Women’s Urinary Incontinence: The Power of Educating Yourself

The old adage tells us that “knowledge is power.” When it comes to women’s urinary incontinence, knowledge is more than power … knowledge can be the difference between feeling insecure and isolated, and being your own best healthcare advocate.

Whether or not you have sought help from your doctor for your women’s urinary incontinence, the more you educate yourself about your condition, the more confident you will feel about your body, your life, and your ability to successfully cope with your symptoms. If the embarrassment of discussing your urinary incontinence is just too much for you to deal with at the moment, don’t worry. There are plenty of ways you can educate yourself about women’s urinary incontinence without ever leaving your home. Consider these easily-available resources you can use to learn as much as possible about urinary urgency, frequency, leakage, and other symptoms of urinary incontinence.

A Woman’s Guide to Pelvic Health
We wrote this book for the exact purpose discussed above–so that women could educate themselves about pelvic health (including urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse). This guide book not only outlines the major issues and symptoms related to various women’s pelvic health conditions, but also details a complete at-home pelvic floor rehabilitation program. In addition, the book outlines a wide variety of conservative therapies for these pelvic issues, as well as reviewing the various surgical options available. This complete guide is an educational gem for women who want to know more … but are kind of afraid to ask their doctors! Click HERE for more details.

Discreet Online Resources
If you are digitally-inclined, there are tons of online resources available that can educate you about women’s urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and other pelvic health issues. A great place to get started is our Resources  page, which lists not only the informational resources we provide, but also the educational resources provided by a number of organizations dedicated to women’s health and women’s pelvic health.

Download the Ebook
For the do-it-yourself gal who wants to learn how to do a correct pelvic floor muscle contraction (of which the Kegel is one variety), we have a handy downloadable ebook that gives you the exact directions for doing just that! The ebook is available at no charge, and you can read it at your leisure. The information is easy to read and, at the same time, medically correct. Download the ebook HERE.

The Benefits of Educating Yourself
If you take the time to educate yourself about your pelvic health–and especially about women’s urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse–you will be way ahead of other women on the knowledge curve. This knowledge can serve you well. For instance, being knowledgeable about your pelvic health gives you the ability to:

  • know what’s going on with your own body
  • become your own best health advocate
  • converse intelligently with your healthcare provider and make good decisions for yourself (when to use conservative approaches, when to consider surgery)
  • know when your treatment plans need to change because your physical condition has changed
  • help other women suffering in silence by sharing your knowledge and experience

Those are some pretty big benefits, not just for yourself but also for women who are not as courageous in educating themselves about pelvic health. Education empowers you to be a healthcare advocate for yourself as well as the other women in your life–be they sisters, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, or friends. So why not? Go for it! Educate yourself, help yourself, then reach out and help others!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Women’s Urinary Incontinence: What You Gain When You Seek Medical Help

In our last article, we discussed all the quality of life aspects that go out the window when women with urinary incontinence fail to seek medical help for their condition. In this follow-up article, we take a look at all the benefits you gain when you seek medical help for women’s urinary incontinence. Yes, we know, seeking medical help involves having that “red-faced” embarrassing conversation with your doctor about urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage. But after you read through all the benefits you will gain once you get through that conversation, our bet is that you will be willing to ask your doctor for help (if you haven’t already)!

Benefit #1: A Medical Diagnosis
A lot of women with urinary incontinence know that they have a problem, but they don’t know exactly what the problem is. They know they suffer from urinary urgency or frequency or leakage, but may not necessarily know the causes of these symptoms. This lack of knowing “what’s up down there” can create a sense of tension and stress for many women. Therefore, one of the biggest benefits of getting help from your doctor is that you get a true and medically-correct diagnosis about your condition. You will find out if you have stress, urge, or mixed urinary incontinence … or just a mild form of urge incontinence called overactive bladder (OAB). You will discover whether your pelvic organs have “fallen” out of place, causing some of your symptoms. Whatever the cause of your urinary incontinence symptoms, you will emerge from your conversation with your doctor with the knowledge of what is happening with your body. Since “knowledge is power,” you will emerge from your appointment with a new sense of self-empowerment. That is a pretty neat benefit.

Benefit #2: Knowledge of Treatment Options
Once your healthcare provider discovers the cause of your symptoms, such as urinary urgency or leakage, the next step is obviously to discuss treatment options. Depending on the type and severity of your symptoms, your doctor may recommend either conservative or surgical treatment options. Conservative options may include lifestyle changes, such as smoking cessation, weight loss, and dietary changes. Other conservative therapies include bladder retraining, pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation, acupuncture, pessaries, and percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation.

If your condition is more severe, especially if one or more of your pelvic organs has fallen out of place (a condition called pelvic organ prolapse, or POP), then your doctor may recommend some surgical options to treat your condition. The good news is that most of the surgical procedures for women’s urinary incontinence are minimally-invasive, plus have a high rate of success.  Most healthcare providers will recommend that you start with the most conservative therapy possible, and consider surgery only if your condition is not treatable with conservative approaches.

Benefit #3: Support on the Journey Back to Health
While talking to your doctor about your urinary symptoms may be embarrassing, you will find that most medical professionals are quite knowledgeable and compassionate about women’s urinary incontinence. By seeking help from your doctor, you will not only get the help you need to restore yourself to continence, but you will gain the knowledge that you are not alone. As the baby boomer generation ages, more and more doctors are helping women with urinary incontinence issues. Your doctor will not only provide you with solutions that will treat your condition, but can also reassure you that you are not alone. Your doctor may even be able to recommend resources, both online and offline, where you can find additional support from women dealing with the same kinds of symptoms.

Big Benefits from Seeking Help
As you can probably tell, seeking help from your doctor will yield some pretty major benefits for you. Not only will you be able to address your physical symptoms, but you will also be able to ease your mind as you gain knowledge about urinary incontinence. The more you know, the more control you will have over your condition. The more control you have, the less stress you will experience. All of these are major contributors to a good quality of life. Doesn’t that make a short conversation with your doctor worthwhile?

 

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Women’s Urinary Incontinence: What You Give Up When You Don’t Seek Help

We hate to keep hammering on this statistic, but it continues to amaze and shock us: women with urinary incontinence typically wait almost seven years before seeking help from a medical professional … if they seek help at all! In fact, only 50% of women with urinary incontinence do seek help. The rest simply suffer in silence and cope with the symptoms as best they can.

The most ridiculous part of the above statistics is there are so many forms of help available for women’s urinary incontinence, from simple lifestyle changes to minimally-invasive surgeries with high rates of success. So why do so many women wait so long to seek help for their urinary incontinence, or refuse to seek help at all?

Embarrassment
Believe it or not, women’s urinary incontinence tops the list of health conditions that ladies feel most embarrassed about discussing with their doctors. As a result of wanting to avoid a red-faced discussion, 50% of these women suffer through almost seven years of urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage before gathering up the courage to ask for help. The other half would rather suffer through the symptoms than have “the talk” about urinary incontinence with their doctors.

Wow … what all of these women fail to realize is that they give up a tremendous amount in their lives simply to avoid having one embarrassing conversation about urinary incontinence with their doctors. In fact, let’s take a closer look at what women suffering from urinary incontinence give up because they want to avoid embarrassment.

#1 – Your Social Life
One of the first items a woman with urinary incontinence sacrifices is her social life. One study indicated that women worried about urinary leakage were most afraid to “sit on a friend’s couch.” If you are afraid to even sit on your friend’s couch for fear that you might have a leakage accident, then you can see how your social life would begin to shrink at a rapid rate! You will also begin to skip “Girls’ Night Out,” movies, and chats over coffee with your gal pals.

At that point, the isolation becomes apparent. The stage after isolation is often depression and unhappiness. In fact, even your immune system is affected when you stop connecting with your friends and social network. Consider this:

“Several studies support the idea that people who feel connected to friends – whether it’s a few close friends or a large group – have stronger immunity than those who feel alone. In one study, freshmen who were lonely had a weaker immune response to a flu vaccine than those who felt connected to others.” (http://on.webmd.com/W8CTPV)

#2 – Exercise and Fitness
For women with urinary incontinence, fitness and weight maintenance is a big part of reducing symptoms like urinary urgency, leakage, and frequency. Overweight women tend to suffer more severe symptoms since every extra pound above the pelvic area puts pressure on the bladder and pelvic organ, often resulting in leakage accidents. Therefore, the ability to exercise and stay fit is crucial to women who want to improve their symptoms. But there is a catch-22. Women with urinary incontinence tend to leak urine when they exercise. This leakage, in turn, tends to discourage exercise, since no woman enjoys the “wet pants” look. Lack of exercise tends to lead to weight gain, depression, and emotional eating … and more weight gain. You get the picture of the vicious cycle that can happen. Women with urinary incontinence who fail to seek help for their condition often toss their exercise regimen out the window, and fall prey to the vicious cycle described above.

#3 – The Stress of the Unexpected
Studies show that one of the worst aspects of women’s urinary incontinence is the stress of living with the unexpected. Women with this condition are always wondering when the next urinary leakage accident will occur. They stress about whether they will reach the bathroom in time. They prepare endlessly for that unexpected accident by carrying around changes of clothing, adult diapers, sanitary wipes, and scented baggies to avoid urine odor. They wear pants that can be quickly pulled down (but often lack a sense of fashion). In other words, women with urinary incontinence go “all out” to prevent leakage accidents, and live in a constant state of stress about such accidents. This kind of stress if highly detrimental to a woman’s health on multiple levels.

Do You See the Picture Now?
The above is just the “short list” of what you give up when you suffer from urinary incontinence and refuse to seek help from a medical professional. Of course, embarrassment isn’t the only reason that you might avoid seeking help, but our guess is that embarrassment is a big factor. But if you really stop and think about it, is embarrassment truly a fate worse than death? We think not! There are many women, very much alive, who can testify to that fact! So don’t be one of those statistics we mentioned at the beginning of the article. Don’t avoid asking for help and don’t wait seven years to ask for help. If you have women’s urinary incontinence, ask for help now before you sacrifice any more quality of life to this easily treatable condition!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Coping with the Complications of Women’s Urinary Incontinence

Coping with the complications associated with women’s urinary incontinence can be, well, complicated. Worrying about symptoms such as urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage can affect many areas of your life, from your exercise regimen to your work life to your personal relationships. At the same time, many savvy women have discovered simple yet effective ways to cope with their symptoms.

Before we begin discussing practical steps you can take to cope with your urinary incontinence symptoms, we want to point out that the best and most effective action step you can take for this health condition is to first seek help from your doctor. “Coping” with urinary incontinence is not the same as treating or even curing your condition. While you may be perfectly able to cope with your symptoms with careful planning, wouldn’t your quality of life be so much better if you didn’t have to cope? What would your life look like if your symptoms were drastically reduced, or even eliminated? We urge you to give some thought to seeking help from your doctor, even if you feel embarrassed about doing so. Below are some articles that can help you with seeking help from your doctor:

Urinary Incontinence: 3 Steps to Prepare for Your Doctor’s Appointment
Women’s Urinary Incontinence: 5 Things You Should Know When Seeking Help

Women’s Urinary Incontinence: Coping with the Complications
Because urinary urgency or leakage can strike at any time during your day (or night), you will probably find that every area of your life is affected by this condition. That’s why we offer below links to articles filled with practical tips on how to cope with the complications of women’s urinary incontinence so that you can get on with your life!
7 Tips for Coping with Urine Leakage During Exercise

Do You Need a Note from Your Doctor? (to give to your boss)

Women’s Urinary Incontinence: Protecting Your Skin

When Women’s Urinary Incontinence Messes with Your Intimacy

Female Urinary Incontinence: Are You Afraid to Sit on Your Friend’s Couch?

 

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Is Your Women’s Urinary Incontinence Temporary?

Women’s urinary incontinence is more common than you may think. Studies indicate that at least 25% of women over age 25 have experienced urine leakage at least once. That’s a lot of women!

Let’s say that you’ve just experienced your first (or second) episode of urinary leakage. At that point, you might start to wonder whether the leakage episode was just a random and temporary event, or if urinary leakage is going to become a regular part of your life. Good question. After all, you can easily ignore an isolated incident of urine leakage–after all, who among us hasn’t tried to “hold our water” while we finish some important task? On the other hand, if urinary incontinence is here to stay in your life, then you need to take your condition much more seriously. The key is to discover whether your urinary incontinence is temporary or persistent.

Causes of Temporary Urinary Incontinence
There are multiple causes of temporary urinary incontinence, all of which are related to lifestyle habits. Read through the following list and see if any of these lifestyle habits are present in your life, and may be causing your urinary incontinence:

Bladder Irritants
Many foods and beverages can irritate your bladder. These include coffee and tea (with or without caffeine), caffeinated beverages, carbonated beverages, spicy foods, sugary foods and beverages, acidic foods (such as citrus foods), and artificial sweeteners.

Drinking Too Little or Too Much Water
Drinking a lot of water in a short period of time can cause your bladder to go into overdrive. At the same time, drinking too little water can cause your urine to become acidic, irritating the bladder and causing temporary urinary incontinence. To discover the appropriate amount of water for your body weight, read this article.

Alcohol
Like caffeinated beverages, alcohol acts as a diuretic, which can cause you to feel like you need to urinate urgently and frequently. To find out if alcohol could be causing your urinary incontinence on a temporary basis, significantly reduce or eliminate your intake of alcohol for a week or two. If you don’t have any leakage accidents during that time, alcohol could be one of your triggers for temporary urinary incontinence.

Medications
Some medications are also diuretics, just like alcohol or caffeinated beverages. Likely culprits include heart medications, sedatives, muscle relaxants, and blood pressure drugs. Check with your healthcare provider about whether any of your medications (both prescription and over-the-counter) might be causing your temporary urinary incontinence.

Do any of these lifestyle habits ring a bell for you? If so, you may only be experiencing temporary urinary incontinence. This is good news because this means that you can resolve your urinary leakage by simply eliminating any lifestyle habits that are causing your leakage!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

What Embarrasses You the Most About Urinary Urgency and Leakage?

If you suffer from urinary urgency and other symptoms of urinary incontinence, then you know all about the embarrassment of coping with your condition. Whether this means running for the bathroom all day long, worrying about a urinary leakage accident, or dealing with the odor of urine, you know the frustration of dealing with symptoms. In fact, women surveyed by WebMD listed the issues related to urinary incontinence from most to least embarrassing:

31% – odor concerns
30% – frequent bathroom trips
26% – traveling with incontinence
13% – intimacy or relationship problems

How does this line-up match up with your levels of embarrassment associated with urinary urgency, frequency, or leakage? Or is your most embarrassing issue–such as being afraid to sit on a friend’s couch–not even on this list? If so, we are not surprised. There are so many frustrating and embarrassing aspects associated with women’s urinary incontinence that the real list of issues that affected women must cope with is much longer. That’s the bad news. Now for the good news.

Simple Ways to Cope with Urinary Urgency, Frequency, and Leakage
The best overall way to relieve your symptoms of urinary incontinence is, of course, to seek help from a medical professional. We suggest you start with a visit to your family doctor or general practitioner, who can either help you directly or refer you to the proper medical professional. You are going to call your doctor immediately after you finish reading this article, right? Right! Good.

Next, while you are waiting for your appointment, there are simple practical steps you can take to cope with the above issues related to urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage.

Tip #1: Coping with Odors
There are many easy steps that you can take to prevent urine odor, everything from using scented pads and liners to avoiding certain foods and beverages. Read more about these tips HERE.

Tip #2: Reduce Bathroom Trips
People who are not affected by urinary incontinence don’t know about the frustration and embarrassment of always looking for bathrooms everywhere you go, not to mention the constant need to excuse yourself to visit the ladies room. To reduce the number of trips you make to the bathroom due to urinary urgency, try retraining your bladder. With this method, you teach your bladder to empty at regular intervals, rather than whenever you experience a random or unexpected bladder spasm. Read more about bladder retraining HERE.

Tip #3: Simplify Travel
Traveling while dealing with urinary incontinence symptoms can be a major hassle, no matter which mode of transportation you choose. To simplify your trip, try the practical tips listed in this article. You’ll discover that by taking a little time to prepare for your trip, your journey will be smooth and hassle-free.

Tip #4: Talk Through Relationship Problems
When a woman has urinary incontinence, she isn’t the only one who suffers. In a relationship, both parties are affected. However, clear and compassionate communication can resolve many relationship problems caused by women’s urinary incontinence. Want to know more? Check out ways to discuss your situation with your partner HERE.

As you can probably tell, urinary urgency and leakage do not need to ruin your life, nor do you need to suffer constant embarrassment. If you can take the time to educate yourself about your condition, as well as prepare yourself daily to cope with your most inconvenient symptoms, you will find that you will find embarrassment to be much less of a factor in your life.
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Got Urinary Urgency, Leakage, or Frequency? Stick a Needle Above Your Ankle Bone!

This blog is part 11 of an 11 article series of New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

As strange as it may seem, your bladder and urinary system are linked to a nerve located just above your ankle bone–the nerve called the percutaneous tibial nerve. While this little piece of trivia may not interest the average woman, a woman suffering from urinary urgency and other symptoms of urinary incontinence may be interested in this bit of news. Why? Because there is a conservative therapy called percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation that has proven useful in helping women with overactive bladder and urge urinary incontinence.

What is Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation?
As the name suggests, percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation is a conservative therapy in which your medical provider inserts a fine needle in your percutanous tibial nerve, located just above your ankle (while your leg is elevated). Usually performed by your urologist, this conservative therapy then delivers a mild electrical current through the needle to the nerve, which contols bladder function along with other nerves. Other medical professionals who can perform this therapy include trained nurses and physician assistants.

Don’t worry if your toes or entire foot flexes gently during the treatment. Some women also report feeling a mild tingling sensation in the ankle or sole of the foot, which is perfectly normal. Treatments last for 30 to 60 minutes each, and women need to have treatments three to four times per week for 8 to 12 weeks for full effectiveness.

Does Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation Work?
Yes. Studies show that women with symptoms of overactive bladder or urge incontinence–such as, urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage–report a 20 percent reduction in frequency of urination (OrBIT trial). Women in another study, the SUMit trial, reported a 36 percent reduction in symptom severity and a 34 percent increase in quality of life.

That’s pretty good, right? The great news is that percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation is a conservative therapy, which means you get the dual benefits of symptom improvement along with a non-invasive procedure! Not sure? Ask your urologist to fill you in on the details.
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Acupuncture for Urinary Urgency and Other Embarrassing Symptoms

This blog is part 10 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

What’s worse? A few tiny needles the width of a human hair or experiencing that embarrassing “wet pants” look that comes with urinary urgency (and other symptoms of urinary incontinence)?

We don’t know about you, but for women with urinary incontinence, a few tiny acupuncture needles may seem like a very small price to pay for a reduction in symptoms. Acupuncture, a well-respected healing technique from the East, has long been considered an excellent “middle of the road” option for women with urinary incontinence symptoms like urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage. This conservative therapy has also proven effective for women with pelvic organ prolapse. More importantly, acupuncture is a wonderful solution for women who, for whatever reasons, choose not to take medication or cannot make lifestyle changes, such as weight loss and smoking cessation.
What is Acupuncture, Exactly?
If you are considering using acupuncture to solve symptoms such as urinary urgency and frequency, then you probably want to know exactly what this kind of therapy entails. We don’t blame you! When someone starts talking about using a bunch of needles to alleviate symptoms of urinary incontinence, you probably want to know more–specifically, the details!

According to the National Institutes of Health, acupuncture is defined as follows:

“The term ‘acupuncture’ describes a family of procedures involving the stimulation of points on the body using a variety of techniques. The acupuncture technique that has been most often studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation. Practiced in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years, acupuncture is one of the key components of traditional Chinese medicine.”

The use of acupuncture is very widespread–more than you may think. According to the National Health Interview Survey, in 2007 an estimated 3.1 million U.S. adults and 150,000 children received acupuncture treatments within the past year. And that number has only been on the rise since the 2007 study.

As for actual treatments, practitioners use either very fine acupuncture needles or mild electrical stimulation (meant to mimic the stimulation provided by needle insertion) to increase the flow of energy in the body. Needles are inserted at specific points located along meridian lines that circulate energy throughout the body, and specific combinations of points can be used to create healing effects. While many people know about the use of acupuncture for pain relief, fewer people recognize the effectiveness of this conservative therapy for other conditions, such as urinary incontinence, constipation, and pelvic organ prolapse.

How Effective is Acupuncture for Urinary Urgency and Other Symptoms?
Acupuncture has been shown to be just as effective for relieving urinary urgency and other symptoms of urinary incontinence as dry or behavior therapy (Oregon Health and Science University). According to researchers Sandra Emmons, M.D. and Lesley Otto, M.D., “Acupuncture perhaps can offer a middle ground for the appropriate patient who prefers not to take daily medication but is unable to commit to the active involvement of behavioral therapy.”

If you have found the side effects of drug therapy intolerable and, for whatever reasons, cannot make lifestyle or behavioral changes to alleviate your symptoms of women’s urinary incontinence, you may want to look into acupuncture. In addition to board-certified acupuncturists, many physicians also now practice medical acupuncture. Check with your family doctor for a referral, and check with your insurance company to see if acupuncture services are covered. Some insurance companies will cover acupuncture services provided by an in-network physician, but not by an acupuncturist, so be sure to ask.

Most acupuncture “programs” for relieving urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage last from five to eight weeks, and you should see a noticeable reduction of your symptoms within that time period. Because each woman has differing symptom patterns and severity, your physician or acupuncturist will design a specialized program just for your needs.

If acupuncture sounds like a conservative therapy you would like to try, but maybe scares you a little bit, just remember that acupuncture needles are very fine–about the width of one of your hairs! That’s pretty tiny!
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Weight Loss: A Conservative Therapy for Women’s Urinary Incontinence That Really Works!

This blog is part 9 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

Weight loss is the number one New Year’s Resolution that people make … and has been for years! And yet, after the first month of the year, only about eight percent of the people who made this (or any other) New Year’s Resolution are still sticking with it. While “falling off the wagon” in terms of New Year’s Resolutions isn’t a big deal for a lot of people, not sticking to a weight loss or weight management program can be a huge deal for women with urinary incontinence. Why? Because weight loss and management is a tried and true conservative therapy that can help alleviate symptoms of women’s urinary incontinence, including urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage.

Why Weight Loss Works for Urinary Urgency and Other Symptoms
For overweight women with urinary urgency and other symptoms of urinary incontinence, every extra pound above the pelvis puts pressure on the bladder and pelvic organ. Since the bladder is shaped like–and acts like–a balloon, all that extra pressure squeezes the bladder, resulting in urine leakage, frequency, and that “urge to go.” That’s the bad news.

Now for the good news: even a slight amount of weight loss can result in a significant reduction of urinary incontinence symptoms. For instance, one study showed that when overweight women lose even eight percent of their body weight, they experienced a 47 percent reduction in leakage accidents. Another study showed that a 5 to 10 percent loss of weight was just as effective as other conservative (non-surgical) therapies. No wonder weight loss is considered “a first line of therapy” for women’s urinary incontinence!

What to Do if Weight Loss Seems Difficult
Women with urinary incontinence find themselves in an odd catch-22 when it comes to weight loss. See if you recognize the following scenario. On the one hand, your doctor has told you that losing weight will reduce urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage accidents. This gives you motivation to eat healthier and exercise so you can lose weight. On the other hand, you leak urine when you exercise, which causes you to feel totally embarrassed. In turn, you tend to avoid exercise since you hate that “wet pants” look every time you try to get moving. Finally, all this contradiction in your life leads to a little bit of depression … so you reach into your fridge and grab that pint of ice cream to help you feel better. The overall result of this vicious cycle? Weight gain rather than weight loss!

We see this vicious cycle in our women’s pelvic health practices all the time. If you find yourself caught in this vicious cycle, don’t despair. You can lose weight even if you currently have urinary incontinence. Here are our two best recommendations to help you out:

1. Sign up for a well-known successful weight loss program that is known to work. If you’re not sure which programs work, check with your friends or do some research on the internet. This kind of program will keep your diet healthy and “on track,” so that you can avoid emotional eating.

2. Check out these exercise tips designed especially for women with urinary incontinence. These seven tips will help you avoid urinary urgency, leakage, and frequency while you exercise, and get you on your way to weight loss.

We know that losing weight isn’t the easiest task in the world, especially if you have urinary incontinence. At the same time, we have seen so many women lose weight and maintain a healthy weight, so we know that weight loss is possible. You can do it … we know you can. Just start with the first step, and then never look back!
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Diet Modification for Women’s Urinary Incontinence, Part III – What Happens When You “Whoops”?

This blog is part 8 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

For some women, diet modification alone is enough to relieve their symptoms of urinary urgency and frequency. For other women, this conservative therapy works best when combined with other lifestyle changes, such as weight loss and bladder retraining. Regardless, most women who modify their diets to avoid bladder irritants, such as caffeine and acidic foods, do find some relief from incontinence symptoms such urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage.

Diet Modification: What Happens When You “Whoops”?
The woman who has never experienced a “whoops” while on a diet is a rare woman indeed! After all, what woman isn’t occasionally tempted by that towering piece of chocolate cake or that steaming cup of espresso? The result? A “whoops” in the diet. For a woman who doesn’t suffer from urinary incontinence, such a slip is no big deal. An extra workout on the treadmill or more careful monitoring of the diet will most likely take care of any side effects from that diet slip.

But for the woman who does have urinary urgency or leakage as a result of eating or drinking bladder irritants, such a dietary slip can create a bigger problem. In fact, ingesting bladder irritants can have immediate and unwanted effects … namely, a bladder leakage accident! So what do you do if you find that you have accidentally fallen prey to a tasty treat and irritated your bladder? You use this emergency recipe to reduce urine acidity: a bicarbonate slush.

What is a Bicarbonate Slush?
Don’t let the word “bicarbonate” scare you–it is just a fancy name for baking soda, that powdery white stuff that many of us keep in our refrigerators. In fact, baking soda does pretty much the same job in the refrigerator as it does for you when you have eaten something acidic that irritates your bladder. Baking soda, being alkaline (having a pH higher than seven), tends to neutralize acidic substances. In the refrigerator, baking soda neutralizes the smells caused mostly by acidic foods. When you drink a bicarbonate slush, made by mixing baking soda and water, the baking soda neutralizes the offending acidic food you just ate.

To make a bicarbonate slush, simply mix one tablespoon of baking soda with 16 ounces (or two cups) of pure water. Drink the slush right away, and immediately drink eight more ounces (one cup) of additional water. You should begin to feel your urinary urgency and other symptoms subside fairly quickly. Do not use this slush without first checking with your doctor if you have high blood pressure or are prone to retaining salt.

The good news about the bicarbonate slush is that it is simple to make. Even if you are at a party when you experience a dietary slip, your host  most likely has baking soda on hand. Just whip up a slushy cocktail, chug it down, and consider yourself relieved!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

American Women Shy When Discussing Urinary Incontinence

American women are usually known for their directness, forthrightness, and brashness. We live in a society where sex sells everything from cars to television shows. We climb corporate ladders with ease and are not afraid to challenge corporate glass ceilings. But we American women have one area where we are very shy. According to women’s health experts, American women are very hesitant to discuss urinary incontinence.

Why Urinary Incontinence is Taboo for American Women
According to Caryn Antos of the National Association for Continence (NAFC), our culture is partially responsible for women’s reluctance to discuss urinary incontinence. She says, “The United States is one of the more reserved countries when it comes to this topic. In Europe, tons of organizations band together for educational purposes–and there’s no privacy barrier to break through.” She adds that at trade shows and other educational events, most women are afraid to approach the NAFC booth to pick up brochures, concerned that they’ll be pinned with a “scarlet letter.”

Missy Lavender, executive director of the Women’s Health Foundation, experienced a similar sense of cultural reserve. Having published educational material about women’s urinary incontinence, Missy was asked by the editor of a local women’s magazine: “Why is a nice girl like you talking about things like this?”

If this is the kind of reception being given to advocates of education about women’s urinary incontinence, is it any wonder that the average woman feels shy about asking for help with her bladder control issues?

Additional Reasons Women Don’t Ask for Help
In addition to the general reserve in this country surrounding women’s urinary incontinence, experts point out numerous other reasons that women are hesitant to seek help. Two of the most prominent are age and lack of information.

Age
A large percentage of older women suffer from urinary incontinence, and women in this population are less comfortable than younger women discussing this area of their anatomy. They may also be unaware of the progress that has been in made in the last 30 years in treating urinary incontinence. Finally, they may simply feel that urine leakage is a normal part of aging.

Lack of Information
Some women know that “something is wrong,” but lack knowledge about their own anatomy and feel uncomfortable discussing their problem with a male doctor. This is where seeking help from a female urologist, gynecologist, or physical therapist can help.

Don’t Be Shy–Get Help for Your Urinary Incontinence
Urinary incontinence, while not life-threatening, can definitely affect the quality of your life. It can also be a symptom of other health conditions, so it’s important to raise the issue with your healthcare provider. Read through this blog for more resources to help you get started on the road to recovery … and drier panties!
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Diet Modification for Women’s Urinary Incontinence, Part II – Avoid Constipation

This blog is part 7 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

Women with urinary incontinence know all about the discomfort of urinary leakage, frequency, and urge–but a lot of these same women also know the discomfort of constipation symptoms. Constipation symptoms such as straining, needing to push on the abdomen, or waiting an unusually long time on the toilet are all bad news for women with urinary incontinence. All these symptoms of constipation put a lot of pressure on the pelvic organs and muscles, which can worsen symptoms of urinary incontinence. If you have any of these constipation symptoms, then read on. We have solutions to help you avoid this problem, which may in turn relieve some of your urinary incontinence symptoms.

What is Constipation?
Before we can talk about how to avoid constipation, we first have to define constipation. Put simply, constipation includes difficulty having a bowel movement, or long periods of delay between bowel movements. What is considered a “normal” frequency for bowel movements varies from person to person, depending on age, lifestyle, and diet. Most medical experts consider bowel movements ranging from three per day to three per week as “normal.” Fewer bowel movements may constitute chronic constipation.

For women with urinary incontinence, the frequency of bowel movements is definitely important. In addition, what may be even more important is to avoid straining when having a bowel movement. Straining or pushing are symptoms of constipation, and both can further weaken pelvic muscles that are already stretched or damaged. Straining and pushing can also push pelvic organs that have “fallen” out of place further from their correct anatomical position. All of these may result in or worsen symptoms of women’s urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse.

How to Avoid Constipation
If you have symptoms of constipation, we have several solutions that can relieve these symptoms. These are simple lifestyle changes that you can easily integrate into your daily schedule, no matter how busy you may be.

  • Fiber: Eat plenty of fruits or veggies. If you are not a fan of these, add a fiber supplement (gradually) to your daily regimen.
  • Exercise: Moving your body will help your digestive system, since your food has to pass through about 20 feet of intestine.
  • Hydrate: Water is essential to keeping your stools soft enough to pass easily. To figure out the right amount of water to drink, read this article
  • Medication: Check with your doctor whether any medications you take might be causing constipation (since many drugs can cause symptoms of constipation)
  • Go with the Urge: Many women are “too busy” to go to the bathroom for a bowel movement when they feel the urge. This can cause your digestive system to shut down, leading to constipation. Avoid this by going to the bathroom immediately when you feel the urge for a bowel movement.

Mix Your Own Fiber Supplement
One of the recommendations we make to patients in our practice for maintaining bowel regularity is this homemade recipe for a fiber supplement. Combine the following ingredients and drink the resulting mixture immediately:

  • 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 1/4 cup freshly ground flaxseed
  • 1/4 cup aloe vera juice

Pretty simple, right? Making any of the above listed lifestyle changes to help you avoid constipation symptoms is important to relieving women’s urinary incontinence. Because these lifestyle changes are so easy, they make a good trade-off if they help you stay “high and dry”!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Diet Modification for Women’s Urinary Incontinence – Avoiding Bladder Irritants

This blog is part 6 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

One popular adage says, “You’ve got egg on your face” … if you’ve got women’s urinary incontinence, the saying should probably say, “You’ve got food in your underwear!” Why? Because certain food and beverages can be bladder irritants, worsening symptoms like urinary leakage, frequency, and urge. One of the simplest lifestyle changes that women with urinary incontinence can make is to modify their diets to avoid bladder irritants.

What Are Bladder Irritants?
Bladder irritants are any foods or beverages that tend to make the urine more acidic, irritating areas of the bladder and urethra that are already inflamed. Mostly, bladder irritants include foods and beverages that:

  • are acidic
  • contain caffeine
  • have alcohol
  • contain tyrosine, tyramine, tryptophan, aspirate, and phenylalanine
  • you are allergic to

Avoiding these types of food and beverages can improve symptoms of urinary incontinence, especially with urinary urgency and frequency.

What To Do If You Cannot Avoid Bladder Irritants
While you can make every effort to avoid bladder irritants in your diet, there will be certain times when you simply cannot avoid these foods or beverages. For instance, suppose you find yourself at a dinner party where almost every item served is a bladder irritant. What’s a woman with urinary incontinence to do? Luckily, there are several strategies that can help you in these situations.

1. Use Prelief
Prelief is an over-the-counter medication that removes acid from the foods and beverages. Simply supplement meals that are acidic in nature with Prelief to avoid irritating your bladder.

2. Use a Coffee Substitute
If you absolutely must have your morning cup of joe to start your day, try a coffee substitute like Kava. Another option Postum, which is a low-acid instant drink similar to coffee. Caffeine-free herbal teas are another great way to start your morning.

3. Drink Plenty of Water
If you happen to eat or drink something that suddenly increases your urinary urges or frequency, drink plenty of water. The water will dilute the effect of the bladder irritants and reduce urine acidity.

Experimenting with Diet Modification
Once you remove all the offending foods and beverages from your diet, you will probably find that your symptoms of urinary urgency and frequency improve. This usually occurs within a few weeks of changing your diet. Once your symptoms improve, you can experiment by adding single foods or beverages back into your diet, noting which ones irritate your bladder and which do not.

Some people find immediate relief from this kind of diet modification, while others find this type of program too difficult to follow over a long period of time. Regardless, diet modification is a proven conservative therapy for women’s urinary incontinence, especially those with urge or mixed incontinence.
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

How Much Water Should You Drink if You Have Women’s Urinary Incontinence?

This blog is part 5 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

Good question. The answer? It depends …

Many women with urinary incontinence think that they can decrease urinary leakage by severely cutting back on the amount of water they drink. Sadly, this doesn’t work. In fact, drastically reducing water intake can actually worsen symptoms of urinary incontinence. Drinking too little water leads to dehydration, which can worsen urinary incontinence symptoms for two reasons:

  1. lack of fluid concentrates the urine–this can irritate the bladder
  2. concentrated urine has a stronger odor, making leakage accidents more noticeable

So how much water should you drink to avoid worsening your symptoms? First, don’t operate under the misconception that drinking way less water will improve your urinary incontinence symptoms. Second, avoid drinking excessive amounts of water for the simple reason that “what goes in must come out.” If you already suffer from urinary incontinence, drinking too much water increases your chances of having a urinary leakage accident. Plus, you’ll find yourself perpetually in the bathroom!

How Much Water Should You Drink?
Many women with urinary incontinence are stuck between a rock and hard a place when it comes to the topic of water intake. They have to drink enough water to stay hydrated, yet they also have to avoid drinking too much water. What’s a woman to do?

The truth of the matter is that the “right” amount of water is going to be different for each woman. Most women with urinary incontinence find that their symptoms remain the same if they drink between six and eight cups of water daily. This amount of water keeps them hydrated while preventing too many trips to the bathroom.

If you are either underweight or overweight, you may need to adjust the amount of water you drink accordingly. A good rule of thumb is to drink water in ounces equal to half of your body weight. For instance, if you weigh 110 pounds, drink 55 ounces of water daily.

Another good rule of thumb is to drink enough water so that your urine is light yellow to clear. When it comes to how much water you should drink to avoid irritating your bladder, let the color of your urine be an indicator.

Try Timed Fluid Intake to Get Your Full Day’s Supply of Water
Some women drink the “right” amount of water for their body weight, but still find that their urinary incontinence symptoms are aggravated by their water intake. Timed fluid intake can help. Timed fluid intake simply means that you drink the majority of your water in the morning, and then gradually scale down your intake until about 6 pm. Stop drinking all fluids past 6 pm. This will prevent nocturia, or the urge to get up and urinate during the night, as well as leakage accidents at night. If you feel thirsty later in the day or at night, use sugar-free candies to keep your mouth moist.

It’s Not How Much But What You Drink That Matters
Women with urinary incontinence worry about the amount of water they should drink daily. But these same women often fail to think about what they drink besides water. While water hydrates the body and is actually healthy when taken in the right amounts, other fluids can worsen symptoms of urinary incontinence. Women with urinary leakage should avoid:

  • caffeine: stimulates and irritates the bladder, acts as a diuretic
  • alcohol: causes dehydration, reduces neurological control over the bladder
  • carbonated beverages: irritates the bladder, often also contains caffeine

Hopefully this article has helped you figure out how much water you should drink for you specific situation, as well as which fluids to avoid. In addition, drinking water at the right time of day can have a big impact on the severity of your urinary incontinence symptoms!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Embarrassed by Urine Leakage? How Quitting Smoking Can Reduce Bladder Spasms

This blog is part 4 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

Did you know that smoking is one of the worst culprits when it comes to women’s urinary incontinence, especially those uncontrollable bladder spasms that cause embarrassing urine leakage!

If you smoke, you probably already know that it is one of the least-healthy activities you can do. For instance, women who smoke have four times the risk of developing bladder cancer. Not good. If you are a woman who smokes and suffers from bladder spasms and/or urine leakage, then you are definitely doing yourself a disservice.

The Link Between Smoking and Urine Leakage
Smoking is a risk factor for all three types of women’s urinary incontinence:

  • stress
  • urge (or overactive bladder)
  • mixed

With stress urinary incontinence, the pelvic floor muscles are too weak to hold urine in the bladder when abdominal pressure increases, such as when you cough or sneeze. If you smoke for a long period of time, chances are high that you will develop a chronic smoker’s cough. Each time you cough, you put immense downward pressure on your pelvic floor muscles. As time passes, this constant downward pressure will result in weakened pelvic floor muscles, and eventually urine leakage. Studies show that women who smoke are twice as likely to develop symptoms of stress urinary incontinence.

If you have urge urinary incontinence (also called overactive bladder), you experience frequent and sudden urges to urinate, whether or not you leak urine. These sudden urges are caused by bladder spasms which force urine out of your body when you least expect it. Smoking only worsens these bladder spasms since nicotine is a bladder irritant. More bladder spasms equal a greater frequency and urge to urinate.

With mixed urinary incontinence, you experience the symptoms of both stress and urge urinary incontinence. That means if you smoke, your symptoms will be doubly difficult to handle. In addition to bladder spasms from the nicotine, you can experience leakage every time you cough, sneeze, or exercise. More importantly, women who smoke are 28 percent more likely to develop some form of urinary incontinence!

The moral of this story should be crystal clear: if you want to avoid urine leakage, bladder spasms, and all other symptoms of urinary incontinence, stop smoking! If you feel you cannot stop smoking on your own, ask your doctor for help. Many smoking cessation methods are now available, and can provide the support you need to stop smoking today, and relieve your symptoms of urinary incontinence.

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Tired of Being Publicly Humiliated by Women’s Urinary Incontinence? Bladder Retraining Can Help

This blog is part 3 of an 11 article series of 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. Get the full list of all 11 New Year’s resolutions HERE.

Browse any online forum about women’s health, and you will likely come across the subject of women’s urinary incontinence. While other women’s health issues certainly have their own aspects of pain, the women posting in the urinary incontinence forum use some very strong phrases that definitely describe their pain and suffering. See if any of these adjectives resonate with you, especially when you suffer from a urinary leakage accident in public:

  • soooo embarrassed
  • terribly confused
  • hate that ‘wet pants’ look
  • humiliated in public … can never return to that store
  • everyone was staring … wished I could just disappear
  • detest owning 30 pairs of panties and carrying a good supply in public
  • feel so alone and isolated

If any of the above phrases ring a bell with you, especially the last one about ‘being alone,’ we know exactly how you feel. We also know, as a urologist and physical therapist specializing in women’s pelvic health, that you are most definitely not alone! We have helped many women with the exact same problem–and same kind of suffering–and helped them get past that humiliating public urine leakage accident.

That’s why we are writing this 11-part series on lifestyle changes that may significantly improve your urinary leakage issues. The key is to be persistent in your approach to relieving your symptoms. You can and should try some or all of the approaches discussed in this series. Some women respond well to one type of lifestyle change, while other women need a combination of multiple approaches before they see results. Finally, seek out a compassionate medical professional for a diagnosis and assistance.

In this article we talk about how to use a bladder diary so you can truly track your symptoms, since you can’t cure your urinary incontinence until you know specifics of your condition, down to the last detail. We then discuss how you can use bladder retraining, based on the information you learned from your bladder diary, as a conservative technique to relieve women’s urinary incontinence symptoms.

Keeping a Bladder Diary
The bladder diary (or voiding diary) is exactly what it sounds like: it is a record of your bladder habits. You may think you know absolutely everything about your condition, but when you start keeping a bladder diary, you may be surprised. Many women fail to notice crucial details of their urinary habits, and are surprised at how often they need to urinate, how many times a day they have strong urges, or the amount of water they drink. Most of these details fall by the wayside when there is a humiliating public leakage accident, or are simply filed under the category of “that happens a lot.” With a bladder diary, you will discover just how much is “a lot.” You will need these details so you can design a bladder retraining program that is customized to your unique condition.

To keep a bladder diary, simply track the following for a minimum of a week:

  • when, how much, and what kinds of fluids you drink (all fluids, especially caffeinated fluids)
  • when and how many times you urinate during the day
  • when and how many times a day you experience strong urges to urinate, whether you urinate or leak urine
  • how many times a day you experience leakage and how much you leak
  • the triggers that cause you to leak urine or experience strong urges (such as coughing or sneezing, hearing the sound of running water, or lying in bed)

Also record any other health issues you experience, even if you think they are not related to your urinary incontinence. Your doctor will want to know about these, as some may be caused by medications you take for other health conditions, or other lifestyle issues. Once you have at least a week’s worth of data, proceed to the next step: designing your customized bladder retraining program.

Designing Your Custom Bladder Retraining Program
Just as not all women start doing Kegels with the same level of intensity, your bladder retraining program should also be customized to your specific needs. A custom Kegel program is based on a woman’s current level of pelvic floor muscle fitness, including how long she can hold a correct contraction plus how many repetitions she can do. Your custom bladder retraining program will be based on how long your bladder can hold urine before you must urinate or have a leakage accident.

Bladder retraining is most effective if you have urge urinary incontinence (also called overactive bladder or OAB) or mixed urinary incontinence. The goal of this conservative therapy is to learn to delay your urination after you get the urge to urinate. Bladder retraining does work. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, women who practice this method notice the following improvements:

  • increased amount of urine the bladder can hold
  • better control over the urge to urinate
  • more time (or delay) between bathroom visits

These improvements can definitely help prevent those embarrassing public leakage accidents. What’s even better is that bladder retraining is not a difficult technique to learn or use. Simply use the following steps to start retraining your bladder today.

1. Determine Your Urination Interval
The goal of bladder retraining is to delay your trips to the bathroom to urinate so that you urinate once every two to three hours during the day (this is considered a “normal” voiding interval). If possible, bladder retraining should also help you avoid trips to the bathroom at night so you can experience uninterrupted sleep until morning. In short, bladder retraining gives you control of your bladder by having you urinate on a schedule.

Before you can set a schedule, you need to first determine the current interval between trips to the bathroom to urinate. For most women we recommend setting the interval at one-and-a-half hours. However some women cannot hold their urine for this long in the beginning. To determine your customized interval, look through your bladder diary and calculate the average amount of time between trips to the bathroom. You will use this average interval in the next step.

2. Increase Your Urination Interval with Timed Voiding
Once you have this average, add 5 to 10 minutes to this interval to arrive at your starting interval. For instance, if your bladder diary tells you that your average interval is normally 45 minutes, set your starting interval at 50 or 55 minutes. That means you will attempt to hold your urine and avoid trips to the bathroom for 50 to 55 minutes. Once the interval has ended, go to the bathroom and urinate, whether you need to or not. This process is called timed voiding, and is the basic technique behind bladder retraining. This process trains your bladder to release urine only when you choose, according to your own schedule.

Most women need to set a timer, especially at the beginning, to remind them when the interval has ended. If you feel the urge to urinate before the interval is complete, try one or more of these techniques to delay urination:

  • relax and breathe in a deliberate manner
  • sit quietly, avoid moving or fidgeting
  • visualize a tranquil scene (without water)
  • think about another topic to distract your attention
  • do a series of Kegels if you know you can do a correct contraction

If you still cannot hold your urine until the interval is over, don’t worry. Run for the bathroom. When you return, reset your timer and start again. Bladder retraining, like any learned technique, takes practice so don’t worry if you can’t make it to the end of the interval the first few times. Once you are able to consistently hold your urine during your chosen interval, stretch the interval by 5 to 10 minutes at a time until you reach the goal of two to three hours.

3. Once in the Bathroom Empty Your Bladder Completely
One of the keys to successful bladder retraining is to empty your bladder completely when you do finally urinate. Some women do not fully empty their bladders when they urinate, and this can interfere with the success of bladder retraining. To ensure that your bladder is completely empty, urinate until you feel your bladder is empty. Wait 10 seconds, and then lean forward. Try to urinate again. You may be surprised by the amount of urine that was still in your bladder. By leaning forward, you change the angle of your pelvic organs, especially the bladder neck, which allows any remaining urine to be released.

Coping with Women’s Urinary Incontinence Requires Patience and Persistence
Patience and persistence are the two “P’s” of success when coping with this humiliating, embarrassing, and downright inconvenient condition. As you commence your bladder retraining program, practice both patience and persistence. Be patient with yourself when you don’t make the interval or continue to suffer from leakage accidents. Retraining takes practice. Be persistent, as well. Stick to your voiding schedule like clockwork. We suggest you stick with your bladder retraining program for at least 40 days.

Continue logging your results in your bladder diary. Your bladder diary will help you notice even minor improvements in bladder control, and these changes should be celebrated! Any increase in bladder control is worth the effort that goes into a bladder retraining program. Also remember that bladder retraining is only one of many conservative therapies for women’s urinary incontinence. If bladder retraining doesn’t relieve your symptoms to your satisfaction, consider trying a combination of therapies (read all about them in this complete guide).

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to check out our book, leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Women’s Pelvic Health: 11 New Year’s Resolutions That Actually Work!

Happy New Year! The New Year is always a great time to give thanks for all the gifts in our lives, and also the perfect time to look at ways in which we could improve certain areas of our lives. Hence the practice of making New Year’s resolutions.
New Year’s resolutions can be great motivators, especially when it comes to life goals or lifestyle changes. Many people look forward to making New Year’s resolutions with joy and hope. But for those whose resolutions have failed to live up to expectations in the past, there can be some anxiety about setting yet another resolution that might not work.
But don’t worry … be happy this New Year, especially if you are a woman and suffer from any symptoms of poor pelvic health! Why? Because in the coming days we are going to give you 11 New Year’s resolutions that actually work and WILL improve your pelvic health. These simple lifestyle changes can improve symptoms of all forms of urinary incontinence, as well as symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse and decreased sexual sensation. Plus, we will help you set yourself up for success with extra tips and techniques for staying focused on your resolutions throughout the year.
Sound good? Then listen up — here are the 11 lifestyle changes that we will be discussing in the next days and weeks:
1. At-Home Pelvic Floor Retraining
2. Pelvic Floor Retraining with a Physical Therapist
3. Keeping a Bladder Diary and Bladder Retraining
4. Smoking Cessation
5. Timed Fluid Intake
6. Diet Modification — Avoiding Certain Foods and Beverages
7. Diet Modification II — How to Avoid Constipation
8. Diet Modification III — What to Do When You Go Off Your Diet Plan
9. Weight Loss and Management
10. Acupuncture as a “Middle of the Road” Solution
11. Percutaneous Nerve Stimulation and Other Conservative Measures
Have a great New Year’s Day and keep your eyes and ears open for blogs and video blogs on these great upcoming New Year’s resolutions!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Women’s Pelvic Health: The Best Gift You Can Give Yourself!

When it comes to women’s health, pelvic health is often a matter of “out of sight, out of mind”! Unlike saggy underarms, facial wrinkles, or body fat, our pelvic organs do not act as visible motivators for us to change our lifestyles to improve our health. But women’s pelvic health does matter–a lot! This is especially true since poor pelvic health can lead to women’s urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, or decreased sexual sensation.

The fact of the matter is that you may have poor pelvic health and not even know it until symptoms show up suddenly in your life!

Women’s Pelvic Health: Treat Yourself Right This Holiday
In our fast-paced world, we are often advised to “treat ourselves right” by meditating, getting a massage, or reading a good book. In other words, we need periods of time in which we slow down and smell the roses if we want to stay healthy and fit. These are considered little gifts that we give to ourselves so that we can remain vibrant and healthy in our lives.

All of these are great gifts, and we would like to suggest one more to consider: get a pelvic exam!

While shoving one’s legs into those metal stirrups for a pelvic exam does not SEEM like a great gift to yourself (who actually enjoys that kind of experience?), this kind of preventative exam can really be a gift that keeps on giving. A pelvic exam can determine whether all of your pelvic organs are still in place or whether they have “fallen” or prolapsed. This kind of exam can also determine what type of urinary incontinence you have if you have started experiencing some urinary leakage on occasion. If your sex life isn’t what you want it to be, a pelvic exam can also reveal whether your pelvic floor muscles are weak, thus decreasing sexual sensation and enjoyment.

“But I don’t have any problems down there!” you wail, hating the thought of those cold stirrups. The truth is that you may or may not know about problems in your pelvic area. Only a thorough pelvic exam can reveal the state of your pelvic health. For instance, a high percentage of women (some experts estimate more than 70%) have prolapsed organs and don’t even know it. Other women experience less-than-pleasurable sex because their pelvic floor muscles lack tone and strength. But these women would not KNOW that they had a problem without a pelvic exam.

Women’s Pelvic Health: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
If you really want to treat yourself right this holiday season, give yourself the gift of pelvic health. Call your ob/gyn or urologist to schedule a pelvic exam for the first of the year. The exam, uncomfortable as it might be, will tell you what you need to know about the state of your pelvic organs. Depending on what is revealed, the exam can also inspire you to set some worthy New Year’s Resolutions that will benefit not only your pelvic health, but your whole life. Examples include weight loss, smoking cessation, avoiding certain foods or beverages, and getting toned and fit all over (inside and out).

If you are still not convinced that a pelvic exam is a great gift for yourself, consider these benefits. A pelvic exam can:

  • open the door for you and your doctor to have an honest discussion about your pelvic health
  • reveal any potential problems with your pelvic organs
  • help you handle any potential problems before symptoms, such as urinary leakage or serious prolapse, occur
  • inspire you to exercise your pelvic floor muscles, which can improve your experience in the bedroom
  • assist you in resolving any symptoms of poor pelvic health that may have already appeared (such as light urinary leakage)
  • give you a baseline against which you and your doctor can compare future exams, ensuring your future pelvic health
  • motivate you to live a healthier lifestyle

Those are seven great reasons to make an appointment for a pelvic exam. These seven great gifts will keep your pelvic organs healthy as you move through many more holidays, especially as you experience life changes such as pregnancy, aging, travel, getting serious about exercise, and so forth.

So have yourself a happy holiday and give yourself the gift of pelvic health (or at least an appointment to check your health) before the New Year arrives … that way you will definitely have something to celebrate when you ring in the New Year!

If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to leave a comment, contact us, download our free ebook, or interact with us on Twitter and Facebook.