Health Expert Jasmine Schmidt shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. HealthCentral.com is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/45/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/45/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/45/index http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/70713/sling-surgery-1 Tue, 12 May 2009 16:04:00 -0400 Jasmine Schmidt It's estimated that about half of all women are affected by stress urinary incontinence (SUI). In some cases, pelvic floor exercises, such as Kegels, can help. In more severe cases, or when the exercises just don't cut it, your doctor may recommend a "simple" surgery to support your urethra with a sling made of synthetic mesh or your own tissue. No matter how easy a doctor may think a procedure is, if you're going under the knife, chances are... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/70713/sling-surgery-1 http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/57206/bladder-weak Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:41:03 -0500 Jasmine Schmidt I was recently asked about "weak bladders", so I thought I'd write about the two most common types of incontinence, and explain a bit about whether or not a bladder can actually be "weak". The two types of incontinence that people experience most frequently are stress urinary incontinence (SUI), and urge incontinence.   The most common type of incontinence is stress urinary incontinence (SUI). This type of incontinence is caused by weak... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/57206/bladder-weak http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/54775/shy-bladders Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:19:12 -0500 Jasmine Schmidt I have a dear friend who always finds the perfect greeting card. This year, her "happy holidays" card to me - which had nothing to do with the holidays at all, and was really more of an every day card - talked about how when you see someone yawn it makes you want to yawn, and yet, some people have trouble peeing when others are already peeing. It was funny, and she thought of my "pee work" when she saw it. Although the card was intended to be... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/54775/shy-bladders http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/53852/online-resource Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:56:00 -0500 Jasmine Schmidt I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season. It has been enjoyable and emotionally healing to spend time with family following the loss of my brother. The holidays have also brought much joy with two new babies in the family! However, I must admit that I'm looking forward to the fresh start of the new year, and the return of some semblance of "normal" life after all the festivities.   As I reflected upon the past year, I realized... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/53852/online-resource http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/52861/incontinence-men Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:38:19 -0500 Jasmine Schmidt This week Reuters reported that Kimberly-Clark, the makers of the well-known Depend line of absorbent products, will begin offering new products in March. This will be the first time that the Depend line will feature separate products for women and men - six styles for women and two for men. The gender-specific designs are said to increase absorbency.   It is a common complaint among men with incontinence that there aren't many options... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/52861/incontinence-men http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/48788/incontinence Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:29:35 -0500 Jasmine Schmidt Many of the people on support websites such as this have tried every treatment (or what feels like every treatment) that is currently on the market, with little to no success. You may be feeling defeated and have lost hope of ever achieving a higher quality of life. If you've still got a bit of fight left in you, and you're willing to give it one more go, I recommend taking a look at www.clinicaltrials.gov. This easy-to-navigate site lists... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/48788/incontinence http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/47850/surgery-problems Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:26:00 -0500 Jasmine Schmidt In the news this week is a report on problems with the mesh sling surgery used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. Apparently there have been about 1,000 reports of problems with the mesh sling, including pain, recurrence of the original problem, and infection.   Stress urinary incontinence is the type of leakage that occurs when you place physical (not emotional) stress on your pelvic floor by laughing,... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/47850/surgery-problems http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/47036/modesty Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:36:00 -0400 Jasmine Schmidt This sharepost is in memory of my brother, Paul, who passed away last week due to something called Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). At only 21 years old, he basically went into cardiac arrest during a seizure. This has been a sad and difficult time for me and my family, but we find comfort in knowing what a battle Paul faced every day, and that it was his body's choice to leave at this time. But last week wasn't all bad news... keep... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/47036/modesty http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/44165/news-coverage Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:03:00 -0400 Jasmine Schmidt To keep up with the world of incontinence I often turn to the Google News function. This site allows me to type in any keyword, and the magical world of Google will return any and all news articles mentioning that keyword. It searches everything from press releases to local small-town papers to the likes of Time and the Washington Post.   Sadly, but not all-together unexpectedly, the keyword "incontinence" rarely yields a plethora of... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/44165/news-coverage http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/42781/knowledge-power Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:35:00 -0400 Jasmine Schmidt Maybe I'm a dork, but I like to figure out how things work. With the extra knowledge, somehow my world makes a bit more sense and I feel a little more in control. I'm thinking of this a lot right now as my body prepares for childbirth. In the last few days I've been experiencing a lot of pain as my baby moves further down into my pelvis, and I've been worrying about whether this pain is normal, and what it means. Then I finally got an answer... http://www.healthcentral.com/incontinence/c/45/42781/knowledge-power