How to Manage Incontinence

The causes of incontinence are many. And what makes things even more confusing is that there is temporary and chronic incontinence. To save you all of the stress and confusion, as you navigate through figuring out what has caused incontinence in yourself or in someone you love, we'll go over the most common ones.

The Causes of Temporary Incontinence

Certain types of food and drink that you consume can cause temporary incontinence, depending on how well your body tolerates or processes them. But, if you keep consumption of them to a minimum, the problem can easily be remedied. For instance, if you consume a lot of alcohol, this can cause you to urinate frequently. For some, consuming one cup will cause more bathroom trips than the norm. The more you consume, the more you'll frequent the bathroom. The reason this happens is because alcohol is a diuretic, and any consumption will cause your bladder muscles to work more. What's more, if you drink to the point of drunkenness, you may not recognize the signals that tell you when it is time to urinate, which will result in an accident. .

Caffeine containing drinks will also have the same effects. Drinks like coffee and sodas will cause you to take more frequent bathroom breaks because, like the alcohol, caffeine is a diuretic.

If you eat a lot of citrus fruits, this can cause irritation of the bladder. Such irritation can result in urge incontinence if it is bad enough. Carbonated beverages, even if they do not contain caffeine, can irritate the bladder's insides due to how they are made up. If you are noticing trouble, and you consume these foods and drinks on a regular bass, take them out of your diet and see if there are any changes.

Certain medications can even cause temporary incontinence. For example, sleeping medications can cause a person to sleep too deeply, thus not waking up when needing to use the bathroom. Because sleep is too deep, the nerve signals that are sent from the bladder to the brain are completely missed, and bedwetting results. Other pills, such as antidepressants, muscle relaxers, blood pressure medications, heart medicine, and medications used to treat colds, among many others, can sometimes alter bladder function. The way a person reacts to these medications all depends on the body. Though each person is different, all of the medicines listed here have been known to have an effect on the urinary processes.

Short term conditions that are very curable can play a major part in causing issues. Bladder infections and urinary tract infections are the top two known to cause frequent urination or a complete loss of control altogether. Once the conditions are cured with antibiotics or through natural means, the incontinence abates. If left untreated, urinary tract infections and bladder infections will cause significant damage. This is the reason that such curable conditions must be tended to without delay.

Chronic Incontinence

Chronic incontinence is a whole different animal. This is caused by conditions that are more permanent. Overactive bladder, diabetes, enlarged prostate, prostate cancer, constant constipation; bladder cancer, nerve damage, spinal injuries, brain damage, and child bearing are very common causes. If you are faced with any of these problems, incontinence is usually permanent, as you'll probably relying on bladder control medications until they fail, which will eventually result in you wearing diapers. Even after prostate problems are taken care of and are no longer a concern, incontinence is still an after effect in most cases. The same goes for child bearing. While many women walk away from the child bearing process without any trouble, there are those who do not fully recover. Then there are those that are fine for a very long time after the birth but become incontinent many years later.

When you fully understand the causes of incontinence, you'll feel more at ease. Once you are ease, you can think more clearly and make decisions that will put you on the road to recovery for the less serious conditions that can be healed, or coping with the more chronic incontinence.