Bladder Health
Bladder-control difficulties are common among women after menopause. In fact, 10 to 30 percent of post-menopausal women experience some form of urinary incontinence, often during exercise or with laughing or sneezing. Three types of incontinence can occur: urge incontinence (when the bladder fails to store urine); stress incontinence (when the urethra, the valve that closes the bladder, fails); or mixed incontinence (when urge and stress incontinence happen at the same time).
Urge incontinence tends to persist in the years following menopause, while stress incontinence is most prevalent during the perimenopausal years.
While you may feel embarrassed to discuss bladder control issues with your health-care provider, urinary incontinence is completely normal and treatable. Addressing bladder-control issues is important: corrective options can help you avoid longer-term health problems such as frequent urinary tract and/or vaginal infections, and vaginal bleeding.
A variety of solutions exist. Pelvic Kegel exercises (those commonly recommended after childbirth to prevent moments of urine leakage) help strengthen your urinary tract. Kegel exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. Vaginal cones were developed as a way to make it easier for women to exercise their pelvic muscles and are often recommended for women with stress incontinence. Mechanical devices such as a pessary also offer support. Lifestyle changes such as weight loss, quitting smoking and reducing caffeine consumption can also be very effective.
Recent innovations in urinary incontinence medications offer the promise of fewer and less severe adverse effects and, thus, better treatment outcomes for patients. Two drugs, tolterodine and oxybutynin, have “longacting” or “extended release” formulations. With these, a patient needs to take only one pill per day, and there may be fewer adverse effects because the long-acting formulations are more stable than the original versions.
Small changes to your daily routine such as drinking less water or other beverages and making more regular visits to the ladies’ room can help, too. In some cases, hormone therapy or permanent surgical intervention are options to consider. Although success rates vary among women, as many as 60 percent report improvement or cure three months after therapy. Your health-care provider can help you determine which solution is best for you.
Some studies show that drinking cranberry-lingonberry juice concentrate can reduce the risk of urinary tract infections. Estrogen therapy has also proven to reduce the recurrence of urinary tract infections in some postmenopausal women.
Concerned about occasional urinary leaks? Download this Self-Questionnaire on Urinary Incontinence – it’s a good way to start the conversation about bladder weakness during your next doctor’s appointment
View the new Canadian Continence Foundation guide to continence care, management and treatment "The Source" the first complete continence resource book.
Read the study by the Canadian Continence Foundation "Incontinence: A Canadian Perspective".
Find out more