Menopause is a natural part of aging for women, but there is no predictable pattern or timeline for the symptoms, doctors say. While hot flashes, irritability and weight gain are generally well known, symptoms like anxiety, hair loss, and incontinence can catch a woman by surprise and cause concern, even though they’re normal. Many myths… Continue reading 5 Signs That You’re Entering Menopause
Tag: Incontinence
Inadequate Regulation for Vaginal Mesh Products Has Exposed Women to Unnecessary Harms
Inadequate regulatory processes for vaginal mesh products used to treat stress incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse have exposed women to unnecessary harms, warn experts in an article published in The BMJ Open on December 7th 2017. A release from the publishrs notes that Professor Carl Heneghan at Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine and… Continue reading Inadequate Regulation for Vaginal Mesh Products Has Exposed Women to Unnecessary Harms
What Don’t We Know About Bladder Control?
Nearly 40 percent of older women and up to 35 percent of older men live with distressing urinary symptoms, including difficulty with bladder control and urinating (sometimes known as “voiding”), which often compromise quality of life and overall health. The lack of truly effective and safe therapies for these challenges stems from insufficient knowledge of… Continue reading What Don’t We Know About Bladder Control?
Managing Urinary Incontinence
Editor’s note: Bladder leakage, which can be caused by something as simple as a sneeze, is a common, annoying and even embarrassing condition for millions of women. But there are ways to manage and treat it. Here, the experts from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the National Institutes… Continue reading Managing Urinary Incontinence
Dealing with Incontinence in Alzheimer’s Patients
A person with Alzheimer’s disease may have other medical problems over time. These problems can cause more confusion and behavior changes. The person may not be able to tell you what is wrong. One problem, incontinence, means a person can’t control his or her bladder and/or bowels. This may happen at any stage of Alzheimer’s… Continue reading Dealing with Incontinence in Alzheimer’s Patients
How to Handle Urinary Incontinence
Sarah loves to spend time with her friends talking about her grandchildren and going to exercise classes with neighbors. But she’s started to have a problem that keeps her from getting out. It’s embarrassing, but lately Sarah hasn’t been able to get to the bathroom before she wets her pants. She doesn’t know what’s happening,… Continue reading How to Handle Urinary Incontinence
The Debate About Surgery for Stress Urinary Incontinence
A Cochrane systematic review published in July 2015 makes an important contribution to an ongoing debate about surgery for stress urinary incontinence. The paper will help women make more informed choices about treatment, according to a release from the publisher. Inserting a “mid-urethral sling”, a type of tape, to support the muscles of the bladder… Continue reading The Debate About Surgery for Stress Urinary Incontinence
Anticholinergic Drugs Linked to Risk Of Pneumonia in the Elderly
In a study of more than 3,000 older patients living in the community, not in nursing homes, taking commonly used medications with anticholinergic effects was associated with a significantly higher risk for developing pneumonia. The study was done by the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, Washington and published in March 2015 the Journal of… Continue reading Anticholinergic Drugs Linked to Risk Of Pneumonia in the Elderly
Got an Overactive Bladder?
If you have an overactive bladder, don’t despair. There are FDA-approved treatments that can help control your symptoms. People with overactive bladder have a bladder muscle that squeezes too often or squeezes without warning. This can lead to troubling urinary symptoms such as: The need to urinate too often (urinary frequency), which is defined as… Continue reading Got an Overactive Bladder?
Yoga to Help Control Incontinence
If you’re prone to bladder accidents, practicing a form of yoga may be the answer to regaining control. That’s the conclusion of a study published on April 25th 2014 in Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery, the official journal of the American Urogynecologic Society. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco report that a yoga training program designed to improve pelvic health can help women gain more control over their urination and avoid accidental urine leakage.
Watch: Avoiding Overactive Bladder During Menopause
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Dancing Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscles
Here's one more reason you should step out on the dance floor. If you're dealing with pesky urinary incontinence, busting a move could help put an end to the frequent trips to the bathroom, a new study says. Researchers had 24 elderly women incorporate a series of dance moves using a video game console into a physiotherapy program for strengthening pelvic floor muscles. Not only did the women notice less urine leakage, but they were also more likely to participate in the program.
Managing “Urge Incontinence”
By Judy Kirkwood
If you experience the urge to urinate day and night, even though you just went to the bathroom, you may have Overactive Bladder (OAB). A collection of urinary symptoms, the most prominent being an uncontrollable urge to urinate even though the bladder isn’t full, OAB affects millions of Americans. Although up to 40 percent of American women and 30 percent of men have been identified with OAB, there may well be more people who suffer from it because people don’t like to discuss this kind of problem.
Dr. Marie’s Help for Incontinence
A 2008 article in the New England Journal of Medicinearticle revealed that 25 percent of perimenopausal women and 40 percent of postmenopausal women report leakage of urine. ThirdAge medical expert Marie Savard, M.D., author of "Ask Dr. Marie," says that the main causes of this annoying condition are decreased estrogen levels and aging pelvic muscles that are losing strength. She adds that obesity can exacerbate the condition, as can asthma, diabetes, a chronic cough, and medications such as diuretics, antihistamines, and antidepressants.