Table of Contents
- Overview
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Images
See also:
Other measures include:
- Regulate your bowels to avoid constipation. Try increasing fiber in your diet.
- Quit smoking to reduce coughing and bladder irritation. Smoking also increases your risk of bladder cancer.
- Avoid alcohol and caffeinated beverages, particularly coffee, which can overstimulate your bladder.
- Lose weight if you need to.
- Avoid foods and drinks that may irritate your bladder, like spicy foods, carbonated beverages, and citrus fruits and juices.
- Keep blood sugar under good control if you have diabetes.
Your doctor may recommend medication or surgery, especially if home care measures are not helping or if your symptoms are getting worse.
Medications that may be prescribed include drugs that relax the bladder, increase bladder muscle tone, or strengthen the sphincter.
Surgery may be required to relieve an obstruction or deformity of the bladder neck and urethra.
See also:
Urge incontinence Stress incontinence
If you have overflow incontinence or cannot empty your bladder completely, a catheter may be recommended. But using a catheter exposes you to potential infection.
PREVENTION
Performing Kegel exercises while you are pregnant and soon after delivery may help prevent incontinence related to childbirth.
Call your health care provider if
Discuss incontinence with your doctor. Gynecologists and urologists are the specialists most familiar with this condition. They can evaluate the causes and recommend treatment approaches.
Previous Section
Review Date: 08/30/2009
Reviewed By: Louis S. Liou, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Urology, Department
of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine. Also reviewed by
David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
