The common myth is that incontinence strikes only seniors; however, female stress incontinence is common in women in their 20s and 30s after childbirth and women in their 40s and 50s, primarily considered as perimenopausal age.
The odds of SUI increase in women after childbirth, especially after giving birth to more than one child. This is mainly due to the fact that standard delivery can weaken the muscles for bladder control and damage bladder nerves.
Therefore, we’ll discuss what stress urinary incontinence is and provide some tips to overcome this condition.
What is Stress Urinary Incontinence?
Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a condition of involuntary loss of urine during physical exercise, sneezing, or coughing.
This form of incontinence often has direct implications on the patient and the ability to lead a normal life. SUI often results in significant social and financial costs.
Women usually abstain from daily activities that may cause urine leakage, and many women stop exercising, resulting in depression and poor physical health.
How to Overcome Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI)?
An all-encompassing strategy that incorporates therapy exercises, lifestyle modifications, and, when required, medicinal measures are needed to manage stress urinary incontinence (SUI).
To help you take back control and enhance your quality of life, consider the following concrete actions:
1. Talk About It
The best way to treat SUI is by talking to your physician. While medicines are considered to be an effective solution for incontinence, pelvic floor therapy is helping many women regain control of their lives.
2. Exercise
Pelvic floor muscle exercises can help in case of stress urinary incontinence in women.
Kegel exercises strengthen the pelvic floor by contracting and relaxing muscles around the opening of the urethra, vagina, and rectum.
These exercises improve the muscles’ strength, which might ultimately help hold urine in the bladder for a longer period of time.
3. Think About Lifestyle
It is important to keep check of your weight. Effective weight loss programs directly depend on both diet and exercise.
If you smoke regularly, it is about time to quit smoking. This reduces coughing, which often triggers incontinence.
4. Avoid Junk Food
Very often, lifestyle changes can help you effectively overcome urge incontinence. Several food items such as citrus fruits, chocolates, dairy products, and tomatoes can irritate the bladder. Even spicy food is guilty of irritating the bladder.
5. Steps in the Right Direction
Your well-being can be greatly enhanced, and stress urine incontinence can be managed by taking proactive measures to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Prioritize these crucial behaviors to help you on your journey:
- Consume a high-fiber diet, as well as eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
- Drink plenty of fluids
- Exercise every day, right from moderate to vigorous, depending on your health
- Have a daily routine
6. Practice Timed Voiding and Bladder Training
Bladder training is a process in which you train your bladder to be able to hold urine for longer periods of time, thus resulting in few leaks.
Steps for bladder training:
- The first step is to try and set a time for bathroom visits every 1-2 hours, with or without the desire to pee.
- Gradually increase the time between trips as your bladder capacity increases.
- While training your bladder, try to integrate pelvic floor exercises for better results.
Though this method takes time and also demands lots of time, it has been proven to be very effective in curing bladder incontinence.
7. Use Incontinence Products for Support
While trying to manage SUI, using overnight briefs incontinence products can give you relief against the leaks in social situations and prevent anxiousness.
Options include:
- Absorbent Pads or Briefs: These are intended for small leaks that are hard to notice easily.
- Protective Underwear: Provides broader coverage in the case of intermediate leakage.
- Waterproof Mattress Protectors: These are effective for dealing with accidents at night.
These products help boost your confidence and comfort as you seek longer and more sustainable solutions.
8. Avoid Heavy Lifting and Straining
Any task that requires bending, standing, lifting or even straining has an impact on the pelvic floor area, making SUI worse.
However, if lifting cannot be avoided, one should learn how to lift the objects properly – meaning bending the knees and pulling with the core muscles instead of the back.
Also, constipation should be avoided by taking foods that are high in fiber and ensuring that you take enough water. Excessive pressure, such as that used during defecation, puts a lot of pressure, and with time, this puts much pressure on the pelvic floor muscles.
9. Consider Physical Therapy
If Kegel exercises alone are insufficient, seeking help from an expert pelvic floor physical therapist can be of assistance. Physical therapists are experts in methods for strengthening and rehabilitating the pelvic muscles, such as:
- Biofeedback: Facilitates the training of your pelvic floor muscles so that you can regulate their contractions.
- Electrical Stimulation: Helps contract and grow small muscles that one may not be able to control easily.
Such treatments for stress incontinence are known to yield good results in the treatment of SUI.
10. Explore Medical Treatments
In some cases, lifestyle changes and physical therapy may not be enough, and medical treatment may be required.
Options include:
- Medications: Even though medications are not usually the primary mode of treatment for SUI, there are cases where treating medications will help.
- Pessaries: An object that is placed in the vagina to help hold up the urethra and lessen the flow.
- Surgical Interventions: In more serious cases, operations like sling surgery can help with chronic pain while giving the urethra much-needed support.
If you are experiencing any of these problems, you should seek medical advice from a urologist or gynecologist regarding the options that best fit your situation.
11. Be Patient and Persistent
Overcoming SUI is a process that calls for commitment, patience, and effort. It’s critical to maintain patience with the process and acknowledge minor accomplishments along the way.
Don’t give up if one method doesn’t work. You may greatly reduce your symptoms and take back control of your life if you are persistent and use the appropriate combination of techniques.
Breaking the Silence: Managing Incontinence with Confidence
While incontinence and overactive bladder are quite common among women and might be effectively managed, women still continue to undergo the pain due to sheer embarrassment.
Training, lifestyle changes, and a healthy diet can help manage SUI effectively. Consider using adult diapers to protect you from accidental leaks, which could embarrass you and your loved ones.
Thankfully, you can shop for the best adult diapers online. Today, incontinence products can be purchased online in discreet, private, and secure ways.
So go ahead and gain control of your life. Stay positive. Women continue to suffer in silence when it comes to incontinence.
