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Archive for the ‘Bladder Weakness’ Category

Bladder Weakness Products

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

If you suffer from bladder weakness, as millions of people around the world do, there are several products that you may find helpful. Bladder weakness is the involuntaryurinary leakage that may occur for a wide variety of reasons. You will want to visit your doctor to find out why you may be suffering bladder weakness; in the meantime, you may find the following bladder weakness products useful.

Incontinence Pads – Many people with bladder weakness like to use incontinence pads. Much like sanitary napkins, except incontinence pads are more absorbent. They are also small and discreet and can be tucked away into a purse easily and conveniently. Incontinence pads come in different absorbencies ranging from mild to heavy and combat any degree of incontinence.

Incontinence Pants – Incontinence pants are often used for incontinence that is heavier in nature. Incontinence pants may be used alone or in conjunction with incontinence pads. They are often designed to look like normal underwear and are constructed of comfortable material that feels soft and natural. Some are washable, so that they can be thrown in the washing machine; and some are disposable, so that they can simply be thrown out after being used.

Mattress Pads and Covers – If you suffer from bladder weakness, mattress covers and pads will protect your mattress from becoming soiled. Again, some mattress pads are disposable while others are washabl. Regardless of which type you choose, mattress pads and covers are bladder weakness products that can save you a lot of money down the road by preventing you from having to purchase a new mattress.

Bladder weakness is a common condition, which requires some investigation to discover the cause. It is important not to ignore bladder weakness as it may be the sign of a more serious health condition. If you require bladder weakness products, you will want to choose the right incontinence products to suit your needs. If you are unsure of what product will best suit you, visit DryForLife to view our full line of incontinence products.

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Bladder Weakness and Intimacy

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Bladder weakness alone can be an embarrassing topic to discuss. If you add intimacy to the mix, the combination can be a very difficult subject to broach. Many people are not comfortable speaking about either matter, a fact that can lead to stress or unhappiness for partners in a relationship when one person suffers from incontinence.
The person who is suffering with incontinence may suffer from depression and low self-esteem or may be worried that their partner no longer finds them attractive. They may be embarrassed about their condition and may worry that they may have an episode of bladder weakness during an intimate moment.

The partner of the person suffering from bladder weakness may be confused by a partner who no longer seems to desire intimacy. If their partner is withdrawn or depressed, they may feel hurt or angry when their partner spurns their efforts at intimacy.

Both partners are affected by bladder weakness in different ways. Communication is crucial to all relationships, and being able to speak openly and honestly about fears, needs, and feelings is important to both partners in a relationship. Communication can go a long way to resolving issues having to do with intimacy and may provide each partner with a better understanding of how the other person is feeling.

Suffering from bladder weakness does not mean an end to intimacy. In fact, both partners may gain strength from coping with the issue together and the relationship may be stronger for it. If you suffer from bladder weakness and are wondering how bladder weakness will affect intimacy, or if you are looking for tips on how to make being intimate more comfortable for both partners, consider speaking to a healthcare professional, who will be able to offer guidance in this area. There is no need to feel embarrassed, and healthcare professionals are a wealth of practical knowledge as they counsel many people who are coping with the same issues. They can also recommend where to find incontinence products to help make the situation easier to manage.

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Infection as a Cause of Bladder Incontinence

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Bladder incontinence is a common condition affecting millions of people around the world. Causes of bladder incontinence are numerous. Infection in some part of the urinary tract may cause incontinence and is one cause that your physician can easily detect and treat.

Urinary tract infections may affect the kidneys (pyelonephritis), the bladder (cystitis) or the urethra (urethritis). Men may also suffer from prostatitis, or infection of the prostate gland. Bladder incontinence is sometimes the result of untreated infections.

Not all people who have urinary tract infections are symptomatic. When symptoms do occur, they may include:
-Frequency (frequent need to urinate)
-Dysuria (painful urination)
-Hematuria (blood in the urine, which may be visible or only -detectable under a microscope)
-Rectal fullness (men)
-Suprapubic pain (pain just above the pubic bone)
-Fatigue
-Weakness
-Fever (usually present when infection reaches the kidneys)
-Flank pain or backache (usually only with pyelonephritis)
-Nausea and vomiting (pyelonephritis)
-Milky, foul-smelling urine

In children, symptoms may not be obvious. Children are more likely to have a fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and failure to thrive (in infants).

Urine is normally sterile. However, bacteria sometimes cling to and multiply at the entrance to the urinary tract, the urethra. There are several bacteria that live in the bowel and anus. These bacteria can travel from the urethra upwards to other areas of the urinary tract.

Usually, the act of urination causes bacteria to be washed away, but this mechanism sometimes fails. Some people are more prone to urinary tract infection due to underlying health conditions:
-Victims of spinal cord injury (incomplete bladder emptying)
-Sexually active women (urinating after intercourse may decrease r-isk of infection)
-People with kidney stones
-People with suppressed immune function
-Women who use a diaphragm as a method of birth control
-Men with enlarged prostate glands

Urinary tract infection may cause temporary bladder incontinence when symptoms, such as urgency, are intense. Fortunately, bladder infection can be easily detected and treated with antibiotics. Any new-onset bladder incontinence should be evaluated by a physician. When the cause of bladder incontinence is urinary tract infection, the problem can be easily treated.

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5 Ways to Help Limit Bladder Weakness in Men

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

If you are a man, you may find that as you age you begin having problems with urinary incontinence, and while this condition certainly becomes more common as the years pass, it should never be considered a normal side effect of ageing. Of course muscles weaken with age, and your bladder and pelvic muscles are no exception. So whether you are just starting to deal with urinary incontinence, or if you have been managing it for a while, here are five things that you can do to stack the continence deck in your favor and limit the effects of bladder weakness in men.

1.Drink Plenty of Liquids
As your bladder muscles begin to weaken it is tempting to cut back the amount of liquids that you consume. Unfortunately while this idea may make sense on paper, it will not work in practice, and here is why. As you drink less water, your urine becomes more concentrated, and this concentrated urine further aggravates the bladder increasing the likelihood of adult incontinence. However, you do not want to drink too much water either, because this will increase the amount of urine that your body makes, which also increases the chances of incontinence. So the best rule of thumb is to drink in response to your natural thirst signals.

2.Stay Away from Party Drinks
There are certain foods and drinks that can aggravate the bladder, and it is a good idea to stay away from them if you are noticing a weakening in your bladder. Carbonated drinks, alcoholic drinks and caffeinated drinks all act as diuretics, which make you go the the bathroom even more. So if your bladder is already weakening, you will simply overtax your system by eating and drinking things that irritate your bladder.

3.Maintain a Healthy Weight
Being overweight is a sure way to make everything a little harder on your body, so if your bladder is already weak, eating too much and drinking too much is just making your bladder work that much harder. If you are noticing some symptoms of urinary incontinence, this may be the perfect time to start eating a little healthier.

4.Stop Smoking
If you smoke, stop. Of course this is easier said than done, but if you are suffering from urinary incontinence, the effort will be well worth it. While smoking itself is bad for many other systems in your body it does not directly affect your bladder. The cough that comes along with smoking, however, puts undue pressure on your bladder and can contribute to urinary incontinence.

5.Exercise
As you age and your muscles weaken, your pelvic floor muscles are no exception, and just like the rest of your muscles you can keep them in shape by exercising them. Up to three quarters of mild to moderate cases of incontinence can be dramatically improved and even cured by doing pelvic floor muscle exercises. You will have to be patient for the these exercises to pay off, because the results of your hard work will probably not be realized for three to six months. However, all of the hard work is certainly worth it when you regain full bladder control. Regardless of how old you are or how weak your muscles are, you can improve your condition by regularly exercising these muscles to keep them functioning properly.

Bladder weakness in men is more common as you age, and you can find incontinence products that will go a long way towards making managing your problem much easier. At DryForLife we have been helping people find just the right products for their lifestyles, and we are always happy to help. You can order online and have your purchase delivered directly to your front door, quickly, conveniently and discreetly.

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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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Bladder Weakness in Women is not Necessarily a Permanent Condition

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

All too often bladder weakness in women is seen as an inevitable part of ageing. It is also considered just plain embarrassing, which causes far too many women to never bother seeking help for their symptoms. This embarrassment is unfortunate, because four out of five incontinence cases can be completely cured.

While age, childbirth and menopause are factors that increase the risk of urinary incontinence in women, these factors do not guarantee that a woman will suffer from bladder weakness. Urinary incontinence occurs in women when they cannot control their bladder, and any number of things can cause this condition. For women, pregnancy and childbirth are two of the biggest threats to continence, and other factors like surgery, infection, genetics or injury can also cause the problem.

You cannot dictate whether or not damage occurs to your pelvic floor muscles when circumstances are out of your control such as in the case of injury, genetics, surgery or childbirth. However, there are some things that you can do to stack the deck in your favor when it comes to staving off bladder weakness as you age.

If you are overweight, you are putting additional pressure on the muscles of the pelvic floor, which eventually leads to bladder weakness. So, one of the best ways to let nature work in your favor is to give it a helping hand. By eating a healthy diet, getting regular exercise and exercising your pelvic floor muscles regularly, you are giving yourself a fighting chance of maintaining bladder health.

Kegel exercises, which you practice when you are preparing for childbirth, are a great way to maintain strength in your pelvic floor muscles. You are exercising the same muscles that you use to stop the flow of urine mid stream, and by keeping these muscles in good shape, you are keeping the muscles that support your internal organs strong. Keeping these muscles fit not only helps your urinary health, but it helps properly support all of your internal organs.

So while bladder weakness in women may occur at some point in their lives, most of the time, with proper treatment and care, it is only a temporary condition. And as you are working to find a solution for your bladder weakness problem, there are a variety of incontinence products available, which come in many different sizes and absorbencies. Some companies, like DryForLife, even deliver them discreetly right to your front door.

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Bladder Weakness in Women More Common than you Think

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

There are many embarrassing moments caused by bladder weakness in women, and bladder incontinence is still an untouched subject. Because of the hush-hush nature of bladder incontinence, there is a lot of incorrect information floating around on the subject.

In the UK by the age of thirty-five one quarter of all women have experienced some sort of bladder weakness symptoms. Only about half of the talk to their doctors about their problem, while the rest suffer in silence. The average time that a woman waits before getting some sort of help is about fifteen years.

Bladder weakness in women can occur for many different reasons with pregnancy and childbirth right at the top of the list. Obesity, constipation and nerve damage can also cause the problem, and menopause can be a culprit as well. Frequently women who suffer from bladder weakness may withdraw from life a little passing up on traveling, exercising and even sex.

There are three types of bladder weakness in women, and they are as follows:

Stress incontinence, or unexpected leakage, can happen anytime undue pressure is exerted on the bladder, which can happen from coughing, laughing, exercise, sneezing or picking up something heavy.

Overflow incontinence occurs when the bladder does not empty all the way, which causes urine to continually build up and dribble out as if the bladder is overflowing.

Urge incontinence presents itself with a sudden strong urge to pass urine. With urge incontinence the bladder tries to empty itself despite a woman’s attempt to restrain the flow.

One of the conditions that all three of these problems frequently share making an environment ripe for incontinence is weak pelvic floor muscles. One of the functions of these muscles is to keep the urethra closed. As they become less elastic over time the slightest amount of undue pressure like laughing or coughing can be enough to cause leakage. There is good news though. Just because these muscles are weak now, does not mean that they have to be weak forever.

There are exercises that a woman can do to help restore the vibrancy of her pelvic floor muscles, and they are called Kegel exercises. Any woman who has had a baby has heard of them, and if you have not had a baby, and you are suffering from incontinence, see your medical professional, because they can instruct you about the proper way to do your Kegel exercises.

In a nutshell, these exercises work on the same muscles that you would engage to stop the flow of urine midstream, so this can give you an idea of which muscles you would be conditioning. While it takes a while for a woman to realize the results of her pelvic floor exercises, up to six months, if she is diligent and patient she is almost guaranteed to see an improvement in her bladder weakness condition.

If you suffer from bladder weakness in women, as you are working to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, incontinence pads can free you from the worry of having accidental leakage in public. They come in many different sizes and absorbencies to deal with any problem from mild to severe and protect skin, clothing and furniture. DryForLife supplies incontinence pads, which may be ordered online and delivered discreetly right to your front door.

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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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Dietary Restrictions Can Improve Bladder Weakness

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Incontinence can be a devastating condition, affecting young and old, women and men. When it is first experienced, it can come as a shock. Although your first instinct may be to panic, don’t! Many cases of incontinence can be controlled with a combination of self-help measures. One simple and painless remedy is to keep a log of any episodes of incontinence, then seek a causative agent. Does incontinence occur when you drink or eat something specific? Cutting these culprits out of your diet may be all that is needed to restore continence. What are some of the known contributors to bladder weakness? The following is a short list of foods that may cause or aggravate bladder weakness:

Alcohol- alcohol is a common culprit. This may due to a diuretic effect, or it may be due to the fact that alcohol may decrease your sensation of needing to urinate. Carbonated spirits may be worse than non-carbonated ones.
Caffeine- caffeine also acts as a diuretic, as many coffee drinkers will attest to. Drinking caffeinated beverages may increase the number of trips to the washroom you need to take, as well as increasing urgency. Switching to decaf may improve bladder weakness symptoms.
Spicy foods- spices can irritate the bladder, causing symptoms of urgency and frequency. If spicy foods seem to make your problem worse, try eliminating them for awhile and see what happens.
Citrus fruits- acidic foods, such as tomatoes, oranges, grapefruits and others can also be irritating to the bladder.
Artificial sweeteners- aspartame and other artificial sweeteners can be irritating for some people.

Not everyone with bladder weakness will respond to diet changes, but it is a reasonable first step for anyone who develops this common problem. Different foods affect people in different ways, so it is likely that you will have to experiment a little. Keeping a diary of foods eaten and bladder weakness symptoms can be illuminating, costs nothing and may be all that is needed to curb the problem.

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Prostate Enlargement and Incontinence

Monday, September 21st, 2009

The prostate is a walnut-shaped organ located at the base of the bladder (bladder neck). It surrounds the urethra in men, and its main function is to supply necessary fluid to male ejaculate. It supplies up to 70% of the fluid that makes up semen, and thus plays an important role in male sexual health.

As men age, the prostate enlarges, a condition known as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). BPH is common in men; in fact, after the age of 40, most men have some degree of enlargement of the prostate, with the percentage of men affected increasing with age. This benign enlargement can cause urinary symptoms in some men. This is due to the prostate applying pressure to the bladder and/or urethra. Symptoms may include bladder weakness, a weak or dribbling urine stream, a frequent or urgent need to urinate, and nocturia (frequent nighttime urination).

How is the condition treated? If symptoms are not too severe, a watch-and-wait approach may suffice, with frequent check-ups as needed to monitor the condition. For men bothered by urinary symptoms, medications may be tried to reduce urinary symptoms. These drugs are aimed at shrinking the prostate or slowing its growth; some relax muscles near the prostate gland, reducing urgency and frequency.

Surgery is generally reserved for severe enlargement or cases that are not amenable to medication therapy. The most common surgical procedure for an enlarged prostate is a TURP (transurethral resection of the prostate), in which excess tissue is trimmed from the prostate via an instrument passed through the urethra. This type of surgery is usually successful and has a low incidence of incontinence and impotence following. However, no surgery is without risk, and men considering any surgical procedure for prostate enlargement should know the potential risks and perceived benefits before undergoing any procedure.

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Archive for the ‘Bladder Weakness’ Category

Bladder Weakness Products

Bladder Weakness and Intimacy

Infection as a Cause of Bladder Incontinence

5 Ways to Help Limit Bladder Weakness in Men

Simple Overactive Bladder Treatment Offers Results

Bladder Weakness in Women is not Necessarily a Permanent Condition

Bladder Weakness in Women More Common than you Think

Overactive Bladder: The Acid Connection

Dietary Restrictions Can Improve Bladder Weakness

Prostate Enlargement and Incontinence

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