Pee Problems?

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At my current practice I see a lot of women who have pee problems.

Pee problems? Yes. I am not talking about the normal bladder infection, because I see those all the time, but I am talking about pee problems. Like holding your pee, not being able to go when you want to, peeing too many times in the middle of the night, leaking pee at random times, pressure when you pee, not able to let all the pee out when you go... (okay, so I have said pee 8, no 9 times now, I will wrap it up.)

Back to my point. A lot of times, as women, our bladders don't work how we want them to. Some people blame this on childbirth... well, even women who have c-sections have urinary problems. Then you say, it is because of pregnancy... well, even women who have never been pregnant have bladder problems. Okay, maybe it is because of age... well, I have treated patients as young as teenagers for bladder problems.

Honestly, we are women. We have bladder issues and those of you who don't are very fortunate indeed. There are all sorts of studies out there showing you should do you "kegel" exercises. Some research now say you shouldn't do your kegel exercises but you should squat instead. When it all comes down to it, we need to identify the true problem before we can find an answer.

Stress Incontinence= (my very own definition) is when you leak urine when some sort of pressure or stress is placed on the bladder. Or pressure in the abdomen, which in turn places pressure on the bladder. Examples of this are coughing, sneezing, laughing, exercise, jumping on a trampoline, and even sex.

Urge Incontinence= is when you ignore that full bladder feeling for so long and for so many years (as many moms do) and then your body starts ignoring the full bladder sensation. Then your body is trained to only feel full right at the very last second and if you don't go to the bathroom right then you leak urine.

Very rough definitions and both of these conditions have variables and outliers and there can be a combination of the two. Sometimes people have problems because they don't empty their bladders completely when they use the bathroom. Often it takes a lot of shifting back and forth, leaning forward, and even coughing to empty all the way. The list goes on and on.

So whats the good news? There are answers. Not all of these problems require surgery. Sometimes bladder training and/or medication is enough to fix these problems. However, if surgery is needed there are many minimally invasive options. Ask your provider.

Questions? Ask me. I would love to write some follow up posts.