our services
Evaluation & Treatment of Urinary Incontinence
There are two common types of urinary incontinence: stress incontinence (SUI) and urge incontinence (UUI) and it’s important to know the difference.
Stress Incontinence VS Urge Incontinence
It is important to understand the difference between each of these diagnoses because they require different options for treatment. Urge incontinence (UUI) is most often caused by overactive bladder (OAB). An overactive bladder is one that contracts without warning, leading to symptoms of urinary urgency and frequency. UUI is urine loss as the result of these symptoms. SUI is not accompanied by the sensation of a sudden urge to urinate. The underlying cause for SUI is different from that for UUI. SUI is caused by a weak sphincter muscle and/or pelvic floor. Some people have both SUI and UUI, known as mixed incontinence. This means that they leak when they cough or sneeze or exert pressure on their abdominal muscles, but they also feel the urgent need to go to the toilet and may not make it in time.
SUI is the most common type of incontinence in women younger than 60 years and accounts for at least half of incontinence in all women. It is estimated that 15 million adult women in the U.S. experience SUI, at least one-third of whom have severe enough symptoms to need surgery. This condition often goes undiagnosed because many women believe that it is a normal result of childbirth or a natural part of aging. These beliefs are myths. SUI does not have to be accepted as a part of life. Your physician can prescribe medications or minimally invasive procedures to correct SIU problems.
Get the Facts about SUI
SUI is the most common type of incontinence in women younger than 60 years and accounts for at least half of incontinence in all women. It is estimated that 15 million adult women in the U.S. experience SUI.
Stress Incontinence
Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) occurs because of weak pelvic floor muscles and/or a deficient urethral sphincter, causing the bladder to leak during exercise, coughing, sneezing, laughing, or any body movement which puts pressure on the bladder. SUI may follow childbirth or menopause in women.
Urge Incontinence
Urgency Urinary Incontinence and Overactive Bladder
Urgency urinary incontinence and overactive bladder is the urgent need to pass urine and the inability to get to a toilet in time. This occurs when nerve passages along the pathway from the bladder to the brain are damaged, causing a sudden bladder contraction that cannot be consciously inhibited. Stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS) can all cause urge incontinence. Urge Incontinence is a major symptom of “Urge Incontinence” overactive bladder (OAB).
Mixed Incontinence
Mixed incontinence is very common and occurs when symptoms of both urgency types of incontinence are present. Symptoms of one type of incontinence may be more severe than the other. Treatment may be a combination of the treatments listed for either urgency or stress incontinence and will depend on which symptoms are more bothersome to the patient.
Chronic Retention of Urine
This type of incontinence refers to leakage that occurs when the quantity of urine produced exceeds the bladder’s holding capacity. It can result from diabetes, pelvic trauma, extensive pelvic surgery, pelvic organ prolapse in women, shingles, MS, Parkinson’s Disease, or polio.