Four Kinds of Incontinence

Incontinence

There are four kinds of incontinence, urge, stress, functional and transient, and each has a different impact on the individual. This paper explains each one, differentiates between the four, and offers a short suggested treatment approach for each.

Stress Incontinence

Stress incontinence has to do with leaking urine during athletic activities or during general exercise. It also relates to leaking urine when a person is lifting something heavy, running, sneezing, laughing or coughing. This leaking usually stops in stress incontinence once the activity (sneezing, running, et al.) is finished. It is most common in women (National Guideline Clearinghouse), especially women who are carrying too much weight. However in women, stress incontinence may be slightly different than in men (New York Times Health). For females, there are several reasons why they experience stress incontinence: a) the urethra "fails to close and becomes overly movable" (referred to as urethral hypermobility); and b) the muscles around the "bladder neck weaken" (New York Times Health).

As a potential treatment for stress incontinence in women, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggest "Pelvic floor muscle training" through biofeedback; Kegal exercises (keeping muscles around the urethra strong); and using "vaginal cones" to strengthen muscles which may help women (www.nim.nih.gov). The NIH also suggests that women avoid jumping or running, drinking fewer fluids, and taking fiber to avoid constipation.

Transient Incontinence

The National Guideline Clearinghouse does not list transient incontinence as one of the four referenced in this paper, but Medscape (Gomelsky, et al., 2011) doctors explain that transient incontinence occurs in about one third of "community-dwelling elderly" people, and up to one half of "acutely hospitalized patients" -- in particular, older females. Given that transient incontinence may be caused by "delirium or a state of confusion from an underlying illness or medication," there really doesn't seem to be a treatment (Medscape). In other words, and older person may have "stool impaction" from wearing diapers, and leakage will result from that; or, simply it may be a matter of "excess urinary output" because of medications or surgery (Medscape).

Urge Incontinence

According to the National Guideline Clearinghouse urge incontinence is what it sounds like: a "sudden and strong need to urinate"; it is linked to people who urinate often during nighttime hours. It is also associated with a person that has an "over-active or unstable bladder, neurological conditions, constipation, enlarged prostate or history of poor bladder habits" (National Guideline Clearinghouse).

It is suggested that those struggling with urge incontinence create and keep up-to-date a chart of all the times you urinate and the times you leak; hence, you can see the patterns that are there and perhaps make plans to empty the bladder before you get the urge (Webmd.com).

Functional Incontinence