Post Operative Urinary Incontinence Treatment

Urinary incontinence is essentially a loss of control over your bladder. It may manifest as an inability to effectively empty your bladder, an increased urge to urinate or a constant leaking of urine, but it ultimately affects your way of life. While many cases of urinary incontinence are a direct result of age, it is also possible to experience bladder control issues as a complication of an operative procedure, like a hysterectomy or the surgical removal of cancerous tissue. Regardless of the exact cause, there are treatments available to help remedy this side effect of medical operations.

Self-Care

• As with almost any form of urinary incontinence, postoperative bladder issues can sometimes be treated with self-care measures, so talk to your doctor if you're currently experiencing any problems. To start off with a method of treatment, try to retrain your bladder after surgery. This usually entails a number of factors, such as set trips to the bathroom, actively delaying urination and consciously emptying your bladder.

  With set trips to the bathroom, establish a fixed routine of emptying your bladder instead of waiting for the urge to hit. Delaying urination (anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes when the urge hits) can help decrease the frequency of bathroom trips. Even consciously emptying your bladder, which is ultimately forcing yourself to the bathroom a second time after already urinating, can help potential leakage.

  While these retraining techniques can go a long way to helping incontinence, you may also need to start managing the amount of fluids you drink in a given day, especially liquids containing alcohol or caffeine. By reducing fluid consumption, less liquid is in your body that needs emptying. But, make sure to keep yourself properly hydrated with at least 64 oz .of fluid (preferably water) per day.

Physical Therapy

• If self-care doesn't help postoperative urinary incontinence, physical therapy may be necessary to alleviate your bladder problems. The most effective form of physical therapy is muscle contraction. To employ this method of treatment, imagine stopping your urine flow by pulling your pelvic muscles into you. You should feel a tightening not only within the penis or vagina but also within the abdomen, buttocks and thighs.

  Another form of physical therapy that seems to be beneficial for some people is stimulation of the pelvic floor muscles. In this form of treatment, electric impulses are targeted within the muscles of the pelvic floor to strengthen the area and to stop incontinence.

Other Professional Care

• As you work with either self-care or physical therapy, your doctor may recommend you use a medication to treat incontinence. An anticholinergic is one of the more common, but your doctor may prescribe an antidepressant or hormone to help control your bladder.

  In more severe or chronic cases of postoperative urinary incontinence, more aggressive forms of treatment may be necessary, such as urinary inserts, rings (for women) or slings (for men), to help support your bladder and to prevent leakage. Some people may need radiofrequency therapy to strengthen the weakened tissue causing incontinence. For others, a surgical procedure may be necessary to manually fix the urinary sphincter to control the incontinence.