Many women suffer from female urinary incontinence at some point in their lives. A condition that leads to lack of bladder control, urinary incontinence is a common and, unfortunately, a highly embarrassing health problem. However, the challenges experienced are usually dependent on the severity of the condition. Severe cases of this condition usually range from occasional urine leakage whenever a person coughs or sneezes or a sudden and strong urge to urinate that one can hardly make it to the toilet on time. When do you know it is time to seek female urinary incontinence treatment? It is the right time as soon as you realize that it is affecting your daily activities. In most instances, medical treatments or a simple lifestyle change can help stop or even your discomfort.
Treatment options for urinary incontinence
There are a number of ways through which female urinary incontinence treatment is approached. The form of treatment used is usually dependent on what caused your condition. For starters, if there is an underlying condition, which is usually the case sometimes, you will receive treatment for that condition first before progressing to treat incontinence. Sometimes, there are various conditions leading to incontinence. In such a case, the most significant underlying condition is usually treated first. For instance, among the men, an underlying condition could be an enlarged prostate gland. In this case, therefore, there is no standard treatment for this highly embarrassing condition. The best treatment will be dependent on the cause of your incontinence.
Generally, patients of this problem are exposed to differing types of medical treatments. There are conservative forms of treatment that do not necessary involve medication or even surgery. These conservative methods are normally tried first before opting for medical related treatment options. The most commonly used treatments include the following:
1. Behavioral training
2. Lifestyle changes and pelvic floor muscle training
3. Medicines
4. Medical devices
5. Medical surgery
Behavioral training usually involves activities such as timed urination and bladder training. Patients are put under some form of therapy meant for training their bladder or timing urination intervals. This is achieved by slowly increasing the amount of time that you can hold your bladder before urinating. Pelvic floor exercise usually helps in strengthening some of the muscles that are responsible for controlling the flow of urine. This form of treatment can be used on women suffering from any type of incontinence. Lifestyle changes involve activities such as losing weight for patients who are overweight, reducing intake of caffeine and drinking around one to one and half liters of fluid each day. Drinking too little or too much could affect the lower urinary tract.