Eighty-five percent of the 13 million people who are incontinent are women. This is because urinary incontinence is often related to childbirth and menopause. Gynecologist Vicki Hufnagel explains, “In many cases, women are given episiotomies after delivery, without proper closure. Since muscles are not put back together correctly, the whole area is unable to provide support.”Hufnagel adds that during menopause, urinary incontinence occurs when a woman is not making enough estrogen. Too little estrogen enters the vaginal tissue, causing the area to become thin, inelastic, and weak.
Urinary incontinence can also be the result of brain and spinal cord lesions, trauma, multiple sclerosis, and allergies.
There are many causes of transient incontinence. Some common ones are infection, strophic urethritis or vaginitis, certain medications (sedatives, hypnotics, diuretics, anticholinergics, alpha-adrenergic agonists or antagonists, and calcium-channel blockers), psychological disorders (especially depression), endocrine disorders, hyperglycemia, restricted mobility, and stool impaction.
Smoking has been found to be the cause of 28 percent of cases of urinary incontinence in women. Smoking increases the odds of both stress and motor urinary incontinence, and with increased daily and lifetime cigarette consumption, the odds for genuine stress incontinence rise. A study of 600 women showed that genuine stress incontinence was twice as common for both former and current smokers as for nonsmokers.
Urinary incontinence is a partial or total loss of control over one’s bladder and urinary sphincter muscles. Sometimes, incontinence is accompanied by a feeling of urgency. This is usually the result of a person’s inability to empty the bladder completely. Coughing and other stressors can set off urinary incontinence. Overflow can occur when bladder capacity is small.
Women with urinary incontinence are often advised to get bladder surgery, even hysterectomies. But this drastic approach may be completely unnecessary, according to Dr. Hufnagel, who says that women need to be educated about more conservative treatments for this common problem.
Women need to repair their failed episiotomy, or to receive hormones, Dr. Hufnagel explains. Often, they simply need outpatient surgery to put the muscles and tissues back the way they should have been restored at the time of delivery.
Regarding menopause, Dr. Hufnagel adds, “We can treat this locally, without surgery, by simply putting hormones into the vagina. One or two months later, we see normal, healthy tissue.”
This treatment became popular in Europe after it was learned that high voltages of electricity to the vaginal area caused muscles to contract. However, the effects were short-lived, and the technique was not without problems. Voltages had to be applied constantly, which sometimes resulted in tissue burning and nerve damage.
In the United States, electrical stimulation is being performed with lower voltages and a pulsing sequence of one second on and one second off to prevent muscle fatigue. The objective is to strengthen the urethral muscles and the puborectalis muscle, which control the opening and closing of the bladder muscles. This form of electrical stimulation, combined with pelvic floor exercises, has produced favorable results in trial studies. It allows for a retraining, toning, and strengthening of muscles so that a patient can regain continence. One electrical product that looks promising is called Cystotron, put out by a company called Biosonics.
Dana Ullman suggests in an article posted on HealthWorld Online (www.healthy.net) that homeopathic medicines can help prevent involuntary urination. He advises consulting a homeopathic practitioner who can individualize the treatment and work on strengthening the overall immune system, rather than just treating the bladder symptoms.
But there are homeopathic medicines that you can use on your own. One new, inexpensive homeopathic medicine he recommends is EnurAid, which is nontoxic and nonaddictive. Other homeopathic remedies that he recommends are listed below. Ullman recommends that someone who has not used homeopathic remedies before should start all the remedies suggested at the sixth potency and take the medication three or four times a day. If there is no improvement after taking a medication for a week, a different homeopathic remedy should be tried.
ARNICA (LEOPARD’S BANE)—Arnica is good for involuntary urination after surgery.
BELLADONNA (DEADLY NIGHTSHADE)—Belladonna is helpful for people who dribble urine and who sometimes have a burning sensation when they urinate.
CAUSTICUM—Causticum may help if involuntary urination gets worse in the winter and better in the summer. Often people with these symptoms lose urine when they cough or sneeze.
EQUISETUM (SCOURING RUSH)—Equisetum is a general remedy for anyone who loses urine or is a bedwetter, with no apparent cause.
FERRUM PHOS (IRON PHOSPHATE)—Ferrum phos works best for people who tend to lose urine during the day. Often people with this symptom have the strongest urge to urinate when standing; lying down lessens the urge.
KREOSOTUM (BEECHWOOD)—Kreosotum is recommended for people who cannot control sudden urges to urinate. Ullman says that these people tend to wet their bed during the first part of the night, and may dream that they are urinating.
An increasing body of evidence is showing the benefits of natural modalities to overall health and well-being. Following is a sample of recent peer-reviewed scientific studies regarding urinary incontinence.
A 2014 study published in Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery found that incontinent women aged forty years and older who participated in a six-week yoga therapy program experienced a 70 percent reduction in frequency of leakage, as compared with a 13 percent improvement in a control group. Other research has shown that pumpkin seed oil and soy isoflavone extract have similar beneficial effects.