Bladder Control Problems in Young Women

A bladder control problem is also known as urinary incontinence. This condition doesn't occur in just older women. It can happen in younger women too. There are four types of bladder control problems. These bladder problems are stress incontinence, overactive bladder, mixed incontinence and overflow incontinence. When urinary incontinence happens it can occur during laughing, coughing or sneezing. A woman may feel a little dribble of urination to a flow that wets clothing. Women are often embarrassed by this condition and feel emotional stress. It can also interrupt their quality of life. However, there are treatments out there that treat urinary incontinence.

Stress Incontinence

• Stress incontinence occurs when the pelvic muscles are stretched and damaged. This often happens in women during pregnancy and child birth. During this bladder control problem, stress can occur to the bladder like coughing, laughing or sneezing. A woman may feel a dribble of urine when one of these actions take place.
  Stress incontinence can also be caused from young, active women who participate in high impact sports such as running or gymnastics. The occurs because women hit the ground hard. This causes damage to the pelvic muscles as well as the connective tissue to the bladder. Also, genetics may play a factor as well as overweight issues.

Overactive Bladder

• Overactive bladder is caused by muscles spasms in the bladder. It is almost like stress incontinence but different in that women, both young and old, often feel a strong frequent urge to urinate. When this occurs, women usually only have a few seconds to about a minute before an accident occurs. This type of bladder problem can also be caused in women who have Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or a urinary tract infection.

Mixed Incontinence

• This type of bladder problem occurs from a mixture of incontinence. The two most common form of mixed incontinence is stress and overactive bladder. Young women may suffer from this type and often seek medical advice on controlling this type of bladder problem.

Overflow Incontinence

• Overflow incontinence occurs when a woman doesn't completely empty the bladder during urination. This causes her to feel a constant dribbling of urine. Some young women who experience this type of bladder problem wear protective pads to prevent wetting clothes. Women who have nerve damage due to diabetes can often develop this type of bladder control problem.

Treatments

• There are a number of treatments that can be used to treat bladder control problems. They range from simple home exercises to surgery. One easy way to help build bladder control is through an exercise called Kegel exercises. Kegel exercises are performed by squeezing the vaginal muscles together. Once these muscles are squeezed, hold for about 10 seconds and then release them. Doing this for five minutes a day will help with bladder control. A woman may not begin noticing improvement until three or six weeks after doing the exercises.
  Medications may also be taken for problems of overactive bladder. These medications come from a family of drugs known as anticolinergics. These medications help relax the bladder muscles, preventing spasms. This keeps a woman from experiencing the frequent urge to go to the bathroom.
  Surgery may sometimes be performed especially when the bladder is no longer in the right position due to child birth. A surgeon makes an incision in the abdomen inches below the navel. The surgeon then secures thread to strong ligaments within the pelvis.This will then support the urethral sphincter. There are other surgeries performed as well for bladder control problems. Discuss with your doctor the problems and find if surgery is right for you or if less invasive methods can work.