Stress Urinary Incontinence

Bladder and Bowel Care Service - Adults - Stress Urinary Incontinence - Introduction
Stress Urinary Incontinence
 
Leakage of urine when you cough, run, jump, laugh or sneeze is called “Stress incontinence”. The pelvic floor muscle may become weakened by: pregnancy, childbirth, straining to empty bowels, repeated heavy lifting, menopausal changes, being overweight, chronic cough, lack of general fitness, long periods of inactivity (due to illness or surgery), high impact sport.
 
What Can Help?
 
Adequate fluid intake
 
It is important that you do not reduce your fluid intake as this may actually make your problem worse and cause constipation.
 
Performing Pelvic floor Exercises
 
The pelvic floor muscles are attached like a “hammock” between the pubic bone at the front and the base of the spine (coccyx) at the back and they provide support for the bladder, bowels and ladies the womb. They help maintain continence and assist in sexual function and facilitate childbirth.  
 
Pelvic floor exercises strengthen the muscles and improve the support of the bladder, bowels and womb. This may assist in improving your bladder/ bowel control and decrease leakage of urine/faeces (poo), wind. Like any other muscle in the body, the more you use and exercise them the stronger the Pelvic floor muscles can become.
 
You may find pelvic floor exercises difficult at first, but you will need patience and perseverance in order to improve. All exercises needs to be repeated regularly in order to get a good result and the pelvic floor is no exception. You may notice an improvement in six to eight weeks if you perform exercises. The pelvic floor exercises will become much easier to perform as the muscle gets stronger.
 
Please find more details about how to perform Pelvic Floor Exercises tab on the right, or click. Here (Hyperlink).
Leakage if you cough, sneeze, laugh or even on some movements Information for both men and women
Increase frequency (the need to pass urine more often); Increased bladder urgency (Need to rush to the toilet); Urge urinary incontinence (Passing urine before reaching the toilet); Nocturia (Waking to use pass urine at night)
Constipation, Diarrhoea, Bowel Urgency (Need to rush to toilet), Bowel Emptying Problems (unable to full empty bowel, having to using other techniques to empty bowel effectively)
Sadly when people become forgetful this may also mean they gradually loose the memory of what to do in a toilet or even where the toilet is. Advice can be found here to help manage in these circumstances.
Last updated27 Jul 2018
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