Urinary Incontinence – Treatment
Treatment for urinary incontinence depends on the type of incontinence, its severity and the underlying cause. A combination of treatments may be needed. Your doctor is likely to suggest the least invasive treatments first and move on to other options only if these techniques fail.
BEHAVIORAL TECHNIQUES
Your doctor may recommend:
- Bladder training, to delay urination after you get the urge to go. You may start by trying to hold off for 10 minutes every time you feel an urge to urinate. The goal is to lengthen the time between trips to the toilet until you’re urinating only every two to four hours.
- Double voiding, to help you learn to empty your bladder more completely to avoid overflow incontinence. Double voiding means urinating, then waiting a few minutes and trying again.
- Scheduled toilet trips, to urinate every two to four hours rather than waiting for the need to go.
- Fluid and diet management, to regain control of your bladder. You may need to cut back on or avoid alcohol, caffeine or acidic foods. Reducing liquid consumption, losing weight or increasing physical activity also can ease the problem.
PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE EXERCISES
Your doctor may recommend that you do these exercises frequently to strengthen the muscles that help control urination. Also known as Kegel exercises, these techniques are especially effective for stress incontinence but may also help urge incontinence.
To do pelvic floor muscle exercises, imagine that you’re trying to stop your urine flow. Then:
- Tighten (contract) the muscles you would use to stop urinating and hold for five seconds, and then relax for five seconds. (If this is too difficult, start by holding for two seconds and relaxing for three seconds.)
- Work up to holding the contractions for 10 seconds at a time.
- Aim for at least three sets of 10 repetitions each day.
To help you identify and contract the right muscles, your doctor may suggest you work with a physical therapist or try biofeedback techniques.
ELECTRICAL STIMULATION
Electrodes are temporarily inserted into your rectum or vagina to stimulate and strengthen pelvic floor muscles. Gentle electrical stimulation can be effective for stress incontinence and urge incontinence, but you may need multiple treatments over several months.
MEDICATIONS
Medications commonly used to treat incontinence include:
- Anticholinergics. These medications can calm an overactive bladder and may be helpful for urge incontinence. Examples include oxybutynin (Ditropan XL), tolterodine (Detrol), darifenacin (Enablex), fesoterodine (Toviaz), solifenacin (Vesicare) and trospium (Sanctura).
- Mirabegron (Myrbetriq). Used to treat urge incontinence, this medication relaxes the bladder muscle and can increase the amount of urine your bladder can hold. It may also increase the amount you are able to urinate at one time, helping to empty your bladder more completely.
- Alpha blockers. In men with urge or overflow incontinence, these medications relax bladder neck muscles and muscle fibers in the prostate and make it easier to empty the bladder. Examples include tamsulosin (Flomax), alfuzosin (Uroxatral), silodosin (Rapaflo), terazosin (Hytrin) and doxazosin (Cardura).
- Topical estrogen. Applying low-dose, topical estrogen in the form of a vaginal cream, ring or patch may help tone and rejuvenate tissues in the urethra and vaginal areas. This may reduce some of the symptoms of incontinence.
MEDICAL DEVICES
Devices designed to treat women with incontinence include:
- Urethral insert, a small, tampon-like disposable device inserted into the urethra before a specific activity, such as tennis, that can trigger incontinence. The insert acts as a plug to prevent leakage, and is removed before urination.
- Pessary, a stiff ring that you insert into your vagina and wear all day. The device helps hold up your bladder, which lies near the vagina, to prevent urine leakage. You may benefit from a pessary if you have incontinence due to a prolapsed bladder or uterus.
INTERVENTIONAL THERAPIES
Interventional therapies that may help with incontinence include:
- Bulking material injections. A synthetic material is injected into tissue surrounding the urethra. The bulking material helps keep the urethra closed and reduce urine leakage. This procedure is generally much less effective than more-invasive treatments such as surgery for stress incontinence and usually needs to be repeated regularly.
- Botulinum toxin type A (Botox). Injections of Botox into the bladder muscle may benefit people who have an overactive bladder. Botox is generally prescribed to people only if other first line medications haven’t been successful.
- Nerve stimulators. A device resembling a pacemaker is implanted under your skin to deliver painless electrical pulses to the nerves involved in bladder control (sacral nerves). Stimulating the sacral nerves can control urge incontinence if other therapies haven’t worked. The device may be implanted under the skin in your buttock and connected directly to the sacral nerves or may deliver pulses to the sacral nerve via a nerve in the ankle.
SURGERY
If other treatments aren’t working, several surgical procedures can treat the problems that cause urinary incontinence:
- Sling procedures. Strips of your body’s tissue, synthetic material or mesh are used to create a pelvic sling around your urethra and the area of thickened muscle where the bladder connects to the urethra (bladder neck). The sling helps keep the urethra closed, especially when you cough or sneeze. This procedure is used to treat stress incontinence.
- Bladder neck suspension. This procedure is designed to provide support to your urethra and bladder neck — an area of thickened muscle where the bladder connects to the urethra. It involves an abdominal incision, so it’s done during general or spinal anesthesia.
- Prolapse surgery. In women with mixed incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, surgery may include a combination of a sling procedure and prolapse surgery.
- Artificial urinary sphincter. In men, a small, fluid-filled ring is implanted around the bladder neck to keep the urinary sphincter shut until you’re ready to urinate. To urinate, you press a valve implanted under your skin that causes the ring to deflate and allows urine from your bladder to flow. Artificial urinary sphincters are particularly helpful for men whose incontinence is associated with treatment of prostate cancer or an enlarged prostate gland.
ABSORBENT PADS AND CATHETERS
If medical treatments can’t completely eliminate your incontinence, you can try products that help ease the discomfort and inconvenience of leaking urine:
- Pads and protective garments. Most products are no more bulky than normal underwear and can be easily worn under everyday clothing. Men who have problems with dribbles of urine can use a drip collector — a small pocket of absorbent padding that’s worn over the penis and held in place by close-fitting underwear.
- Catheter. If you’re incontinent because your bladder doesn’t empty properly, your doctor may recommend that you learn to insert a soft tube (catheter) into your urethra several times a day to drain your bladder. You’ll be instructed on how to clean these catheters for safe reuse.
Lifestyle and home remedies
Problems with urine leakage may require you to take extra care to prevent skin irritation:
- Use a washcloth to clean yourself
- Allow your skin to air-dry
- Avoid frequent washing and douching because these can overwhelm your body’s natural defenses against bladder infections
- Consider using a barrier cream, such as petroleum jelly or cocoa butter, to protect your skin from urine
If you have urge incontinence or nighttime incontinence, make the toilet more convenient:
- Move any rugs or furniture you might trip over or collide with on the way to the toilet
- Use a night light to illuminate your path and reduce your risk of falling
If you have functional incontinence, you might:
- Keep a bedpan in your bedroom
- Install an elevated toilet seat
- Widen an existing bathroom doorway
Alternative medicine
There are no alternative medicine therapies that have been proved to cure urinary incontinence. Initial pilot studies have shown that acupuncture can provide some short-term benefit, but more research is needed.
Coping and support
If you’re embarrassed about a bladder control problem, you may try to cope on your own by wearing absorbent pads, carrying extra clothes or even avoiding going out.
But effective treatments are available for urinary incontinence. It’s important to ask your doctor about treatment. You’ll be on your way to regaining an active and confident life.
Prevention
Urinary incontinence isn’t always preventable. However, to help decrease your risk:
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Practice pelvic floor exercises, especially during pregnancy
- Avoid bladder irritants, such as caffeine and acidic foods
- Eat more fiber, which can prevent constipation, a cause of urinary incontinence