Urinary Incontinence: It’s More Common Than You Think and We Have Solutions

It’s not exactly a topic of dinner conversation, so many people with urinary incontinence can feel isolated and alone in their experiences. Well, the numbers paint a much different story, especially for women. Urinary incontinence affects more than 60% of women and about a third report monthly symptoms.

So, if you think that you’re alone in your struggles with urinary incontinence, we assure you that you're not. We also assure you that there are effective solutions that can control involuntary leakage.

At Alliance OB-GYN, we’re lucky enough to have Dr. Sage Claydon on our team, a specialist who works with women to successfully treat urinary incontinence. Dr. Claydon is fellowship-trained in the field of urogynecology, which focuses on issues like urinary incontinence, and here’s what she wants you to know.

Why women struggle with urinary incontinence

There are several reasons why more women develop urinary incontinence than men and we’ll explain them briefly here. A good place to start is with the different types of incontinence, which include:

• Stress incontinence: pressure on your bladder causes leakage
• Urge incontinence: also called overactive bladder, you experience stronger and more frequent urges to pee
• Mixed incontinence: a combination of stress and urge incontinence

There are other types, but for the purposes of this discussion, we're going to stick with these types, which represent a majority of cases of urinary incontinence.

Now that we have a better understanding of the different types of urinary incontinence, it will become more evident why women are more affected than men, which comes down to:

Pregnancy and childbirth

Pregnancy places more pressure on your bladder, which can lead to no small amount of stress incontinence. Then, delivery can damage nerves involved with urination, which can lead to urge incontinence.

Hormonal changes

This mostly refers to menopause, which can weaken your pelvic floor, which supports your bladder. As a result, you can develop bladder prolapse (your bladder shifts downward), which is the most common type of pelvic organ prolapse. For reference, pelvic organ prolapse affects about half of women, especially as they age and pass through menopause.

Anatomy

Women have much shorter urethras and less muscular control of urination than men.

Solutions for urinary incontinence

Now let’s guide this discussion into a more productive direction and talk solutions. Of course, how we remedy your urinary incontinence depends upon your unique underlying factors, but Dr. Claydon often relies on one or more of the following:

• Pelvic floor strengthening exercises, such as Kegels
• Bladder training
• Pessary supports for prolapsed bladders
• Hormone therapies
• Urinary incontinence medications
• Lifestyle changes, such as reducing caffeine, which stimulates your bladder
• Bulking agents to help control urination
• Botox® injections to quiet overactive nerves
• Surgery to provide better support for your bladder

As you can see, this list is extensive and Dr. Claydon can evaluate your incontinence to figure out which approach will work best to help you navigate the world with more confidence and freedom.

To sit down with Dr. Claydon to review potential solutions for your urinary incontinence, please contact us online or by phone at one of our offices in Delran, Lumberton, or Hainesport, New Jersey, to schedule an appointment.