The Food Medic - Ask Dr Hazel E2: IS BLADDER LEAKAGE NORMAL?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone and welcome back to another mini episode of Ask Dr. Hazel. In these short five minute episodes, I answer questions submitted by you. Just a quick disclaimer that the information provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice or a place that of your usual healthcare provider. Now, without further ado, let's hear from this week's listener. Hi Hazel, my question is about light bladder leakage and if it's normal for a young woman, especially someone who hasn't had kids, and also what can I do about it? Thank you so much for your question. I'm so glad that you brought this topic up because I know it affects a lot of people and it's not spoken about enough. Now, urinary incontinence or

Starting point is 00:00:44 accidental bladder leakage is very common in women especially after childbirth and with aging as you quite rightly alluded to but women who have not had children or a vaginal delivery can also experience it. That said while I really want to normalize talking about it, it's not normal and it's not an inevitable part of being a woman and there are things we can do to help. So there are a few types of incontinence but the most common types are stress incontinence and urge incontinence but it's also possible to have a mixture of both. Now stress incontinence is often due to a weakened pelvic floor and it occurs when urine leaks when there's an increased downward pressure, for example during coughing and laughing or sneezing and also in certain forms of

Starting point is 00:01:30 exercise so typically running and skipping. Often this might be just little small amounts of urine but it can be large amounts too and it can massively affect people's quality of life. No single thing causes it but the biggest risk factor is age followed by pregnancy and vaginal delivery but there are other things that can increase the risk as well including obesity, constipation, prolapse, previous pelvic surgery, lack of oestrogen for example after the menopause, smoking, certain medical conditions and medications and also a family history. So women whose mother or sisters are incontinent are more likely to develop it too. Urge incontinence on the other hand is a little different and often a symptom of an overactive bladder. Urgency is the term we used when you feel a sudden and very intense need to pass urine and so you're

Starting point is 00:02:23 not able to delay going whereas urge incontinence is when you leak urine before you actually make it to the toilet. Now in terms of treatment it will depend on the type of urinary incontinence you have and the severity of your symptoms and the best thing you can do really is to speak to your GP so they can refer you on for pelvic floor muscle training. Now this has been shown to be very, very effective, but in the case that your symptoms do not improve after 12 weeks, other options can be explored between you and your doctor. So it's really important that you get help early. However, in the meantime, there are some things that you can do to improve your

Starting point is 00:02:59 symptoms at home. And so I've asked pelvic health physio Emma Brockwell to share her top tips. Tip one, strengthen your pelvic floor muscles by carrying out pelvic floor exercises. It's important to make sure you do these exercises correctly, so put aside time so that you can concentrate. The best position to do these in is in standing, but this is often the hardest position, so you may want to start them in sitting to begin with. Let's talk about how to squeeze your pelvic floor muscles. First, tighten or squeeze the muscles around your back passage, as if you're trying to stop yourself passing wind. Whilst holding this, also squeeze or tighten around the vagina and urethra, as if you're trying to stop yourself passing urine. Collectively, this should feel like a squeeze and lift inside.

Starting point is 00:03:45 You may feel some of your tummy muscles work gently when you carry these out but your buttocks and thighs should be relaxed you should also be breathing throughout the exercises do not hold your breath after each squeeze and lift make sure you fully relax your muscles by letting them rest back to the starting positions your pelvic floor is made up of slow twitch and fast twitch fibres, so you'll need to practice both slow squeezes and fast squeezes. Therefore, every time you carry out your pelvic floor exercises, you should be aiming to carry out a regime of 10 repetitions of 10 second holds followed by 10 fast squeezes. Remember, rest between each and every squeeze. It may take a few weeks to work up to this regime and that's

Starting point is 00:04:25 okay. Ideally pelvic floor exercises should be carried out two to three times a day when you're symptomatic. Try and make them part of your morning and bedtime routine. This usually works well for most women. Your pelvic floor is like any other muscle, it takes time to strengthen so keep going and within 8 to 12 weeks you should find that your symptoms are beginning to significantly improve. Tip 2. Carry out the knack. If you leak urine when you cough, sneeze or laugh, try doing a strong squeeze and lift just before the activity. This is called the knack. During these activities, downward pressures are increased.

Starting point is 00:05:03 A strong, conscious squeeze or knack can significantly reduce any leakage. Tip three, avoid getting constipated or straining to open your bowels. This can weaken your pelvic floor and exacerbate bladder leakage. To do this drink plenty of water throughout the day and eat a healthy diet. When you're sitting on the toilet to open your bowels place a stool under your feet so that your knees are higher than your hips. This allows your pelvic floor to relax and bowels open with greater ease. Rather than straining to open your bowels, exhale through your mouth as if you're trying to blow out a candle on a birthday cake. Tip four, maintain a healthy BMI.

Starting point is 00:05:44 Unfortunately, being overweight can significantly increase symptoms of urinary leakage and my final tip tip five just as Hazel has mentioned see a pelvic health physiotherapist for bespoke treatment and management of your symptoms thank you so much Emma for sharing your top tips with us and a good reminder to us all to practice our pelvic floor exercises. Thank you to our listener for submitting the question and if anyone listening would like to ask a question of their own for a chance to feature on the Food Medic podcast please send your voice recorded questions to ellie at thefoodmedic.co.uk. That's all from me, see you again next time.

The Food Medic - Ask Dr Hazel E2: IS BLADDER LEAKAGE NORMAL?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.