How to Cope With Urinary Incontinence
Most of the time we have control over our bodies—we are able to direct when we speak, walk or raise our hands and have some control over blinking, breathing and using the bathroom. However, sometimes our bodies fail us with age or illness and we can no longer control bodily functions. Urinary incontinence can be an embarrassing lack of control but there are several ways to cope with the medical affliction.
- Train your bladder by delaying your trip to the bathroom by 10 minutes when you feel the urge to go. You should aim to lengthen the time between your bathroom trips to at least two hours. You can also train your bladder to empty itself fully through double voiding. Double voiding is when you urinate, and then try to urinate again only a few minutes later. This will enable you to empty your bladder more completely, reducing the risk of overflow incontinence.
- Distract yourself or try to relax when you feel the urge to go. Deep and slow breaths or a crossword puzzle to take your mind off of your body may help with the feeling.
- Schedule trips to the bathroom. Make a schedule, and stick to it to prevent the risk of an accident.
- Modify your diet. Alcohol, caffeine and acidic foods can be problematic for those with urinary incontinence. Try to limit these foods in your diet or eliminate them completely.
- Strengthen your urinary sphincter and pelvic floor muscles through Kegel exercises. This involves squeezing the muscles that you would use to stop the flow of urine. You can practice these when sitting in a chair without anyone knowing that you are doing your exercises.
- Take a medication that can calm overactive bladders. Anticholinergics such as Ditropan, Detrol, Enablex, Toviaz, Vesicare and Sanctura are commonly used to treat urinary incontinence.
- Wear a pad or protective garment to protect against leaks. Specialized pads that fit in the underwear or adult diapers can help absorb urine and are easily concealed under clothing.