Urinary incontinence in women is uncontrollable and involuntary incontinence and is called urinary incontinence in the medical literature. Urinary incontinence in women can occur at any age, but it is more common in later ages. Urinary incontinence is considered a disease if it recurs continuously. On the other hand, urinary incontinence greatly disrupts the comfort of life of the person and moreover, it can cause social and psychological problems. Although urinary incontinence can be seen in both women and men, it is more common in women.
Normally, urine comes from the kidneys to the bladder in drops and is stored. In this storage phase, the pressure is low, the increased amount of urine is adjusted, the bladder outlet is closed, so there is no urinary incontinence. In the evacuation phase, the bladder muscles contract with sufficient force at the appropriate place and time, at the same time, the striated muscle that holds the urine relaxes, and the urine is emptied out with the appropriate pressure and flow. Meanwhile, the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system must work in harmony. Voiding disorders occur in the diseases that affect either the storage or evacuation phase mentioned above.
During the filling of the bladder, complaints such as frequent urination, night urination, urinary compression, urinary incontinence occur in the patient due to neurological diseases, trauma, inflammation. During the emptying of the bladder, neurological, bladder muscle-related, psychological reasons, such as delayed urination, forced voiding, and dripping at the end of voiding occur.
A good history should be taken from patients presenting with voiding disorder, a detailed examination should be performed, and diseases that may lead to this disorder should be revealed. Urinalysis and culture should reveal the presence of infection.
Who Gets Urinary Incontinence in Women?
It is common in those who have had multiple and difficult births, are obese, have diabetes, have a monotonous non-sports lifestyle, have COPD due to smoking and other reasons, and have frequent urinary tract infections.
Treatment of Urinary Incontinence in Women
The goal of treatment in voiding disorders should be protection of the kidney, prevention and control of infection, adequate storage and voiding with low pressure, as well as improving the social life of the patient by preventing urinary incontinence, ensuring acceptability and compatibility in business life.
For this, we must first establish the correct diagnosis. There are three main types of urinary incontinence;
Urg Incontinence: It is the inability to reach the toilet due to the abnormal behavior of the bladder detrusor muscle. These patients can fully regain their health with drug treatment.
Stress Incontinence: With the slightest increase in intra-abdominal pressure, they become incontinent due to the disorder in the urinary canal, and patients leak urine when sneezing, sneezing, laughing or suddenly getting up. The treatment method in these is surgery. TOT or TVT operations are extremely frustrating. They are short and simple operations and the patient regains his health after one day.
Mixed Type: They have both urg and stress type, and these patients need to be started on medication along with surgery.
We can add Behavioral therapy, Electrical stimulation and Keggel exercises to these treatments.
How can we avoid the disease: Continuous walking, not gaining weight, not smoking and a small number of comfortable births can protect us from this disease.