LOSS OF BLADDER CONTROL !!INCONTINENCE !! IS IT RESTRICTING YOU! FREE YOURSELF

Loss of Bladder control or Incontinence is one concern which affects old age in great deal. This can completely change the lifestyle of an elder and make his /her life restricted to four boundaries. hesitation to step out of house due to fear of losing baldder control can be disasterous.

According to the National Association for Continence, one in five individuals over the age of 40 suffer from overactive bladder or urgency or frequency symptoms, some of whom leak urine before reaching a restroom

But one has to remember -“Incontinence is a common part of aging but it is never normal,” says Dr. Lisa Rosenberg, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh’s geriatric department. “Because it is so common, people think that they should accept it. In almost all cases, it is something a well-trained physician or nurse practitioner can help with. We can actually cure most of those people.” So what is needed is to see a doctor and get treatment done.

It can have different presentation in different people. Some of the presentations can be :

Urge

• Incontinence
  an urgent need to urinate resulting in the loss of urine before one arrives at the toilet it is caused by involuntary contractions of the bladder that the patient can simply not stop,”. Urge incontinence, also called overactive bladder, can be caused by strokes, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, or injuries. Conditions such as pelvic floor atrophy in women, prostate enlargement in men, or constipation in either sex can also lead to urge incontinence. So when patient presents with this , doctor will try and rule out all causes and find correct cause and then treat. So simply don’t accept this as you are old.
• Stress Incontinence
  This occurs when an increase in abdominal pressure overcomes the closing pressure of the bladder. Abdominal pressure rises when onecoughes, sneezes, laughs, climb stairs, or lift objects. According to Judith Veit, R.N., a nurse in the outpatient urology department at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, the bladder muscles of older people may be so weak that leaking can occur even when they get up out of a chair. Stress incontinence is more common in women due to pregnancy and childbirth, and a lack of estrogen in postmenopausal women can also cause muscular atrophy that may lead to the condition. Men who have enlarged prostates or who have had prostate cancer treatments or prostate surgery can also develop stress incontinence.
• Overflow Incontinence
  in this case patient frequently feel the need to go and often leak small amounts of urine. Rarely diagnosed, this occurs when one’s bladder never completely empties. This condition is often caused by an obstruction in the urinary tract system or by a bladder that either has very weak contractions or is unable to contract at all. Causes include an enlarged prostate or damage from prostate surgery, constipation, fecal impaction, and nerve damage from stokes or diabetes.
• Functional Incontinence
  This diagnosis describes incontinence caused by other disabilities. For example, if arthritis makes unzipping one’s pants difficult or a bad hip means a trip to the facilities takes longer than expected, accidents can ensue. Neurological disorders, stroke complications, Alzheimer’s disease or multiple sclerosis can also cause functional incontinence. Often the patient still feels the urge to void, but his mind cannot plan or carry out a trip to the bathroom.
• Mixed Incontinence
  Sometimes patients experience more than one type of incontinence. Usually patients have a combination of stress and urge incontinence, especially women. But people who have severe dementia, Parkinson’s disease, neurological disorders, or have had strokes can suffer from urge and functional incontinence.

Causes

1. Causes In men: In men, prostate problems can hamper urination
2. In women, prior pregnancies, childbirth, and the onset of menopause can lead to incontinence
3. Diseases in background: like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease
4. Drinking coffee or tea or taking prescribed medications can aggravate your bladder.

Urinary Incontinence Diagnosis

Many times elders are hesitant to share this concern ,but please come forward and share every health change you see in your body, as these are things can sometime have an underlying cause which is a major health concern and sometimes simple causes can be treated easily . see your physician first and he/she can take required plan of treatment or refer you to a urologist or neurologist I if needed. You can also choose alternative therapies like homeopathy if you have the facility for same.

Some tests which doctor might do:

• A urinalysis to rule out infection or blood in the urine
• Blood tests to check on kidney function, calcium and glucose levels
• A thorough discussion of one’s medical history
• A complete physical exam, including a rectal exam and a pelvic exam for women, and a urological exam for men
• Postvoid Residual

Treatments & Practical Management

After a diagnosis is made, a treatment for elderly urinary incontinence can include behavioral therapy, medications, medical devices, and surgery. “For the majority of the people in the community, it is 100 percent treatable. Most of the time, it’s a non-surgical treatment.

behavioral therapy includes : bladder training, scheduled bathroom trips, pelvic floor muscles exercises, and fluid and diet management. Here results are in proportion to patient compliance and there are no side effects.

Pelvic floor muscle exercises, called Kegels, strengthen the muscles that help regulate urination. Usually one needs to practice these a few times a day, every day, for the rest of one’s life-stopping can mean the return of incontinence.

Medications are frequently used in combination with behavioral therapies. Homeopathic medicines which can be useful for same are

Causticum  6c: for females with lax pelvic muscles, Pareirabrava mother tincture or Sabalserrulatamother tincture for  enlarged prostate . Other medicines useful are Thuja,  conium, secalecor, pulsatilla but potency and dosage will depend on patient case presentation and symptoms. There are other medicines as well which come in category of constitutional medicines which can help in incontienence to a great extent and medicine selection depends on patients detailed history.

Surgery

Surgery is an option that is usually only discussed after all other treatment options have been tried and in cases where structural obstruction is a cause. For women, sling procedures support the urethra by placing abdominal tissue or synthetic materials under the urethra. Complications include the inability to void temporarily after surgery.

• Women can also have a doctor inject collagen around the urethra, which is a two to three minute procedure. This fix typically lasts 3 months, so it must be repeated.
• For men (and infrequently for women) with stress incontinence, an artificial urinary sphincter can be implanted around the neck of the bladder. This fluid-filled, doughnut-shaped device holds the sphincter closed and is attached to a valve implanted in the testicles or labia. To urinate, one presses the valve twice and the bladder empties.
• A sacral nerve stimulator, which is a device implanted in the abdomen with a wire connecting to a nerve related to bladder function, is a fairly rare procedure, used in roughly .5 percent of the population, according to Smith. Electrical impulses transmitted from the device prompt the nerve, helping the bladder function.

Of course, the most important step is to seek professional medical help. If elderly urinary incontinence is keeping your loved one restricted to four boundaries and not let them enjoy life ,please note that this is a highly treatable condition. With the proper and appropriate treatment, your loved one will soon be enjoying that stroll in the park or a night out at the movies again.

About The Author

Dr. Geeta Rani Arora MD (Hom), BHMS, is a homoeopathic practitioner in Delhi, India with clinical experience for more than 15 years. Dr Geeta is presented many papers at national and international conferences and is also been a speaker at many seminars. She is treated thousands of patients for acute and chronic ailements from eczema, psoriasis , arthritis , asthma ,autoimmune disorders and also gives palliative treatment for severe conditions like cancer and other debilitating diseases. She can be contacted at healer.g@gmail.com. For appointment and consultancy call at 011-26431955, 91-9718063158