What treatment is right for you?
If you have read this far, you will realise that incontinence is a complicated topic. There are many different types with many different causes. What they have in common is that treatment is available to relieve symptoms and improve the quality of your life. The big change that has happened in the past 10 years is that tests are now available to identify precisely what is wrong. The treatment can then be tailored precisely to the cause.
The most common type of incontinence is stress incontinence, which can almost always be controlled and often completely cured by exercises or an operation. Surgery may not be possible in all cases because of poor general health, for example, but that does not mean that there is no treatment. There are well-tried alternatives, including drug treatments and a whole range of appliances.
The range of treatments is rapidly expanding because incontinence is increasingly seen as an important area of health care. This has resulted in an enormous improvement in treatment in recent years. No one is too old to be able to benefit. So ask for help: it is available through the NHS; your GP is your first port of call.
Glossary
cystitis This is commonly taken to mean pain on passing urine. It actually means an inflammation of the bladder. People usually refer to cystitis when they think that they have an infection and mean frequency, urgency and dysuria.
detrusor muscle The muscle in the bladder wall that contracts during voiding.
dysuria Abnormal voiding, which may be painful or difficult.
enuresis Bedwetting, normally known as nocturnal enuresis, because it occurs at night.
frequency Having to pass urine more commonly than normal (normal is up to seven times a day) or more often than every two hours.
hesitancy A period of delay while waiting with the sensation of wanting to void before voiding begins.
micturition See voiding.
nocturia Having to get up at night, more than once, after falling asleep, to pass urine. This is unusual in a normal person under the age of around 60.
After this age it is normal to need to pass urine about once more for every decade over 60, that is, a 70 year old would be expected to pass urine twice at night and an 80 year old three times.
perineum The area between the vagina and the anus.
prolapse The displacement of part of the body from its normal position. The term is usually used in association with changes of the pelvic organs ‘prolapsing’ into the vagina.
strangury The sensation of wanting to pass urine but being unable to do so.
stress incontinence The leakage of urine on raised intra-abdominal pressure (leakage with coughing, sneezing or exercise).
ultrasound A test used to look at the body using sound waves to build up a picture.
ureter The tube connecting the kidney to the bladder.
urethra The tube connecting the bladder to the outside.
urethral sphincter The bladder neck; the ring of muscles at the bottom of the bladder, which seals the bladder shut between voidings.
urge incontinence Urgency associated with leakage.
urgency The sudden and uncontrollable desire to pass urine.
urine Waste product of the body filtered by the kidneys.
urodynamic detrusor overactivity An unstable bladder.
voiding Emptying the bladder/urination/passing urine/micturition.
