Stress Incontinence

Stress incontinence Do you suffer from Stress Incontinence?

*Do you leak when you cough, sneeze, exercise or laugh?
*Do you have to hurry to the toilet and don't always make it in time?
*Do you have to pass urine more often than you used to?
*Do you leak urine in your sleep?
*Does your bladder wake you up more than twice a night?
*Do you feel that you can't empty your bladder completely?
*Does your urine stream stop and start, and is the flow slower than it used to be?
*Do you have trouble controlling your bowels?
**For men, see also Prostrate

Stress Incontinence is more common than you think
Stress incontinence is the most common form of urinary incontinence and it’s estimated that approximately 3 million people in the UK are regularly incontinent, this is a about 4 in every 100 adult’s, over half of these are due to stress incontinence.

Stress incontinence becomes more common in older women and its thought as many as 1 in 5 women over the age of 40 have some degree of stress incontinence.
What is stress incontinence?

Stress incontinence comes about because of a sudden extra pressure or stress on your bladder. Urine then leaks because your pelvic floor muscles and urethra cannot withstand the extra pressure. Stress incontinence develops because the pelvic floor muscles are weakened and small amounts of urine may leak, occasionally it may be quite a lot and causes embarrassment. This may happen when you cough, laugh, or when you exercise.
What are the causes of stress incontinence?

The most common reason for the pelvic floor muscles to become weak is pregnancy and childbirth. Stress incontinence is more common in women who have had several children. Age is also a major factor as the muscles become weaker. Women who are obese are more likely to suffer from stress incontinence.
What are the treatments for stress incontinence?
The first step to consider is to strengthen the muscles, by improving your pelvic floor muscles. Approximately 6 out of 10 cases can be cured or much improved with this treatment. Surgery may be advised by your GP if the problem continues.

Pelvic Floor

The pelvic floor is a large sling (or hammock) of muscles stretching from side to side across the floor of the pelvis. It is attached to your pubic bone in front, and to the coccyx (the tail end of the spine) behind. It forms your "undercarriage". The openings from your bladder (urethra), your bowels (rectum) and for women your womb (vagina) and all pass through your pelvic floor.
What does it do?
· It supports your pelvic organs and abdominal contents, especially when you are standing or exerting yourself.
· It supports the bladder to help it stay closed. It actively squeezes when you cough or sneeze to help avoid leaking. When the muscles are not working effectively you may suffer from leaking ("urinary incontinence"), and/or urgent or frequent need to pass urine.
· It is used to control wind and when "holding on" with your bowels.
· It has an important sexual function, helping to increase sexual awareness both for yourself and your partner during sexual intercourse.

How to exercise your Pelvic Floor

You can do these exercises any time, any place - no one will know you're doing them. Practise them while you're sitting, standing and lying down. The most important thing is to do them every day.

Squeeze and release the muscles 15 times. Don't hold the contraction.

Start by doing one set of 15 squeezes twice a day. Concentrate on squeezing your pelvic floor muscles only, not your stomach and thighs. This will become easier with practice. (Some people say that sucking their thumb while doing it helps.)

Over time, gradually increase the number of repetitions until you can do 40 or 50 squeezes at a time.

Once you're comfortable doing 40 or 50, vary the exercise by holding each contraction for a count of three before releasing. Again, slowly increase the number of repetitions until you can do 40 or 50.

It may be six weeks before you start to feel the benefits listed above, but then you'll definitely notice them!

For more information click here

Your Prostate

What is the prostate?
The prostate is a fleshy organ, which is wrapped around the neck of the bladder like a ring doughnut or like a thick collar open at the front. It is made of glands and muscle. When a man has an orgasm, the prostate muscle squeezes fluid from the glands into the semen where it seems to energise the sperm.
Why do men get prostate trouble?
In boys and young men the prostate is tiny but for unknown reasons it gets larger later in life. The amount of enlargement varies from man to man, as do the problems that it causes. In most men this is an entirely benign process, which is so common that it can almost be considered a normal part of getting older. In a very small number of men there maybe a cancerous growth of the prostate. Because of its position, the enlarging prostate can throttle the outlet from the bladder (like tightening a collar) until it interferes with the flow of urine through the bladder outlet (urethra).