If you are having episodes of involuntary passing of urine then you probably have a condition known as urinary incontinence. This condition is more common in women but there are more and more men experiencing it as the male population ages. Incontinence is not a disease but rather a symptom of some underlying condition that has to be identified and treated before the condition can be cured or managed.
For that reason, your first step in controlling the condition has to be a visit to your doctor's office. He or she can diagnose which type or types of incontinence you have and recommend an appropriate treatment therapy. Treatment runs the gamut of simple changes in diet and lifestyle, to exercise, to medication and in extreme cases, surgery.
Depending on the type of incontinence that you have, and there are three major types, your incontinence could be caused by external stress on the bladder, misfiring nerves sending incorrect signals to the bladder, or a bladder that simply has forgotten how to function properly.
Your bladder is essentially a smooth muscle with two tubes at the top and one emptying tube at the bottom. If that muscle spasms and contracts uncontrollably, as in urge incontinence, then it will force urine through the bottom tube into the urethra and out of the body. If the muscles are weakened as they are in stress incontinency the bladder becomes vulnerable to outside pressures like a sneeze or a laugh. If the bladder simply can no longer fully empty itself, it's subject to overflow incontinence.
Regardless of the type of incontinency that you experience there are ways to control it. Urinary incontinence does not mean the end of the world as you know it. There are treatments and products that will allow you to continue your lifestyle with minimal interruption completely free from any embarrassing accidents.
Dryforlife.co.uk has been providing discreet information and products on urinary incontinence for over 40 years and is an authority in the field. If you have any questions about this condition please visit our site at http://incontinencehelp.dryforlife.co.uk/urinary-incontinence/2009/02/18/.
