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Archive for the ‘Incontinence’ Category

Purchasing Faecal Incontinence Pants

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Do you suffer from faecal incontinence? If so, you understand the importance of buying faecal incontinence pants that will minimize risks of accidents, are absorbent and minimize odor.

Faecal incontinence is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide; in general, women are affected more often than men. There may be several causative factors, including diarrhea related to laxative frequency or bowel conditions such as IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), rectal disease such as prolapse and hemorrhoids, damage to the anus and rectum caused by childbirth or surgery, or damage to the nerves that provide control over when a bowel movement occurs (i.e. Multiple Sclerosis, diabetes, stroke, or spinal cord injury). Faecal incontinence is often referred to as bowel incontinence.

If you suffer from faecal incontinence, you may feel embarrassed or ashamed. This is a common reaction to an inability to control one of the most basic functions. However, you should know that help is available, and speaking to your physician is the first step in curing bowel incontinence, or controlling it.

In the meantime, you will want to buy faecal incontinence pants made specifically for faecal incontinence. Tena Slip Super Unisex pads look like a pad, but secure around your waist like incontinence pants. They provide the ultimate in absorbency and security against leakage. The patented FeelDry core keeps moisture away from your skin, improving comfort and preventing skin irritation. The legs have a soft elastic to prevent accidents, while the waist fastens snugly and comfortable with readjustable tapes. Another great feature is the noiseless quality of these faecal incontinence pants. No one but you needs to know you are wearing them.
Do not let faecal incontinence ruin your life. With Tena Slip Super Unisex pads, you can enjoy comfort and security, knowing that you are always well-protected by viewing DryForLife’s full line of Tena products.

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What is Faeces Incontinence, and Why Does It Happen?

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Faeces incontinence is an embarrassing condition that affects more people than you might think. Having this condition can cause embarrassment and shame. If you suffer from faeces incontinence, it may comfort you to know that you are not alone, and there are treatments available.

What is faeces Incontinence?
Faeces incontinence occurs when gas or stool is released unintentionally, in small or large quantities. The person with faeces incontinence is unable to control the escape of faeces. This condition is also known as bowel incontinence. It affects women more often than men, and the elderly more often than younger people.

What causes faeces incontinence?
Faeces incontinence may occur for several reasons. The most common cause of this condition is damage to the muscles that control defecation. In women, faeces incontinence may occur when muscles are damaged in childbirth, and is the reason that more women than men suffer from this condition. Having a difficult childbirth experience may damage muscles, such as when instruments are needed to remove the baby (i.e. forceps) or when the vaginal opening must be enlarged to deliver the baby (called an episiotomy). Muscles may also be damaged when surgery is performed on the rectum, such as hemorrhoid surgery. Damage to these muscles may not appear for years after the causative event, when an aging person’s muscles weaken due to aging.

Certain conditions, which affect the nerves of the anus or affect the ability to sense when a bowel movement is imminent, may also cause faeces incontinence. Multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injuries, spinal cord tumors and diseases such as diabetes may all affect bowel continence.

Some people have bowel disease, which can lead to faeces incontinence, such as inflammatory bowel disease. Others who suffer from diarrhea for a variety of reasons may suffer from bowel incontinence. (This is why laxative abuse is never a wise idea).

If you suffer from faeces incontinence, it is important that you speak to your doctor. Treatment is available and can reduce or prevent faeces incontinence. Avoiding speaking to your physician due to embarrassment may prevent you from discovering the cause and treating the condition.

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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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Tags: bladder incontinence, Incontinence, incontinency, prostate gland
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Save Money with Washable Incontinence Pads

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

There’s no doubt about it; suffering from incontinence can be expensive. One way to cut down on the expense associated with being incontinent is to consider the use of washable incontinent pads.

Incontinence products generally come in two varieties: disposable or washable (reusable). While many people prefer to use disposable products, because they can simply be disposed of when soiled, there are a growing number of people who choose to use washable products in order to save money.

Washable incontinent pads are often teamed with washable incontinent pants. These products are made of comfortable, breathable materials that are highly absorbent. Washable incontinent pants often look and feel like normal underwear, which is a large part of their appeal. As the incontinence market has grown, so have the styles and features of products. For example, men’s washable incontinence pads and pants now come in styles that appeal to men, such as boxer style briefs. Women have not been forgotten- manufacturers realize that women desire products that are discreet and look natural under any type of garment they choose to wear.

More and more people are going green, and buying washable incontinent pads and pants is one way that consumers can help the environment. By cutting down on waste, buying washable products can assist people who care about the environment by allowing them a choice.

DryForLife understands that people with incontinence want to have a choice in the products they use to cope with incontinence, and that people want value for their money. DryForLife offers a wide range of products, including washable incontinent pads, which are comfortable to wear, absorbent, discreet and cost-effective. DryForLife is also proud to carry the full line of Tena products to offer their valued clients a wider choice in incontinence products.

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Definitions of Incontinence

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

There are so many terms used in conjunction with the word incontinence that it can be hard to keep them all straight. First of all, it is helpful to have a working definition of the word incontinence. Incontinence refers to the sudden, involuntary release of urine or stool. Incontinence can have many different underlying causes, and it is always a good idea to discuss the problem with your doctor when searching for a solution for this problem.

Urinary Incontinence – the sudden involuntary release of urine

Faecal (or Fecal) Incontinence – the sudden involuntary loss of gas (flatulence) or stool; bowel incontinence is often used in place of faecal incontinence.

Stress Incontinence – urinary incontinence that results from some form of physical activity or stress on the bladder, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing or lifting a heavy object

Urge Incontinence – leakage of urine following involuntary spasms of bladder muscles or inappropriate contraction of bladder muscles; sometimes called overactive bladder

Overflow Incontinence – in overflow incontinence, the bladder does not empty completely and may become overly full, resulting in leakage of urine; often attributable to nerve damage or bladder muscle dysfunction

Mixed Incontinence – occurs when symptoms of both urge and stress incontinence are present at the same time in the same individual

Functional Incontinence – occurs as a result of a person’s inability to get to a washroom in time to void; incontinence as a result of a physical or mental condition (e.g. arthritis impeding someone’s ability to walk to the washroom quickly enough; dementia causing a person to forget where the washroom is)

Male Incontinence – any incontinence in men, often attributed to prostate disease

Female Incontinence – any incontinence in women, often a result of pregnancy and childbirth Incontinence Pads – absorbent pads that are worn alone or with incontinence pants to absorb urine or stool in incontinence

Incontinence Pants – may be worn alone or with incontinence pads; may be washable or disposable

This list is not exhaustive by any means, but it will hopefully provide you with a working vocabulary when discussing incontinence.

Childbirth and Incontinence in Women

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

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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Making Sense of Mixed Urinary Incontinence

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

There are many different variables to consider when you are considering the underlying causes of incontinence. Most common in elderly men and women, incontinence is by no means isolated to this age group. It can also be found in younger people, and might even be more common than you think. Women tend to suffer from the symptoms of incontinence more frequently than men, because of toll that pregnancy and childbirth take on the body. However, incontinence can also be caused by infection, disease, injuries and surgery in both women and men of all ages.

Sometimes the manifestation of incontinence is a little fuzzy in that it is not clearly one type or another. Rather it seems to be a combination of two different types. For example, there are three main types of urinary incontinence, which are stress, urge and overflow incontinence. Stress incontinence happens when a sudden pressure is inflicted on the area of the abdomen affecting the bladder. Something like a sneeze, laugh, cough, or straining when lifting a heavy object is enough to cause stress incontinence. Weak or damaged pelvic floor muscles are usually the culprit of stress incontinence. This type of incontinence is very common after pregnancy and childbirth or prostate surgery.

The problems associated with urge incontinence appear seemingly out of nowhere, and if you cannot find a restroom immediately, you are very likely to have an accident. Since this type of incontinence is marked with a sudden and uncontrollable bladder contraction, it is frequently managed with medication to quiet the spasm of the bladder. This type of incontinence most frequently occurs in older men and women.

When you have the symptoms of two types of incontinence intertwined and manifesting themselves in concert, the condition is known as mixed incontinence. While mixed incontinence can be a combination of any of the three types of incontinence, it is most often stress incontinence mixed with urge incontinence. When a doctor is treating a case of mixed incontinence he or she will first treat the dominant symptoms, and then address the less dominant symptoms.

Then treatments for mixed incontinence are the same as they are for each individual type of incontinence, and your medical professional can help you define whether behavior modification, physical therapy, medication or surgery is the appropriate course of action for your specific case of incontinence. The treatment recommendation will change depending on the underlying cause of your incontinence.

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Looking at Urinary Incontinence in General Terms

Monday, July 5th, 2010

There are three main types of urinary incontinence, and they focus on the actual cause of the urine leakage. In elderly folks urge incontinence is probably one of the most prevalent types of incontinence that can be found. It manifests itself as an immediate urge to urinate followed by a violent spasm of the bladder and incontinence. This episode of incontinence can vary from very light to heavy. In younger folks stress incontinence is the most common type of incontinence, which is caused when sudden pressure is placed on the bladder causing urine leakage. This sudden pressure is usually caused by something like a sneeze, laugh or cough, and it can even be caused when exerting the stomach muscles as in the case of lifting a heavy object. The third main type of incontinence is overflow incontinence, and it happens when the bladder does not empty all of the way, or when there is an obstruction in the urethra. This type of incontinence occurs when the bladder never fully empties, so it frequently overfills, leaks and causes incontinence. As you can imagine, it is important to have a doctor diagnose the type of incontinence that you have so the two of you can outline a course of treatment to cure or at least manage your incontinence condition.

There are four basic categories that all incontinence treatments fall into which are, behavior modification, physical therapy, medicine and surgery. Your doctor can ascertain which type of therapy best suits your individual incontinence problem. Generally you will begin with the least invasive treatment option for your incontinence problem and move through to the more invasive solutions as you are looking for relief from your incontinence problem. It is important to have an expert, medical opinion as you make these treatment decisions.

Very likely your doctor will decide to begin treatment with the most basic solution for treating your incontinence symptoms. He may very well have you keep a bladder diary to help determine any pattern of your incontinence. Oftentimes if you can see the pattern of your incontinence, you can make a few behavior adjustments and your incontinence symptoms will subside. At this point if your symptoms persist then physical therapy may also be warranted. Exercising the pelvic floor muscles is much like working out any muscle in your body, and by properly exercising you can make it stronger and help to regain its function, which can directly translate into minimizing your incidence of incontinence. Both of these solutions for incontinence have no bad side effects, so there is absolutely no harm in employing them as you are trying to resolve your incontinence problems.

However, if your incontinence symptoms persist, your doctor may prescribe medication for your problem. Depending on the underlying cause of your incontinence there are several different types of medication that you may benefit from. There are medications to quiet muscle spasms, which would help to correct urge incontinence. There are medications to reduce the volume of urine that your body makes, which would help to correct overflow incontinence. There are medications that rid the body of infection. While medication will help with some types of incontinence, like urge and overflow incontinence, there are other types of incontinence where medication is largely ineffective, like stress incontinence.

There are times when incontinence is caused by an injury where something is physically broken, and in this type of case surgery may very well be the best option for treatment. It is important to remember though, that both medication and surgery can have unexpected side effects, so consider treatment with your physician carefully. Whether it is urge, stress or overflow incontinence that you are dealing with, there is a treatment solution out there for you, so work closely with your physician to find what works best for your incontinence symptoms.

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Tags: Incontinence, Medications, overflow incontinence, Stress Incontinence, urge incontinence, Urinary Incontinence
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Keeping Incontinence in Check

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Making frequent trips to the lavatory to avoid and episode of incontinence can be quite frustrating, and it can get to be pretty tiring as well, especially if the trips are during the night. One of the problems with frequent urination is that it may discourage a person from drinking enough fluid, which can lead to dehydration. Of course staying properly hydrated is important, but so is staying dry, and especially in an elderly person whose mobility is limited, the need for frequent urination can end up resulting in light incontinence.

To help frequent urination from ending devolving into incontinence, there are some things that you can do to reduce the frequency of symptoms. Caffeine and alcohol are among the many foods that irritate the bladder, leading to incontinence. Both of these drinks are also diuretics, which cause the body to slough off liquids. If you are taking any medications for high blood pressure, they are normally diuretics also, which can exacerbate the frequent urination symptoms, again leading to incontinence.

There are also a number of diseases that can manifest themselves as frequent urination leading to incontinence, so this is another reason that it is important to discuss any incontinence problem with your doctor. Diabetes and kidney disease are two common causes, and even more common is a urinary tract infection. In men frequent urination is frequently the harbinger of an enlarged prostate gland, which generally leads way to light adult incontinence.

If there is any pain or discomfort connected with your frequent trips to the bathroom, then you should seek medical advice immediately. However, for the elderly, especially as mobility becomes an issue, frequent urination can be just the start a pattern of incontinence. If you are not suffering from an infection or disease, then there are several things that you can do to address the problem of incontinence. First of all you can limit your liquid intake, while ensuring that you are still consuming enough fluids to stay healthy. Next, you can try increasing the holding capacity of your bladder by gradually extending the time in between trips to the bathroom. Try stretching the time by about fifteen minutes and increase the duration every week.

If you do have to take a medication that works as a diuretic, discuss with your doctor the option of taking it during the early portion of the day. That way you will not be awakened every hour throughout the night needing to go to the bathroom, or risk an incontinence episode like bedwetting. By taking your medication early in the day, you may be able to sleep peacefully throughout the night without any worries of incontinence.

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Incontinence in Older Adults

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

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.

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Archive for the ‘Incontinence’ Category

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

Childbirth and Incontinence in Women

Making Sense of Mixed Urinary Incontinence

Looking at Urinary Incontinence in General Terms

Keeping Incontinence in Check

Incontinence in Older Adults

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