The UI experts in the Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery Clinic can help women facing bladder and bowel problems, including:

• Urinary incontinence—urine leakage
• Stress incontinence—urine leakage during activities that put stress on the bladder such as laughing, coughing, sneezing or lifting
• Urge incontinence (overactive bladder)—loss of urine preceded by a strong urge
• Urgency—powerful need to urinate immediately
• Frequency—the need to urinate more often than normal (more than every two hours or more than seven times per day)
• Nocturia—walking up frequently (more than once during the night) to urinate
• Bladder pain
• Fecal incontinence—accidental loss of solid stool, liquid stool, or gas
• Constipation

The Clinic offers treatments for incontinence including:

• Pelvic muscle exercises or Kegel exercises—tightening the muscles inside the pelvis to support the pelvic organs, including the bladder. These muscles are often weak, contributing to incontinence and pelvic prolapse. Many women have difficulty isolating the correct muscles. The health care team includes physical therapists trained to teach the correct technique and to prescribe individualized exercise programs.
• Bladder training—teaching patients to urinate according to a timetable rather than on urge
• Dietary changes—avoiding irritants to the bladder which may improve bladder symptoms
• Pessary—device placed in the vagina to support the bladder neck and urethra to treat stress incontinence
• Medications—used to treat urge incontinence and overactive bladder
• Surgery—another option to correct stress incontinence
• Neuromodulation—stimulating the nerves to the bladder for urinary frequency, urge incontinence, and urinary retention