If you are a woman and suffer from incontinence, it is important to remember that all types of urinary incontinence can be treated in women of all ages. And most importantly, it is nothing that should embarrass you. Check with your health care professional to see what can be done to help you. The number of women reporting and seeking incontinence treatment is constantly increasing as they learn that it is a medical problem and can be treated.

Sometimes patients may believe there is no treatment available for their incontinence. But that is not always the case.

"We always have something in 'our back pocket' and we don't give up on people who come to us for help," says Paula Forest, R.N., Urology Nurse Practitioner.

"A complete workup is mandatory," Forest says. "When you come in, please bring the names of medications tried, the procedures/surgeries performed. Complete a bladder diary. Writing down the volumes and number of times you void in a 24-hour period is very helpful."

Older women more, often than younger women, experience incontinence. Urinary incontinence is not part of the normal aging process. It is a sign that there is an underlying problem. You may develop bladder control problems after going through menopause. As your periods end, your body stops making estrogen, and estrogen, in addition to its other functions, helps keep the lining of the bladder and urethra healthy. Lack of estrogen can cause the bladder control muscles to weaken and may lead to incontinence.

Other common causes of bladder control problems include infections, nerve damage from diabetes or stroke, heart problems, medications, and depression.

Treatments vary depending on the cause of the incontinence. Hormone therapy addresses the decrease in estrogen, but may not be the answer for everyone. You might try limiting your intake of caffeine and alcohol, practicing Kegel exercises, retraining your bladder, and finally it has been suggested that weight reduction and exercise may help prevent or reduce the likelihood of developing urinary incontinence.

Your health care professional may suggest other courses of action including medications, biofeedback, electrical stimulation of pelvic muscles, a pessary which is inserted into the vagina to hold up the bladder, a device inserted into the urethra to block leakage, or surgery to lift a sagging bladder into a better position.

"We can start with simple exercises," Forest says, "adding medications, minimally invasive same-day surgery, or more invasive surgery requiring a stay in the hospital and longer recovery, only if necessary."

If you have a health-related question, or to make an appointment, call UI Health Access - 800- 777-8442 or 384-8442.

What is a Kegel?

Have you ever laughed so hard you felt like you could wet your pants? That's urinary stress incontinence and it generally happens during sudden increases in abdominal pressure&emdash;when you sneeze, cough, or exercise.

Kegel exercises are a risk-free, low cost, painless, and non-medical way to help women deal with urinary stress incontinence. Kegels are an isometric program to help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. Why are these muscles important? They are attached to the pelvic bone and act like a hammock, holding in your pelvic organs and they control the flow of urine, the voluntary contraction of the vagina, and the anal sphincter.

Properly performed, Kegel exercises can help improve stress incontinence in up to two-thirds of women. Most women start out exercising the wrong muscles. To locate the correct muscles, Paula Forest, R.N. Urology Nurse Practitioner, suggests you pretend you are in church and are trying to hold back "gas." Those are the muscles you need to identify and work with.

Now that you've identified the muscle, here is how you can strengthen it. "Contract the muscle and hold tight for 10 seconds, relax and repeat, continuing the repetition for one minute and working up to five minutes twice a day," Forest says. The exercises should become part of your voiding routine and be practiced twice daily.

Types of urinary incontinence

Stress&emdash;Leakage of small amounts of urine during physical movement like laughing hard, lifting, coughing, or sneezing.

Urge&emdash;Loss of urine with a sense of urgency or spasm-like feeling.

Functional&emdash;Untimely urination because of physical disability, external obstacles, or problems in thinking or communicating that prevent a person from reaching a toilet, such as a broken hip or being unaware where bathroom in mall is.

Overflow&emdash;Unexpected leakage of small amounts of urine because of a full bladder.

Transient&emdash;Leakage that occurs temporarily because of a condition that will pass, like an infection or medication.