bladder by coughing , sneezing , laughing , exercising or lifting something heavy .
Urge incontinence
There is a sudden , intense urge to urinate followed by an involuntary loss of urine . The patient may need to urinate often , including throughout the night . Urge incontinence may be caused by a minor condition , such as infection , or a more severe condition such as a neurological disorder or diabetes .
Overflow incontinence
Sufferers experience frequent or constant dribbling of urine due to a bladder that doesn ' t empty completely .
Functional incontinence
A physical or mental impairment keeps you from making it to the toilet in time . For example , in cases of severe arthritis , the client may not be able to unbutton their pants quickly enough .
Mixed incontinence
You experience more than one type of urinary incontinence - most often this refers to a combination of stress incontinence and urge incontinence .
There are several risk factors and / or causes for developing urinary incontinence , which include gender ( women are more predisposed ), age , certain food , drinks or medication , obesity , smoking , family history , urinary tract infections , constipation , pregnancy , childbirth , menopause , and tumors around the bladder , neurological disorders and men are also affected if they have an enlarged prostate or prostate cancer .
If cases are not managed well other than the obvious withdrawal from social interaction due to embarrassment from the symptoms , patients with urinary incontinence may develop skin problems from rashes to sores due to the constant contact with urine and like in the case of Mary repeated Urinary tract infections .
Prevention is always better than cure , though we can ’ t prevent all cases of urine incontinence . In pursuit of seeking ways to manage the risk of falling victim to this disease , it is imperative to maintain a healthy lifestyle with weight management , avoid alcohol and reduce intake of caffeine ,
quit smoking , practice pelvic floor exercises , eat more fibre to avoid constipation , and hydrate well to avoid recurrent urinary tract infections ( UTI ).
After seeing Mary , we treated her for a UTI and ordered some medication that relaxes an overactive bladder , sent her for physiotherapy together with our famous Kegels exercises ( pelvic floor exercises ) and Mary experienced great improvement in her symptoms . I left work that day feeling great ; at least we had managed to assist one lovely Kenyan .
Mary was very lucky as her symptoms were able to resolve with minimal medical management of her case . In more severe cases we may have to refer the patient to our urogynaecology colleagues . These are gynaecologists , who have subspecialized in treating problems associated with the urinary system in women . They would normally carry out a urodynamic test to help identify the exact type of incontinence and in some cases it would even be necessary to undergo surgery to resolve the problem .
The moral of the story is to anyone who is experiencing such symptoms and especially elderly women or men , it is not a normal thing to have incontinence and there is help available so that we can once again enjoy life to the fullest without having to have embarrassing leakages or wear diapers or pads to enable us to go about our daily activities .
Do have a pleasant month ahead as we await changes on the payment of NHIF as there are now 3 different bodies taking over that function . We are now officially in the Mambo Ni Matatu ecosystem !
Dr . Maureen Owiti is a practicing Obstetrician Gynaecologist and fertility consultant based in Nairobi . You can commune with her on this or related matters via email at : Drmaureenowiti @ gmail . com .