Urine leakage

Urine leakage

Urinary leakage means the inability to hold urine. It is most women who get urine leakage, but many men are also bothered. Pelvic floor exercises are often useful for urinary leakage. Various aids are available at the pharmacy so that you can maintain an active and social life.

Causes of urine leakage

There are several different causes of urine leakage, including:

• Pregnancy and childbirth

• Menopause

• Natural aging weakening of the pelvic floor muscles

• Side effect of a medicine

• Lack of hormone secretion (bedwetting)

• Enlarged prostate

• Urinary tract infection

Different types of urine leakage

There are several forms of urine leakage. These have different causes, symptoms and forms of treatment.

-Stress leakage (stress incontinence) is the most common form of urine leakage and occurs mainly due to increased pressure on the urinary bladder. Strain leakage can occur during pregnancy, after birth, with obesity, with hard training or when the pelvic floor muscles are weakened due to injury, surgery or as a result of natural ageing.

With stress leakage, small amounts of urine come out each time, and you do not feel the urge to empty your bladder. Typical situations where you are unable to hold your urine are, for example, heavy lifting, exercise, coughing, sneezing or laughing. The pain can be reduced or disappear with the help of pelvic floor training.

-Overactive bladder (urgy incontinence) is most common among older women, but occurs in both women and men of all ages. It is experienced as a sudden, strong urge to urinate and one has no control over the urinary bladder. The toilet is visited frequently, and sometimes you don't make it in time. The amount of urine is large each time, in contrast to stress incontinence. Read more about overactive bladder.

Mixed incontinence is a mixture of stress and urge incontinence and occurs most often among women.

-Overflow leakage (drip incontinence) affects both men and women, but is most common among men, especially with an enlarged prostate. Overflow leakage is characterized by small amounts of urine dripping all the time.

Good advice for urine leakage

• Drink at least 1.5-2 liters of liquid a day. This helps to maintain a good bladder capacity. Drink more when it's hot and in connection with physical activity.

• If you are bothered by urine leakage or visits to the toilet at night, you should drink less in the evening.

• Reduce your intake of coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcohol, as these have a diuretic effect.

• Ensure regular toilet habits, and do not stay too long (except when this is part of bladder training). Also, do not empty the bladder too often or for safety reasons.

• Do pelvic floor exercises daily.

• Good hygiene is important, among other things to avoid soreness and urinary tract infections. Use soaps with a low pH. It is recommended not to overdo the washing.

• Topical estrogen therapy (over the counter) can help older women who have urinary leakage.

• It is important to watch your weight, as obesity can cause increased pressure on the pelvic floor.

• If you use more than three pads a day, consider switching to a pad with higher absorbency.