Female Urinary Incontinence Part Two: Electro Stimulation, Vaginal Devices, Surgery

Female Urinary Incontinence Part Two: Electro Stimulation, Vaginal Devices, Surgery

This article covers electrical stimulation, vaginal devices and surgery to treat female incontinence. For information on behavioral treatments and drugs to treat female incontinence, please see “Part One” of this article series.

Female Urinary Incontinence (“Incontinence” or “Female Incontinence”) is a condition shared by millions of women. The condition manifests itself differently in different women; some women may lose a few drops of urine while doing something as mundane as running or coughing while others may feel a sudden urge to urinate just before losing a large amount of urine.

Understanding Female Incontinence
Incontinence can be slightly bothersome or totally debilitating. For some women, the risk of public embarrassment keeps them from enjoying many activities with their family and friends. This article briefly explores how to deal with this condition.

Female Incontinence is a medical problem. A medical professional is best equipped to prescribe the solution that best fits an individual’s lifestyle preferences. While no single treatment works for everyone, most women can be treated without surgery.

Treating Female Incontinence
Many women try simpler treatment options first, such as modifying their habits and doing exercises to strengthen the muscles that hold urine in the bladder. If these behavioral treatments do not work, the next steps are to investigate medication or vaginal devices. Sometimes mild electrical stimulation to the pelvic nerves may help. For some women, however, surgery is the best solution.

Electrical Stimulation for Nerve Problems
Mild electrical pulses can be used to stimulate the nerves that control the bladder and sphincter muscles. Depending on which nerves the doctor plans to treat, these pulses can be given through the vagina or by using patches on the skin. Other forms of electrical stimulation or neuromodulation are also available.

Vaginal Devices for Stress Incontinence Treatment
A pessary is a stiff ring that is inserted by a doctor or nurse into the vagina, where it presses against the wall of the vagina and the nearby urethra. The pressure helps reposition the urethra, leading to less stress leakage. The use of a pessary, dictates vigilance and observation on the part of patient and doctor to be on the watch for vaginal and urinary tract infections.

Injections for Stress Incontinence Treatment
Collagen (or a similar “bulking agent”) is injected into tissues around the bladder neck and urethra to add bulk and close the bladder opening to reduce stress incontinence. After using local anesthesia or sedation, a doctor can inject the material in about half an hour. Over time, the body slowly eliminates the collagen, so repeat injections may be needed.

Surgery for Stress Incontinence Treatment
Surgeons have developed different techniques for supporting the bladder in its normal position. The two main types of surgery are retropubic suspension and the sling procedure. According to the National Institutes of Health, surgeons report that the retropubic suspension and sling procedures cure stress incontinence for at least 4 years in more than 80 percent of their cases. Possible side effects include persistent stress incontinence, bladder overactivity, and voiding changes.

1. Regarding surgery and surgeons, the National Institutes of Health make four recommendations
2. Determine with a medical professional whether surgery will help your condition and what type of surgery is best.
3. The selected procedure could depend on your own preferences or on your surgeon's experience; understand the difference between those two things.
4. Understand what post-procedure expectations are (for example, recovery or complications)
5. Talk with someone who has recently undergone the procedure under consideration

Overcoming embarrassment and become educated on this topic is critical. This will lead to open and educated conversations with a medical professional: an important step in treating female incontinence.