oral contraception helpful in controlling the symptoms for an overactive bladder.

What is interesting about this study is that up until this point most other studies concluded that administering hormones to patients generally worsened their condition instead of improving it. Therefore, what researchers have discovered is that hormones have a completely different effect on younger women than they do on older women, because when the hormones are administered to perimenopausal women the symptoms of urinary incontinence noticeably improved.

Oral contraceptives have long been known to combat bacterial vaginosis and offer protection against pelvic inflammatory disease, and now they are showing promise in the treatment of some types of urinary incontinence in older women. Since hormones affect virtually every part of your body, you want to always consult your physician before considering taking oral contraception. So, if you are an older woman suffering from urinary incontinence, rather than simply stock up on incontinence pads for women, you may want to talk to your doctor about taking birth control pills to manage your urinary incontinence situation. And as you are getting your problem under control, remember that DryForLife has been helping their customers find just the right products for over forty years, and we offer speedy and discreet shipping.

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Treatment for Frequent Urination

Friday, April 9th, 2010

The symptom of frequent urination can be caused by any number of things ranging from an enlarged prostate in men to a growing fetus exerting pressure on a woman’s bladder. It can also be an early warning sign for diabetes, or it may indicate the onset of a urinary tract infection.

After ruling out some of the major health issues connected with frequent urination, one of the more common causes of this problem is an overactive bladder. When an overactive bladder is diagnosed, medications like Detrol, which reduces the urge to go to the bathroom and Ditropan can be a very effective treatment for frequent urination. Sometimes, rather than truly having a physical malformation, the urge to go to the bathroom can be the result of a behavioral compulsion. Anyone who has had to deal with urinary incontinence at any level may have developed a frequent urination problem as a way to deal with their incontinence issues. For these people the idea of having an accident in public is so disturbing, that they would far prefer to make frequent trips to the bathroom.

Especially for these compulsive people using cognitive therapy to make behavioral changes helps them retrain their bladders to be quiet. However, when medication and behavioral therapy do not solve the problem of frequent urination in a patient, there are a couple of surgical options available as a last line of treatment. The first surgical option involves implanting a sacral nerve stimulator, which is a tiny, mechanical device that is placed in the abdomen of the patient, and it connects to the sacral nerves under the tailbone. It works kind of like a heart’s pacemaker and helps regulate nerve messages sent to the bladder.

The second surgical selection is augmentation cytoplasty, which borrows from the bowel using the tissue to increase bladder size. This surgery usually requires cathetertization after surgery, which can increase the risk of kidney and bladder infections, not to mention that it is probably even more inconvenient that the original problem or frequent urination.

While many people chalk up the problem of frequent urination as an eventual and inevitable byproduct of ageing, it is not. By eating a diet rich in fiber and getting adequate exercise, you can help stave off the problem of frequent urination. Also staying away from foods that aggravate the bladder or act as diuretics can keep frequent urination symptoms at bay. However, if you do notice the onset of frequent urination problems, let your doctor know, so that he or she can find and treat the underlying cause of the problem.

While you are working with your physician to find the most appropriate treatment for frequent urination problems, make sure that you have access to quality, absorbent pads to help protect from any embarrassing mishaps. At DryForLife we have been helping people find just the right products to complement their lifestyles and manage their problems for over forty years, and we are here to help. With discreet ordering and delivery available, we can help make your frequent urination problem just a little less of a problem.

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Simple Overactive Bladder Treatment Offers Results

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

When you have an overactive bladder it can be annoying to say the least, and frequently it can prove to be debilitating. You may find yourself avoiding social situations, vacations and even family gatherings. Always in the back of your mind is the possibility of your overactive bladder problem causing your a publicly embarrassing moment. The good news is that an overactive bladder syndrome treatment can be just a doctor’s visit away.

Overactive bladder treatments range from behavioral changes to exercise therapy to medication, or maybe even a combination of treatments. This is why you want to start your search for the best treatment with the proper evaluation of your condition.

Bladder training is an effective overactive bladder treatment that does not have any side effects, and it is something that anyone can do. Typically you go to the bathroom when you feel the urge to go, but bladder training sets a schedule for your rest room trips, and you learn to control the urge and wait until your scheduled time. Then you begin increasing the time in between bathroom visits until you have a manageable schedule for your bathroom visits.

Along with bladder training pelvic floor exercises strengthen the muscles of your pelvic floor. You exercise your arms and legs, so it makes sense to exercise the important muscles along your pelvic floor as well. You simply tighten and hold these muscles several times a day to build their strength back up. If you are not familiar with your pelvic floor muscles, the next time that you are urinating, stop midstream. There is your pelvic muscle in action. These exercises are called Kegel exercises, named after the doctor who first recommended them, and pregnant women typically do them to prepare for childbirth. It takes several months to realize the benefit of your new workout, so if you are experiencing any urine leakage during this time you can wear a good quality absorbent incontinence pad to manage your situation.

Using drugs to treat an overactive bladder can be very effective when the problem is caused by nerves sending improper signals to the bladder muscles. Drugs can help to block these misfired signals and curtail the inappropriate bladder contractions. It is also possible that drugs can help to increase your bladder capacity, which also helps decrease the urge to go to the bathroom so frequently. Another contributor to overactive bladder problems in women is the decrease in estrogen production that happens after menopause occurs. So estrogen treatments can help alleviate symptoms in some women.

As you partner with your doctor to identify the cause behind your overactive bladder, you can work together to find the perfect overactive bladder treatment for you. And as you are learning to manage your condition you can find products to help you maintain your active lifestyle. At DryForLife we have been helping our customers manage incontinence for over forty years, and we are here to help you too.

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Enuresis Nocturna Can be a Nightmare

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Bedwetting, or enuresis nocturna, can happen any time that a person falls asleep. While it primarily happens when you are sleeping at night, it could happen if you fall asleep on an airplane or in front of the television. This problem frequently goes unreported simply because it is embarrassing, and it frequently keeps people who suffer from living their life to the fullest. Young adults may forgo the college experience for fear of being found out, and young working adults may pass on a business trip for the same reason. Some young adults may even postpone serious dating lest their partner should find out their shameful secret.

Adult bedwetting can be caused by an overactive bladder, which can cause urinary leakage even during waking hours. An infection like a urinary tract infection, diabetes or kidney disorders can also be the culprits behind nocturnal enuresis. Stress, anxiety, or loss of muscle elasticity can be underlying causes for this condition as well.

If you are suffering from enuresis nocturna, there are some things that you can do to mitigate its symptoms. Start by not drinking anything after dinner. This will help you keep from going to bed with a full bladder. Then limit foods that act like diuretics such as caffeine. You can also set an alarm to wake you in the middle of the night so that you can get up to go to the bathroom, and this should keep your bladder from overfilling. You can also practice holding your urine during the daytime to help increase the size of your bladder.

If you are having problems with enuresis nocturna, talk to your doctor or medical health professional so that they can assess any underlying causes for the problem, which may even help to cure it. While your doctor is helping you solve your problem remember that incontinence pads come in a great variety of shapes, sizes, and absorbencies to deal with mild to severe incontinence. They protect from skin irritation, and are invaluable in protecting clothing and furniture. DryForLife supplies incontinence pads with all of these qualities, allowing you the freedom live your life confidently.

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Mental Health Related to Bladder Problems in Women

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

A study was done on 121 female veterans in the United States who suffered from lower urinary tract symptoms. The researchers evaluated the women’s age, race, obstetric history, mental health history and sexual trauma history. This group of women was compared to a control group of 1298 women.

The results of the study showed that women who suffered from psychiatric disorders and women who suffered from sexual trauma have an increased risk of suffering from incontinence, specifically an overactive bladder or urge incontinence.

When the control group was compared with the women who suffered from incontinence, the women suffering from incontinence had much higher incidences of psychiatric disorders. In the group suffering from incontinence 64.5 percent of the women suffered from some type of psychiatric disorder; whereas in the control group only 25.9 percent of the women suffered from any sort of psychiatric disorder.

Again when the control group was compared to the women who had incontinence symptoms, the women with incontinence also reported a much higher incidence of sexual trauma. The group of women dealing with incontinence had 49.6 percent of the women reporting some sort of sexual trauma, while the control group only had 20.1 percent of the women reporting some kind of sexual trauma.

This is the first study, which looks at the association of psychiatric health or sexual trauma and urinary incontinence. The study was conducted by doctors at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, and the results were released online on October 22 well ahead of the study’s publication in the December issue of the Journal of Urology.

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Overactive Bladder: The Acid Connection

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

If you are suffering from an overactive bladder, you may want to check the acidity level of your urine. A recent study has linked high acidity levels in urine to overactive bladder symptoms. What seems to happen is that when there is a high acid level in the urine, it stimulates the cells in the bladder wall, which then send a neurotransmitter signal to the brain that the bladder is full. This study is the first one to draw a straight connection between bladder function and acid.

An overactive bladder can be very difficult to treat, because doctors still do not really understand what causes it. That is why the connection between overactive bladder and acid is an exciting discovery. Currently, an overactive bladder is treated with drugs, which reduce neurotransmitter activity; however, these drugs come with side effects and can be expensive.

Treating overactive bladder is a very expensive proposition. Surprisingly it is more expensive than treating pneumonia, breast cancer and osteoporosis. So if researchers can find a cause, there may be a new, more affordable treatment or cure on the horizon, not to mention reduced side effects like dry mouth, drowsiness and constipation.

Published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, this study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and a grant from Pfizer. While the study’s findings are promising, the research is still in its early stages; so for the present time the cause and treatment of overactive bladder are still proving to be elusive.

As you are working through the solution to your problem, incontinence pads can free you from the worry of having an accident. They come in many different sizes and absorbencies to deal with any problem from mild to severe. They protect clothing and your skin. DryForLife supplies incontinence pads, which may be ordered online and delivered discreetly right to your front door.

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Frequent Urination in Women can be More than Annoying

Thursday, November 5th, 2009
At the very least needing to go to the bathroom too often can be more than annoying. It can cause sleep deprivation if you have to get up multiple times during the night to urinate, which may leave you tired and useless the following day. Frequent urination in women is also known as an overactive bladder, and urine leakage may also happen when you laugh or cough.

This condition is generally caused by an infection, hormonal changes or an underlying disease. If the frequent urination is also painful, then this most likely indicates an infection of some sort is present. If you have just recently given birth or are going through menopause, then your bladder may not stretch as well as it used to causing more frequent trips to the bathroom.

Stress is another frequently overlooked reason why women suffer from frequent urination, and in younger women, it may be an early sign of an overactive thyroid gland.

There are also diseases that may include frequent urination as symptoms like chronic kidney disease, tumors or diabetes. Another problem that may cause the need to urinate more frequently than normal could also include kidney stones or bladder stones. Constipation may actually cause you to have to urinate more frequently, and finally the later stages of pregnancy may also cause this problem.

Some causes of frequent urination are self-correcting. Obviously, if you are pregnant, eventually you will give birth, and you will not have the added pressure of an unborn child on your internal organs. Kidney or bladder stones may pass on their own, and an infection may clear up.

Watching what you drink and when you drink it may also help reduce your trips to the bathroom. For example, alcohol and caffeine both irritate the bladder and simply consuming less liquid before going to bed may help limit nighttime bathroom trips.

However, there are times when you will want to seek medical attention when your frequent urination symptoms do not subside on their own. For example, you may have an infection that does not clear up on its own. Or menopause may cause hormonal changes that are not righting themselves without help. So this would be an excellent time to discuss your frequent urination symptoms and treatment options with your doctor.

While frequent urination in women may not necessarily be a serious problem, you will not know if it is or not without having your health provider’s input. So, before you either worry too much or dismiss the problem as insignificant, get a definite diagnosis, and then you will be able to take care of the problem with the proper treatment.

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Botox for Urge Incontinence – Not Just For Wrinkles

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Botox has been used for years as a wrinkle reducer, and has also recently been hailed as a breakthrough for treating migraine headaches. More importantly, and of interest to those who may be suffering from urge incontinence, Botox has been shown to be effectve in reducing or eliminating symptoms in urge incontinence.

How does it work? Urge incontinence is the product of an overactive bladder, and people who suffer from urge incontinence feel an urgent need to urinate as the result of bladder spasms. They also feel the need to urinate frequently due to these unpleasant bladder spasms. Conventional treatment consists of bladder retraining, medications and sometimes surgery.

Botox has been found to be effective in treating urge incontinence when it is injected into the bladder muscle that is responsible for the bladder spasms, thus reducing urgency and frequency. The downside of Botox is that it is not a permanent cure- Botox wears off in a matter of months, necessitating further treatment. However, in studies people who have been treated with Botox report a reduction in symptoms and, in some cases, a complete absence of symptoms following Botox injections. Botox has not been approved for this purpose, but trials are taking place. If this treatment interests you, you may want to consider if there are any trials taking place near you. To read more about this exciting new breakthrough, click here.

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