Incontinence & Overactive Bladder Health Center
Topic Overview
Urge incontinence is caused by an overactive bladder muscle that pushes urine out of the bladder. It may be caused by irritation of the bladder, emotional stress, or brain conditions such as Parkinson's disease or stroke. Many times doctors don't know what causes it.
What are the symptoms?
The main symptom of urinary incontinence is the accidental release of urine.
If you have stress incontinence, you may leak a small to medium amount of urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, exercise, or do similar things.
If you have urge incontinence, you may feel a sudden urge to urinate and the need to urinate often. With this type of bladder control problem, you may leak a larger amount of urine that can soak your clothes or run down your legs.
If you have mixed incontinence, you may have symptoms of both problems.
How is urinary incontinence diagnosed?
Your doctor will ask about what and how much you drink. He or she will also ask how often and how much you urinate and leak. It may help to keep track of these things for 3 or 4 days before you see your doctor.
Your doctor will examine you and may do some simple tests to look for the cause of your bladder control problem. If your doctor thinks it may be caused by more than one problem, you will likely have more tests.
How is it treated?
Most bladder control problems can be improved or cured.
Treatment for stress incontinence includes:
- Doing Kegel exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. It is one of the best ways to improve stress incontinence.
- Using a removable device called a pessary (which is placed inside the vagina). It can help reduce stress incontinence by putting pressure on the urethra.
- Taking medicines, but they may have bothersome side effects.
- Having surgery to support the bladder or move it back to a normal position, if other treatment doesn't help.
For urge incontinence, your doctor may:
- Suggest behavior changes to fix the problem. For example, bladder training helps you to increase how long you can wait before you have to urinate.
- Prescribe medicine to treat urge bladder problems.
If you have more than one kind of bladder control problem, first your doctor will treat the one that bothers you the most. Then he or she will treat the other cause, if needed.
Your doctor may suggest things you can do at home, such as going to the bathroom at set times and completely emptying your bladder when you urinate.
It may also help to cut back on caffeine drinks, such as coffee, tea, or sodas.
How can you prevent urinary incontinence?
Strengthening your pelvic muscles with Kegel exercises may lower your risk for incontinence.
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise
Urinary Incontinence Women's Guide
ENABLEX is a prescription medicine used in adults to treat the following symptoms due to a condition called overactive bladder:
- · having a strong need to go to the bathroom right away (also called "urgency")
- · leaks or wetting accidents (also called "urinary incontinence")
- · having to go to the bathroom too often (also called "urinary frequency")
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
You should not take once-daily ENABLEX if you have certain types of stomach problems, glaucoma, or have trouble emptying your bladder. Side effects of ENBLEX include blurred vision, and more commonly dry mouth, constipation, indigestion, and abdominal pain. Use caution when doing certain activities until you know how ENBALEX affects you.
Indication
Uroxatral® (alfuzosin HCl 10 mg extended-release tablets) is an alpha1-blocker for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of BPH.
Important Safety Information
Do not take UROXATRAL if you have liver problems or if you are taking antifungal drugs like ketoconazole or itraconazole, or HIV drugs like ritonavir.
UROXATRAL can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, especially when starting treatment. This may lead to fainting, dizziness, and lightheadedness. Do not drive, operate machinery, or do any dangerous activity until you know how UROXATRAL will affect you. This is especially important if you already have a problem with low blood pressure or take medicines to treat high blood pressure. There may be an increased risk of low blood pressure and fainting when taking UROXATRAL in combination with blood pressure medication or nitrates, or erectile dysfunction medication.
If considering cataract surgery (clouding of the eyes), tell your eye surgeon that you are currently taking UROXATRAL or have previously been treated with an alpha-blocker.
Before taking UROXATRAL, tell your doctor if you have kidney problems.
Also, tell your doctor if you or any family member(s) have or take medications for a rare heart condition known as congenital prolongation of the QT interval.
BPH and prostate cancer can cause the same symptoms. However, UROXATRAL is not a treatment for prostate cancer.
The most common side effects with UROXATRAL are dizziness, upper respiratory tract infection, headache, and tiredness.
Please see UROXATRAL full prescribing information.
