The Best Cure for Male Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is ultimately a condition where you're no longer able to control the evacuation of your bladder. For men, some sort of prostate issue is typically the main cause of this condition, but you may also experience this troubling problem as a result of age, alcohol, infection, medication, spinal discrepancies or simple fluid consumption. To best cure this incontinence, it is highly recommended that you find the root cause of the problem, as treatment is often dictated by your specific diagnosis.

Infection

• When the incontinence is due to some sort of bacterial infection, as would be the case of a urinary tract infection or bacterial prostatitis, your doctor will usually prescribe a course of antibiotics to first rid the body of the bacteria. Antibiotics are taken by mouth over a specified period of time, normally anywhere between two and four weeks. Once the infection is cleared, the incontinence will often resolve itself.

Enlargement

• When the incontinence is due to an enlargement of the prostate gland, the best mode of treatment usually involves some sort of medication. Alpha blockers are the most common prescription medication, but you may also be given an enzyme inhibitor, or even a course of therapy, like microwave, laser or radiofrequency ablation, to reduce the size of your prostate. The exact course of treatment all depends on the severity of the enlargement within this gland, but once treatment begins, urinary incontinence becomes less and less of an issue.

Cancer

• When prostate cancer is the cause of urinary incontinence, treatment often involves your standard cancer treatments, like radiation therapy, hormone therapy or prostatectomy (removal of the prostate) to treat the cancer, followed with other forms of urinary therapy, like bladder "retraining" and fluid management, to cure the incontinence.

  Bladder retraining is a two-fold process in which you train the bladder by delaying urination for specified periods of time coupled with learning to fully empty your bladder each time you urinate. Over time, the incontinence often decreases to the point where you can regain control over your bladder.

  Fluid management is another effective method of treating incontinence after a prostate procedure. With this form of treatment, you decrease the amount of fluids you consume or change the type of fluids you consume to reduce the occurrence of incontinence. Or your doctor may recommend that you establish a set schedule for bathroom trips. In this situation, you wouldn't necessarily wait for the urge to urinate; you would instead go to the bathroom every couple of hours to empty the bladder, even if it is a small amount.

Spine

• If your urinary incontinence is due to some sort of spinal issue, like a ruptured or slipped disk, the mode of treatment usually entails remedying the discrepancy within the spinal cord. Modifying activities, using heat and cold therapies, and periodic bed rest as well as pain relievers and physical therapy often give the disk enough time to heal and thereby cure the incontinence. However, you may also need a surgical procedure to manually adjust the location of the disk and relieve the pressure causing the incontinence.

Other Issues

• When other issues result in urinary incontinence, the modes of treatment first involve the behavioral methods already mentioned, like bladder retraining, fluid management and scheduled bathroom trips, but are used in conjunction with medications and procedures to treat the underlying condition. For many men, a prescription of certain types of drugs, such as antidepressants or anticholinergics, can often lessen the urge to urinate and help better control the evacuation of the bladder. Others may need a surgical procedure to replace a weakened urinary sphincter or change the position of the bladder to stop urinary incontinence, so talk to your doctor about what options are right for you.