Incontinence And Aging Does Not Always Go Together

You might think that it sounds funny to have an accident but incontinence is only funny when it happens to someone else. A lot of people when they get older will have trouble with urine leakage. It can be from sneezing or even laughing. Because it causes embarrassment many people don't even want to discuss the issue with their doctor. Because people don't talk about it, it is much more common than most realize. It happens to both men and women, usually but not always after age 50.

There are many different issues that can cause urinary incontinence or loss of bladder control and there are a wide range of illnesses that can cause this problem including serious problems such as diabetes and prostate problems. A full range of issues can include any of the following: child birth or changes attributed to menopause, for men an enlarged prostate or prostate surgery, certain medicines, a build up of stools in the bowels, vascular disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Diabetes, and even being overweight or obese can cause this to occur. With such a wide variety of issues and illnesses that loss of bladder control can be contributed to it is definitely advisable to consult a health care provider about this issue. There are several different types of urinary incontinence that can occur.

When you have bladder leakage due to sneezing or laughing, that is referred to stress incontinence. It is normally attributed having weakness in the pelvic muscles. This is not something that should send you to the doctor. However if you suffer from what is called urge incontinence which simply means that you have to go so fast that you can make it to the bathroom. This can be caused by urinary tract infections and needs to be checked.

When you have overflow incontinence it just means that if there is something that is blocking your urinary flow such as an enlarged prostate then an overfilled bladder can leak. This could also be caused by a tumor and merits being checked out. People that are unable to get to the bathroom on their own because of a myriad of reasons suffer from what is simply known as functional incontinence.

While incontinence issues do tend to occur in people as they age they are not a normal part of aging. If you experience incontinence it is important to acknowledge the cause to take precautions to help avoid unnecessary embarrassing accidents. This is a very common health concern and should be discussed with your primary health care provider as soon as possible.