Treatment Of Urinary Incontinence

Treatment of urinary incontinence depends on the severity of the condition. Some urinary incontinence treatments involve little more than physical therapy and exercises while other treatments involve medication and surgery. Usually, your doctor will start you on a mild form of treatment for urinary incontinence, such as training your bladder, and only recommend more intense treatments should conservative methods fail.

One treatment of urinary incontinence is known as bladder training, where you seek to control your need to urinate immediately. You may learn to wait for ten minutes after you first get the urge to urinate. You may also learn to "double void" your bladder, where you urinate, then wait several minutes and urinate again, to make sure you've completely emptied the bladder. Some conservative treatments include scheduling trips to the bathroom and cutting down on the amount of liquid you consume. You may need to cut back on coffee and alcohol, as those beverages have a diuretic effect.

Treatment of urinary incontinence can also involve physical therapy. You may work with a therapist to build up your pelvic floor and urinary sphincter muscles. In more extreme cases, you may need to undergo electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor muscles. Your doctor will insert electrodes into your rectum, which can strengthen them muscles over time.

Certain medications, such as anticholinergics, are effective treatments of urinary incontinence. Anticholinergics can help calm a bladder than is overactive and can control incontinence that is caused by frequent and sudden urges. If the urinary incontinence is caused by an infection, you  may benefit from taking an antibiotic. In some cases, a certain antidepressant can effectively treat incontinence.

If none of the other treatments help you, you may need surgery to treat urinary incontinence. Your doctor may create a sling around the urethra and bladder that prevent it from opening under stress. If your urinary incontinence is related to prostate problems, you may receive an artificial urinary sphincter, which replaces a weakened sphincter.