It probably happened to you a time or two in your youth. You laughed or sneezed with a full bladder and had a small leak. It wasn’t a big deal. But as you get older, that issue can become increasingly common. As it does, it becomes a bigger inconvenience in your life. Ultimately, if you’re dealing with this regularly, you’re probably wondering about your options.
Fortunately, at Women’s Health Services in Arlington, Texas, our team has specific expertise in treating urinary incontinence in women. With customized treatment plans— including medications, Botox, and bladder suspension— we can help to reverse this issue.
Selecting the right treatment option starts with understanding what’s causing your urinary incontinence in the first place. With that in mind, let’s look at six of the factors that most commonly contribute to leakage.
Your level of bladder control changes throughout pregnancy and after giving birth. You probably expected it while pregnant, as your baby pressed down on your bladder.
The issue, though, is that urinary incontinence doesn’t always go away after you give birth. Women who’ve had a child are more likely to deal with urinary incontinence than women who’ve never given birth.
Menopause delivers a one-two punch to your bladder control. For starters, it weakens your pelvic muscles, making it harder to stop leakage. At the same time, less estrogen means your urethra thins, simultaneously contributing to urinary incontinence.
Even years before your period stops, your body starts to transition toward menopause. That means the changes we just outlined can start well before you technically enter menopause. It’s relatively common for women in their 40s to encounter menopause-related urinary incontinence even before they start experiencing some of the other symptoms of this major transition.
Like childbirth, getting a hysterectomy makes you statistically more likely to deal with leakage later in life.
Urinary incontinence can actually be an early indicator of breast cancer. If you weren’t already considering talking to a doctor to improve your quality of life, let this be an added reason to seek medical expertise if you notice more leakage problems.
Perhaps the most notorious culprit of all, aging is to blame in most cases of urinary incontinence, particularly in women. You can thank menopause in part. Plus, aging weakens your pelvic floor muscles, giving you less bladder control.
Fortunately, our team can treat all of these factors, helping you regain control. To explore your options, call the Women’s Health Service at 817-277-9415 or book your appointment online today.
