How is stress urinary incontinence treated?
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Dr. Jill Rabin answered:Stress incontinence may be treated in a variety of different ways, depending upon the severity of the problem. In some cases, a combination of treatments may be prescribed. Your doctor will consider the cause of your problem and your needs, preferences, and personal goals for your treatment before making a recommendation on how to proceed. Conservative, nonsurgical treatments include:
• Lifestyle changes: weight management, dietary choices, and/or
bladder training (timed voiding)• Physical therapy: mastering Kegel exercises, using various types of
available vaginal weights, using portable biofeedback muscle monitors,
and pelvic floor electrical stimulation• Mechanical devices: using a pessary or continence guard
• Medications: selecting a medication that works with minimal
uncomfortable side effects.A wide range of surgical procedures are available to treat stress incontinence. Surgery may be used to treat stress incontinence because it can restore the bladder and the urethra to their normal positions. By preventing downward sag and by creating support, surgery can help those who experience discomfort and who are unsuccessful with the less invasive techniques available.
Stress incontinence may be treated in a variety of different ways, depending upon the severity of the problem. In some cases, a combination of treatments may be prescribed. Your doctor will consider the cause of your problem and your needs,... More -
Dr. Jay T. Bishoff of Intermountain Healthcare answered:Treatment can cure or improve most cases of stress incontinence. The treatment possibilities listed below may be used alone or in combination:
• Lifestyle changes. Your doctor may suggest a weight loss program or
a change in your diet. You may need to take steps to regulate the
timing of your trips to the bathroom. If you smoke, your doctor will
suggest you quit and will help you do so.
• Strengthening the pelvic floor muscles. Certain exercises can
strengthen the muscles around your urethra and may help control urine
leakage. Kegel exercises -- tightening and relaxing the muscles that
control urine flow -- are commonly recommended for this. For people
who have difficulty with kegels, a doctor may recommend biofeedback
or electrical stimulation to help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.
• Medication. Medication is sometimes used to treat mixed
incontinence, in which symptoms of stress incontinence and urge
incontinence are combined.
• Pessary. For a woman with stress incontinence, the doctor may
recommend using a pessary, a device that fits in the vagina to support
the pelvic organs.
• Injections. Your doctor may suggest injecting a bulking agent -- for
example, collagen or another material -- into the tissues around the
urethra and lower part of the bladder. The bulking agent can thicken
the tissues to help close the bladder opening.
• Surgery. Most of the time, a doctor will suggest surgery only after
other treatments haven’t worked. The specific surgery recommended
will depend on the cause of your incontinence.Treatment can cure or improve most cases of stress incontinence. The treatment possibilities listed below may be used alone or in combination: • Lifestyle changes. Your doctor may suggest a weight loss program or a change in your... More -
Greenville Health System answered:Tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) surgery, also known as suburethral sling surgery, has become the most popular operation to treat moderate to severe stress urinary incontinence during the past decade. The latest modification of TVT is called TVT Secur.
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Tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) surgery, also known as suburethral sling surgery, has become the most popular operation to treat moderate to severe stress urinary incontinence during the past decade. The latest modification of TVT is called TVT... More
