The Types of Stress Incontinence

Incontinence develops when the muscles that support bladder control become weakened, resulting in uncontrolled urination. Incontinence can be contributed to many factors, such as childbirth, prostate surgery, a urinary tract infection, age, medications or diabetes. You may experience incontinence when you sneeze, laugh, cough or do strenuous activity. There are many types of incontinence.

Stress Incontinence

• Stress incontinence isn't actually caused by mental stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition occurs as a result of some type of movement or activity that applies stress on your bladder. Within your bladder is a sphincter muscle. When this muscle becomes weakened, you can develop stress incontinence. For women, stress incontinence occurs primarily due to childbirth, pregnancy and menopause. For men, the condition may be the result of the removal of your prostate.

Urge Incontinence

• Urge incontinence occurs when you have the sudden need to urinate, and you have a loss of urine. According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, urge incontinence may happen due to your bladder's inability to properly contract. When you have urge incontinence, it may seem as if you need to use the restroom often, especially at night. Common factors for the condition include urinary tract infections, stroke, bowel complications, and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Overflow Incontinence

• Overflow incontinence is when you constantly leak urine. The constant leakage of urine occurs when your bladder is incapable of emptying itself completely. If you have weakened muscles within you bladder or a blocked urethra, you can develop overflow incontinence. Other contributing factors can include nerve damage as a result of diabetes, tumors or urinary stones. It is very uncommon for women to develop overflow incontinence.

Functional Incontinence

• It is common for older adults to suffer from functional incontinence. According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, if you suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer's, a mental impairment can restrict you from making it to the restroom. Arthritis can also restrict your ability to use the restroom, due to the inability of unfastening your pants quick enough.

Gross Total Incontinence

• If you have gross total incontinence, you continuously leak urine throughout the day and night, or you have periodic bouts of leaking mass quantities of urine. Gross total incontinence can develop due to your bladder's incapacity to hold urine. According to the Mayo Clinic, you can develop gross total incontinence due to a spinal injury, an injury to the urinary system or the development of a fistula. A fistula is an abnormal passage that occurs when an organ within your body develops a hole.

Other Types

• There are other types of incontinence, such as mixed and transient incontinence. Mixed incontinence is when you develop two types of incontinence. Women seem to suffer more from a combination of stress and urge incontinence. Transient incontinence is only a temporary type of incontinence. Transient incontinence can develop due to urinary tract infections, medications or impacted stools. Even having a cold can cause transient incontinence. However, once the symptoms of your cold have passed, such as coughing, transient incontinence will resolve itself.