What is urinary incontinence?

Is the lack of control and involuntary leakage of urine all the time or at some time as a result of a cough for example, or after a physical effort.
What are the types of urinary incontinence?
1. Stress incontinence: is a loss of urine in an involuntary way from the slot of urine during coughing or sneezing or after doing effort because of the weakness of the urinary valve in the bladder, weak pelvic floor muscles surrounding the bladder and all this because of frequent deliveries or difficult deliveries or surgeries or external pelvic injuries.
2. Urge incontinence :is  a loss of urine in an involuntary way from the slot of urine which be accompanied or preceded by a strong desire and urgency to urinate , this is caused by increased neural activity of the bladder muscles as a result of many factors.

3. Mixed incontinence: stress and urge incontinence

4. In addition to other types: neuropathic incontinence, false incontinence and traumatic incontinence.

How does urinary incontinence happen?

1) The inability of the bladder wall to support the gradual accumulation of urine during the natural period to fill the bladder with urine because of irritation of the bladder muscles.
2) Urinary valve disorders and its inability to hold urine formed in the bladder.

But does every woman experiencing these reasons could have incontinence?

The truth that some ladies are more predisposed than others to have this urinary incontinence, of them (obesity – smoking – urinary Infections and increased fluids intake – poor general nutrition – old age and lack of female hormones after the age of 45 years) as well as weak pelvic muscles due to lack of movement and inactive life, and women who has prolapsed uterus and bladder as a result of frequent deliveries

What kind of treatments are there for urinary incontinence?
A – After the medical examination and some lab analysis and x-ray treatment can be started with simple medicines as well as a lifestyle changes such as: –
1 – Decrease fluid intakes.
2 – Suppression of pungent food
3 – Home exercises to strengthen pelvic floor muscles.
4 – Training program for the bladder muscles to adapt the bladder and increase its ability to store urine.

In case, if none of the above works, physiotherapy for pelvic muscles is strongly recommended as an additional form of treatment.
B – In some difficult cases the consultant concerned can ask for urodynamic so then the solution is simple surgeries which take one to two days in hospital depending on the type of the operation and in which to strengthen the muscles of the urinary valve in different ways.

— Dr. Ali Mehdi Zadeh, Consultant Urologist and Head of Kuwaiti German Urology Unit, CEO & Partner at Kuwait Medical International Company.

د. علي مهدي زادة

الوحدة الكويتية الالمانية لجراحة الكلى و المسالك البولية و التناسلية

عيادة الدكتور على مهدي زاده

الكويت