Can Vitamin C Help With Bladder Incontinence?

Bladder incontinence is an irritating, frustrating, and interfering condition that affects thousands of people on a daily basis, interrupting life, fun, and daily activities. There are many theories and treatments available to help counteract and treat bladder incontinence, including the vitamin C theory. It's important to understand the particulars about bladder incontinence and vitamin C, as well as your other treatment options, causes, and lifestyle changes you can make to deal with this frustrating condition.

Background

• Bladder incontinence is the inability of the bladder to hold urine as well as it should. Sometimes, a little urine leaks when a sneeze, laugh, or cough occurs, while other times people do not make it to the rest room before it comes. The symptoms of bladder/urinary incontinence are obviously evident as soon as the problem starts, and includes anything from a small leaking of urine to a full-blown accident when a bathroom isn't reached in time.

Causes

• Persistent bladder incontinence can be caused by a number of things. Women are more likely than men to suffer from urinary incontinence. Causes include hysterectomy, pregnancy/childbirth, age changes, enlarged prostate or prostate cancer, bladder cancer, obstructions, or painful bladder syndrome. As well as these causes, there are some factors that will increase the chance that you will suffer from bladder incontinence, such as age, sex, smoking, weight, and additional diseases.

Vitamin C

• The idea that vitamin C will help bladder incontinence is based on the fact that infections of any kind in the urinary tract region will irritate and complicate urinary incontinence. Vitamin C has been known to help keep infections, illnesses, and diseases away with its medical benefits, and therefore is assumed to help bladder incontinence only in that it keeps infections away, reducing the chances of your problem worse.

Behavioral/Lifestyle Changes

• Your doctor may suggest any of several behavior or lifestyle changes to make to help deal with your bladder incontinence. These changes can help the interference of your condition in your daily life, and include taking care of your urinary region to avoid irritation from urine, making a safe and lighted path to the bathroom for nighttime urges, bladder training, scheduled bathroom trips, and fluid management. Though these are nice ways to help deal with bladder incontinence, they are generally most effective when combined with other medical treatment.

Medical Treatment

• Aside from ways to simply deal with your bladder incontinence, medical treatments can also be implemented to help improve and/or get rid of this condition. These include a number of things, like physical therapy (pelvic floor exercises), several medications, medical devices such as the pessary and urethral inserts, surgery, urinary incontinence pads, or catheters. Not all of these treatments may be needed if your case of incontinence is not severe enough to warrant them. Talking with your health care provider will help in making these choices.