Urinary incontinence is something that is not talked about a lot but it impacts millions of people. The National Association for Continence said more than 25 million adult Americans experience some form of urinary incontinence.
Dr. Orrenzo Snyder, a Urologist at Comanche County Memorial Hospital, said urinary incontinence is when your bladder is leaky and causes you to release urine outside the restroom.
“Sometimes with coughing and sneezing, they’ll leak, but also just with a sudden urge,” he said. “They’re sitting here talking, and they’ll get an urge, and they’ll have to excuse themselves to run to the bathroom, and sometimes we’ll pick it up as frequency.”
Dr. Snyder said women are most likely to experience this, but it can affect men too. He said women will start wearing a pad to catch the leaking.
“It will start out as just spotting urine on a pad, and then it will be damp pads and then pretty much-soaked pads after a while, and now we’re changing thicker pads and things like that,” Dr. Snyder said.
He said patients switch to wearing diapers if they start filling up too many pads. He said it can be a big problem if not addressed. Dr. Snyder said people can take medicine, change their diet, and make lifestyle changes – which can help.
“If the medications fail over time, there are botox injections that we can go into the bladder that can help calm down the bladder,” Dr. Snyder said. “It may work for maybe six months, but then we’ll have to repeat the Botox injections.”
Another option is sacral nerve stimulators.
“We put an implant right in the lower back, and it will start to control the firing of that nerve and will calm down the bladder so you can control your bladder,” he said.
Dr. Snyder said if you have incontinence, make an appointment with your primary care doctor about that specifically, so you can talk to them about treatment options and getting referred to an MMG urologist at CCMH if needed.
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