Urinary incontinence (UI) is a major problem for many people today. Both for those suffering from it and the people around them, it can be a very upsetting condition. It is important to understand that UI can happen for a variety of reasons. Several physical problems could directly affect the bladder and how it functions, resulting in urinary incontinence.
Many different factors can cause an unexpected and sudden urge to urinate. Although most cases of urinary incontinence would have a physiological cause such as a urinary tract infection, other factors such as the environment, social and psychological influences should also be taken into consideration discussing why someone has bladder control problems. UI also could be health-related or age-related. It may just be a case of a neurological condition called overactive bladder.
What is urinary incontinence?
Urinary incontinence is a common problem that could affect both women and men. It can be defined as the unintentional passing of urine. There are different types of urinary incontinence such as:
- Stress incontinence
- Urge incontinence
- Overflow incontinence
- Mixed incontinence
- Functional incontinence
Depending on the severity, UI may happen all or most of the time or may just be a case of the occasional unfortunate leakage. Although both conditions affect millions of people every day, urinary incontinence is far more common than faecal incontinence, which is also called heavy incontinence.
What can you do about urinary incontinence?
Bladder weakness is a very common condition that can be treated effectively by many ways. The treatment regime can start with a few simple changes to your eating and drinking habits. Here are some tips and tricks, which are crucial steps in the path to staying in control and living a fulfilling life with bladder leak issues.
Urinary incontinence and drinking
One of the first questions you’ll be asking yourself when going through the issue of bladder leaks is:
How much to drink?
The first instinct may be to limit the amount of fluid intake. That is not the case at all! Not drinking enough would cause your body to become dehydrated. Your urine would become very concentrated, which can cause bladder irritation. What’s more, in case you do have an accident, the smell will be stronger. So, you should always drink water whenever you are thirsty! Your body needs it in order to function well.
Drinking 6-8 glasses of water per day would be a good guideline. Checking colour of your urine could help you: lighter means you are hydrated; darker and yellow means you are dehydrated.
When to drink?
Spread your water intake as much as possible throughout the day. Try not to drink too much after dinner to prevent nightly accidents or trips to the bathroom.
What to drink?
First, water as much as possible. Coffee, alcohol, drinks with artificial sweeteners, and carbonated drinks will irritate your bladder more, making the problem worse. Acidic fruit juices (such as grapefruit juice, orange juice, tomato juice…) are also on the list of drinks to avoid.
It can be a bit of a challenge to limit caffeine at first. Good advice would be to take it one step at a time, gradually replacing traditional coffee with decaffeinated coffee or tea. This can seriously reduce the loss of bladder control.
Urinary incontinence and eating
The main point is to ensure a healthy fibre intake. Avoiding constipation is the goal since a full bowel will cause a sensation of urgency on the bladder. Avoid acidic foods – they will irritate the bladder more. Eating more non-citric fruits, berries, avocados, lentils, beans, and grains could help you a lot. And mainly avoid sugar or honey, medicines with caffeine, chocolate, tomatoes, corn syrup, and spices.
Keeping a bladder diary can be a good way to find if something in your diet is worsening your bladder leak issues. A bladder diary would include a detailed daily record of what you eat and drink and of your visits to the bathroom.
There are also invisible product solutions for men and women who experience urinary incontinence during the day. It is advised that you practice some exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor. Stress incontinence and other mixed incontinence’s like overflow incontinence or functional incontinence can be dramatically helped by Kegel exercises.
Solutions for bladder weakness
In Clicks, you can find invisible solutions to protect you during the day and night. We have innovative product solutions for urinary incontinence. Our products ensure a perfect fit, maximum protection and fast absorbency to help you get on with your life as usual. Our solutions are discreet and give a cotton-like feeling whenever you need it.
Browse our range of urinary incontinence products here.