Excuse Me- Again!
If this all sounds familiar, bladder weakness could be the problem. Incontinence or a weak bladder is common in menopausal women. And even though many of us once believed that urinary incontinence is unavoidable as part of having children and aging, that’s not true! A weak bladder doesn’t have to take over your time and your life.
Newer advances in treatments, awareness and preventions are available and MedStudio ® is here to help!
If you are struggling with bladder and incontinence issues, your issues likely began during perimenopause or menopause as your blood levels of estrogen began to decline. Lack of estrogen is responsible for causing the urethral and vaginal tissues to thin and as women age, and along with it the pelvic floor muscles can begin to relax. Each of these changes can lead to urinary incontinence.
Types of Urinary Incontinence in Menopausal Women
There are two main types of bladder incontinence experienced by menopausal women.
Stress Urinary Incontinence is when your bladder leaks urine under pressure, like when you sneeze, exercise or cough. Overactive Bladder is a sense of urgency and frequency more often than normal and is usually caused by irritation or changes in the bladder. You may also feel a frequent urge to urinate even without a full bladder. Some women even experience. Pain when urinating is far more common in menopausal women. As hormones change, women are also far more likely to have urinary tract infections (UTIs) UTI’s cause the hallmark burning sensation when urinating, and when untreated can lead to more serious kidney and systemic infections.
Studies have shown that balancing hormones naturally can reduce the frequency of UTI in menopausal women. Properly balanced estrogen helps good bacteria grow and product an acid that lowers the pH in the vagina, helping to keep the bad bacteria away.
Other causes of bladder weakness include nerve injuries from giving birth, giving birth multiple times, medications and diabetes.
While a few antidepressants actually help urinary incontinence (Tofranil and Elavil), the majority can worsen symptoms for women. Antidepressants can reduce the ability of the bladder to contract, making symptoms of overflow incontinence worse when the bladder can't empty completely. Other antidepressants may desensitize your awareness of your need to urinate.
Approximately 10% of patients with incontinence wet the bed. Some studies show sleeping pills may pose a problem for those with incontinence at night because some people sleep too soundly to awake when their bladder is full.
How to Combat Prevent Bladder Weakness
Do those Kegels before you eat your Bagels! An easy and useful exercise called ‘Kegel Exercises’ helps strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and can keep bladder weakness at bay. Clenching your muscles as if you were holding in your urine for 10 seconds, followed by a relaxing and repeating of this process several times a day can improve your bladder incontinence issues. Stronger pelvic floor muscles provide support for your bladder and keep your bladder sphincter muscle strong. Other common ways to fight urinary incontinence are to abstain from too much alcohol and stay hydrated.
Your type of incontinence will determine your treatment. Some treatments will take time to start working and not every treatment works for every woman. The experts at MedStudio medical clinic can bring a relief to many menopausal symptoms and help to re-balance hormone levels naturally, calming menopausal bladder issues. Make your appointment today to learn about the different types of natural hormone balancing and make endlessly finding the nearest restroom less important.