Incontinence Products won’t let you be caught off guard
There are many ways to prevent and treat urinary incontinence. But sometimes doing Kegel exercises, maintain a healthy diet and keeping a bladder diary might not be enough. That is when incontinence products come into play.
Incontinence products have evolved over the years and are now designed specifically for different types of incontinence. They range from panty liners to protective underwear.
Light bladder leakage or temporary incontinence (stress incontinence and urge incontinence) can be protected with an incontinence pad or a panty liner while more severe types of incontinence require stronger measures like the use of adult diapers.
Adult diapers are not what they used to be and can be worn discreetly. They are available in different levels of absorption and thickness. Adult diapers now come in a full range from night time to swim products; now they even offer styles that look and feel more like underwear.
There are unisex incontinence products but for a more specific type of protection and for discretion we recommend you purchase products designed specifically for your gender.
Incontinence products can be found at any high street pharmacy or grocery store. But if you feel a little embarrassed to buy incontinence products at your local shops, there is no need to worry. You can purchase your incontinence products online with discretion from the comfort of your own home.
As you can see there are many ways to protect yourself from unexpected leakages and above all Incontinence is nothing to be ashamed. If you are experiencing leakage episodes during your daily activities, you should never keep it to your self. Go and consult your doctor about it.
Manage Stress & Urge Incontinence with a Healthy Diet
Stress and urge incontinence can be caused by a variety of factors such as childbirth, loss of estrogen in menopause, physical changes due to aging and hysterectomy*. But did you know that what you eat and your weight could make you incontinent?
There are many studies that have related incontinence to obesity. Others have studied the influence of certain foods and drinks in bladder control. If you are experiencing leakages try evaluating your diet to see if it could be the underlying cause.
The first step to manage stress or urge incontinence is to eat healthy food and manage your weight. In this article you will find a list of foods and drinks that could make you urinate more often.
Certain foods and drinks can irritate your bladder, causing you to urinate more often, or feel a greater urgency to urinate. Each person is affected by foods differently, so you will have to spend some time observing how your own body reacts to what you eat and drink.
The most common products that affect urination are diuretics or foods and drinks with diuretic properties, such as:
Caffeine (from coffee, sodas, tea, even chocolate) is the most common diuretic in the diets of women over 50.
Alcohol also acts as a diuretic, by stimulating your bladder and by causing dehydration in your body.
Spicy foods can irritate your bladder much like caffeine. You will have to spend some time observing the effect of different spicy ingredients and foods on your bladder before you can determine which of them, if any, to consider eliminating from your diet.
Acidic foods can also irritate the bladder. You should carefully monitor the effect of citrus products (including orange juice and cranberry juice, which can be recommended for healthy bladders) and tomatoes on your overactive or leaking bladder.
Food and drinks that contain carbonation (whether caffeinated or decaf), high levels of artificial sweeteners, corn syrup, or sugar can also irritate your bladder and cause you to urnitate more often.
As afore mentioned obesity has its influence in incontinence episodes. So we recommend you start doing some light exercises to help you loose weight and ease off the pressure in your bladder. Start with short walks around your block to build up confidence.
Once you feel confident enough start jogging and increase time and intensity gradually. Speaking of exercises it is important not to forget about Kegel Exercises, the most effective way to restore bladder control.
It is important to highlight the fact that with incontinence there isn’t a set treatment for all patients, each case should be accessed individually. Because what works for one patient might not work for others. So our last piece of advice is, if you are experiencing some sort incontinence episodes talk to your GP and let him suggest what is the best treatment for your type of incontinence.
Facts and Figures about Stress Urinary Incontinence
Stress urinary incontinence is by far the most common type of incontinence there is. In our previous article “NHS approves new pelvic muscles’ toner”, we talked about a revolutionary new treatment to this condition and now we decide to bring you some facts and figures about the stress urinary incontinence.
1. Stress incontinence occurs as a result of reduced support for the bladder.
2. It affects both men and women.
3. It is the most common form of incontinence for both genders
4. In men, stress incontinence is common following a prostatectomy.
5. In women, physical changes resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause often contribute to stress incontinence.
6. IT IS TREATABLE
7. Pelvic floor exercises are the most effective treatment.
8. Obesity can increase stress urinary incontinence episodes in patients already experiencing the symptoms.
9. One in ten women in the workplace experience it, as do a third of all new mothers.
10. It accounts for 65 % of female urinary incontinence.
11. It is estimated that 4 million women in the UK are affect by stress incontinence.
12. Surgery is only suggested after other treatments have not shown any positive results.
Got any more questions about stress urinary incontinence? Don’t hesitate to contact us or our nurse specialist Shona.
NHS approves new pelvic muscles' toner
Pelvic floor exercises are widely known as one of the most effective treatment for urinary stress incontinence but a lack of orientation from GP’s and the NHS itself has devalued this practice. Nevertheless, things are about to change thanks to brand new device called the Pelvic Toner.
It’s been 60 years since Arnold Kegel developed its worldwide famous exercise programme, also known as Pelvic Floor Exercises, to strengthen pelvic floor muscles and reduce the episodes of stress incontinence in women. But as afore mentioned scarcity of resources and information led women to loose faith in this practice.
The main reason was that they were simply handed a sheet of paper with instructions to use unsupervised. With PelvicToner things are about to change, following an extremely successful clinical trial and a robust cost-benefit evaluation, GP’s can now offer a more effective and faster treatment option to the millions women of all ages that present with the distressing symptoms of Stress Urinary Incontinence.
Published in the British Journal of Urology International the study reported an exceptional level of satisfaction with over 80% of PelvicToner users reporting significant improvement within a couple of weeks. Based on that the NHS has decided that the PelvicToner™ will be available on prescription with effect from January 2011. The PelvicToner will be the only product available under the brand new Drug Tariff category of Pelvic Toning Devices.
Research leader and author of the British Journal of Urology International article, Professor Marcus Drake of the Bristol Urology Institute, stated:
“Continence service provision is patchy and this sort of product empowers women, gives them better privacy and the prospect of not wasting their time. In our study the PelvicToner aided women to identify their pelvic floor confidently. It increases patient choice and may promote subsequent compliance and sustained efficacy.”
Clinical trials also confirmed that the PelvicToner is much more effective than expensive electrical stimulation devices and weighted vaginal cones reason why it has been recognised by the NHS and a special new category of ‘Pelvic Toning Devices’ has been created on the Drug Tariff IXA.
How related is incontinence to menopause?
Uncomfortable symptoms and menopause are known to go hand in hand. One symptom often credited to menopause is incontinence. However, menopause may not have much – if anything – to do with a person’s incontinence.
If you’ve started to release urine unexpectedly and for no apparent reason you may have either urge incontinence or an overactive bladder. If urine leaks when you laugh, sneeze, cough or any other action that causes internal strain around the abdominal area, then you may have stress incontinence.
Urine leaks are often seen as symptomatic of menopause, genetic make-up and a person’s age are often more accurate indicators of whether a woman will develop urinary incontinence. Being overweight and childbirth (particularly from vaginal deliveries) may be more decisive factors that increase the risk. Mark Walters MD comments that: “Menopause may just aggravate a situation that would have started anyway, but it isn’t the root cause”. Walters – who is head of urogynecology at Cleveland Clinic Foundation – strongly advocates having a physical exam conducted by a doctor and preparing a (if you like) “bladder diary” in the week leading up to your appointment – noting the time and amounts you urinate in that time.
The only way to be sure of the extent to which menopause is causing urine leaks is to make this consultation. Although many are hesitant, the reality is that doctors train to understand and deal with incontinence in women and can determine the appropriate treatment – which is, more often than not, harmless and straightforward internal exercises (known as kegal exercises) and following simple guidelines such as avoiding alcohol consumption.
7 Crucial Questions an Incontinence Expert Could Ask
If you involuntarily leak urine under internal pressures caused by sneezing, laughing or heavy lifting, it’s more than likely you have Stress incontinence. Embarrassing? Yes. Incurable? No. Unfortunately you will have to consult an expert and this will involve being upfront about the situation in order for them to propose the right treatment. A gynaecologist, while an expert, still needs your input to fully judge the situation. For that reason, it benefits both parties for you to have the essential information prepared before an appointment. Here are 7 questions likely to be asked by an incontinence expert when evaluating you.
Do you leak urine when laughing, coughing, lifting, and so on?
This is a certain indicator of whether you have some degree of stress related incontinence. What varies is the treatment, as the root cause can be different things and requires varying treatment.
Does it hurt when you urinate?
This could mean you have a urinary tract infection that requires antibiotics to treat. That is, until further diagnostics are made. In other words, it may only require antibiotics to kill off unwanted germs.
How often do you empty your bladder in the daytime?
This is an instance where keeping a record can give an expert an accurate picture of what’s going on in your bladder. I can also be used to track your own progress, further down the line.
Are you always aware of the leaking occurring?
An upgraded management plan may be necessary to avoid embarrassing incidence if this happens to you.
Do you wear incontinence pads, and how often doo you need to change them?
This sort of question is aimed at gauging the severity of the condition and helps indicate whether exercises are sufficient, or if more advance procedures such as medication or surgery.
Do you leak urine on the way to the bathroom, when you have a strong urge to pee?
A sign that overactive bladder syndrome is present in conjunction with stress incontinence.
Are you woken up by the urge to urinate in the night-time?
An expert will be keen to know whether you’re woken up by the urge to urinate, or woken up by other things and then need to go – another indicator of severity that will decide a course of action for dealing with the problem.
Do you wear incontinence pads, and how often doo you need to change them?
This sort of question is aimed at gauging the severity of the condition and helps indicate whether exercises are sufficient, or if more advance procedures such as medication or surgery.
Do you leak urine on the way to the bathroom, when you have a strong urge to pee?
A sign that overactive bladder syndrome is present in conjunction with stress incontinence.
Are you woken up by the urge to urinate in the night-time?
An expert will be keen to know whether you’re woken up by the urge to urinate, or woken up by other things and then need to go – another indicator of severity that will decide a course of action for dealing with the problem.
Have you got a question you want to ask about incontinence? Please don’t hesitate to use our comments section below or if you prefer a more discreet way to ask for incontinence advice ask our nurse specialist Shona.
Negligent Stress Incontinence Treatment compensated with £24,000
A clinical negligence specialist lawyer has obtained a £24,000 compensation for one of its clients after proving a problematic treatment for stress incontinence left her client with physical and psychological problems.
Mrs B underwent Tension-free Vaginal Tape (TVT) treatment and the negligence occurred during her aftercare and related to the use and monitoring of a catheter which caused her chronic pain and eventually chemical peritonitis.
This led Mrs B in need of a further operation and a prolonged recovery period as well as panic attacks, nightmares, reduced self-confidence as well as bladder problems.
After Mrs B’s problems were proved to be correlated to the negligent stress incontinence treatment, the court ordered that Mrs B to be compensated with the sum of £24,000.
People and entities’ names involved in this story have been omitted for privacy reasons.
Stress Urinary Incontinence: Effectiveness of Invasive Operations
There are many ways to treat incontinence, treatments vary according to the degree and type of the incontinence and invasive surgery is considered to be the last resort when other treatments fail.
However, many different procedures can be performed; a recent study compared the effectiveness of less invasive procedures to traditional open surgery and other surgical approaches.
In total, data from 62 trials involving 7,101 women was collected for analysis, the study was conducted by Cochrane Researchers from The Cochrane Collaboration, a respectful and reliable source of evidence in health care.
After comparing different types of incontinence surgical procedures, researchers concluded that less invasive operations can be as effective as traditional open surgery for incontinence.
Lead researcher, Joseph Ogah from the Leeds University Teaching Hospital in Leeds, said:
“These were only small trials and they varied greatly in quality, but we were able to make comparisons between different types of surgery and we found that minimally invasive sling operations for stress incontinence in women are very effective for this condition.”
And concluded:
“However, few of the trials we looked at reported outcomes after one year and therefore the long term efficiency of these procedures requires further investigation. It is also of utmost importance to assess how these procedures impact on women’s quality of life, so this needs to be addressed in further studies.”
Have you received surgery for stress incontinence? If you would like to share your experience and success, we would be very grateful if you wrote your comments below.
Weight Loss Reduces Stress Incontinence
A new study conducted by the UCSF, University of California at San Francisco, Brown University and the University of Alabama revealed that weight loss reduces stress incontinence in obese women.
The PRIDE, Program to Reduce Incontinence by Diet and Exercise, randomly assigned 338 obese women aged between 42 and 64 years of age with at least 10 episodes of stress incontinence per week.
These women were then divided into two groups, one was an intensive 6-month weight-loss program that included group diet, exercise, and behavioural modification sessions and the other was a control group who received weight loss information but no rigorous guidance.
Results were rather impressive, the control group had lost on average 3 pounds each while the guided group lost on average 17 pounds each; the control group experienced a 28% reduction in stress incontinence episodes while the guided group reported a 70% reduction in stress incontinence episodes not to mention a lower volume of urine leaked and, overall, less of a problem with incontinence.
As a conclusion, researchers stated that weight loss is extremely effective for the treatment of stress incontinence and that weight loos should be a first line of treatment for incontinence in obese and overweight women.