Stress Urinary Incontinence

 Today's blog will give you a brief idea regarding Stress Urinary Incontinence , a very common condition seen in elderly women , but which is not spoken about very often. Women at times can get embarrassed by this condition , which is why they refrain from discussing it openly . Though seen mostly in older women , this blog  would be useful for younger girls as well so that they can start taking precautions to avoid this problem in the future.

Imagine you are just sitting with your friends and having a good laugh about some old memory , or joking around and suddenly you just pee a little , or you are having a bad cough and while coughing you pee a little as well , and this keeps on happening repeated amount of times! Will you not panic? or won't you feel a little embarrassed? This is what exactly happens in Stress Urinary Incontinence. 

Stress Urinary Incontinence is a condition where women void a small amount of urine involuntarily while sneezing , coughing or laughing , lifting heavy weights or even sexual intercourse .

Incontinence can be of two types 

1) Stress Urinary Incontinence

2) Urge Urinary Incontinence

Difference between STRESS AND URGE Urinary Incontinence

In stress incontinence urine is passed involuntarily while sneezing , coughing or laughing whereas in urge incontinence women get a sudden urge to urinate followed by suddenly loss of urine.

I hope by now you have a brief idea regarding this condition. Now let's find out the causes.

As we all know , the muscles present in our body help us to carry out our regular work such as lifting objects by moving our hands and arms. We need strong muscles to continue our day to day activities! But what if these muscles get weak? 

This is what happens with the muscles present in the bladder ( where urine is stored) and the pelvic floor muscles. They become weak , thus compromising their function of holding urine and causing it to leak during strenuous work or when pressure is exerted on the bladder because of coughing , sneezing or laughing.

There are many reasons as to why these muscles become weak such as -

1) Age - With growing age , muscles in our body start getting weak and therefore women at the age of Menopause experience this problem.

2) Repeated times of normal delivery can also lead to this problem. As there are repeated deliveries the muscles lose their tone and hence they become weak!

3) Excessive weight gain , obesity and smoking can also lead to Stress Urinary Incontinence.

4) Pregnancy can also be one of the reasons for this condition as the pressure of the uterus where the foetus is present is high and due to this there is pressure on the urinary bladder as well.

This topic is a very short one , not including many symptoms as such but it can cause a very disturbing impact on the women suffering from this issue. Repeated urinary incontinence can lead to  hygiene issues and embarrassment as there can be a constant foul smell present . Repeated episodes of stress urinary incontinence can even lead to urinary tract infection , which is why this condition affects many women not just physically but mentally as well.

How can it be prevented?

1) Excercise - The only way of keeping your muscles healthy and strong. Women suffering from this condition can start with Kegel excercise as it specially keeps your pelvic floor muscles strong . Not only elderly women but even younger girls should start with these workouts as it can be a preventive measure.



2) Weight loss is another measure which can be considered as one of the risk factors is Though avoiding workouts which involve jumping or jogging which may cause leakage of urine should be avoided.

3) Quit Smoking -  Nicotine is said to be a bladder irritant. Not only smoking but alcohol should be avoided as even alcohol is considered as a bladder irritant.



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