Alternatives to Surgical Intervention for Urinary Incontinence

Incontinence is a problem that affects at least 10 million people in the U.S. Half of all women experience it at some point in life. Around 20 to 40 percent of sufferers have overactive bladder due to aging, urinary infections or spasms, prostate inflammation or enlargement or decreased muscle tone. There are many ways to treat incontinence without surgery, hopefully one of these will work for you.

Simplest Steps to Take

• The simplest steps you can take are modify your diet and cut out much of your caffeine intake, curb smoking and avoid drinking liquids at bedtime.

Exercises to Strengthen the Pelvic Muscles

• One reason for incontinence is loss of muscle tone due to childbirth, smoking, strain or aging. A good treatment is to exercise and strengthen the pelvic-floor muscles. One way to find the muscles involved is to stop the flow while urinating. The muscles that help to squeeze off the urethra are the ones that you will be using. Clench and release those muscles repeatedly, squeezing hard and holding them tightly for several seconds. Biofeedback is available for people who cannot feel the muscles or how to control them. It measures the tension in the relevant area to provide help with these exercises. There are electrical stimulation devices on the market as well.

Herbs

• There are herbs such as yarrow, agrimony or lady's mantle that act to tighten up the pelvic area. Horsetail helps to strengthen the urinary system by acting as a diuretic to flush out infection and also helps heal the urinary tract. Horsetail should not be taken for more than a month. If you need to take it for a longer period, discontinue it for a week then resume.

Medications

• There are many prescription medications available for incontinence due to over active bladder or enlarged prostate. For overactive bladder there is Detrol, Ditropan Enablex,Sanctura, Urispas and VESIicare. Flomax is a popular medication for problems caused by enlarged prostate. Some side effects of these medications are dry mouth, drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision. Consult your doctor for what will work best for you. Please pay attention to the side effects and the drug interactions for your own peace of mind and to make sure that these medications don't cause other problems.

Injections

• Injections into the sides of the urethra to help stop urine leakage are a big advance in incontinence treatment. Collagen is a bulking agent used mostly for stress incontinence. It thickens the area around the urethra to help keep the sphincter muscles closed. Collagen injection is the least expensive and most widely used of this type of treatments, but it requires repeat treatments every four months to a year. The benefit of an injection is that it does not require time off work to recuperate.

  The biggest breakthrough is a substance called Durasphere. It works in the same way as collagen, but it is made up of a type of carbon-coated beads suspended in a water-based gel; as yet does not require follow-up injections because it does not reabsorb into the body as collagen does.

  Botox injections have also been used successfully for incontinence due to bladder spasms and overactive bladder.

Devices

• The final step before surgery would be to try some of the devices available for incontinence. One such device is a pessary, an object inserted into the vagina to hold the bladder up to avoid leakage. Another device supports the bladder neck by raising it to restore its positioning to stop urine leakage. This has to be inserted daily. Urethral inserts and plugs are other options.Tthere are plugs for women and plug insert devices for men that help to block the urethra and stop leakage.

Special Note

• Drink lots of water to flush toxins out of the system. Caffeine, chocolate and smoking make urinary problems worse.