Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is a much more common problem than most people realize. In fact, one in four women suffer from urinary incontinence. There are four different types:

Stress Incontinence

When the simplest cough, sneeze or laugh causes leakage, you may be experiencing stress incontinence. The muscles surrounding the bladder and urethra (the tube through which urine comes) have weakened, or there’s been damage to the urethra that causes it to remain open.

Urge Incontinence

With this type of incontinence, you have little or no warning that the bladder is full and you may not get to the bathroom in time. Urge incontinence is influenced by many things, including dietary habits and neurological and behavioral characteristics.

Mixed Incontinence

This is a combination of stress and urge incontinence.

Overflow Incontinence

Diabetes and neurological diseases often contribute to this involuntary loss of urine that occurs when the bladder fails to empty any significant amount and continues to fill and overflow.

To better understand your health challenges, we’ll take a thorough history and perform a physical exam that MAY include:

• Urinalysis and urine culture
• Post-void residual urine, measured after urination
• Cystoscopy, using a small telescope that looks into the blader
• Urodynamics – a series of tests to determine the characteristics of storing and emptying fluid