What is incontinence?
Incontinence occurs when women have trouble controlling their urine (urinary incontinence) or their bowels (fecal incontinence). There are many possible causes of incontinence. The two most common forms of urinary incontinence are “stress incontinence” and “urge incontinence.” Stress incontinence happens when something you do – such as coughing, laughing, sneezing jumping, lifting or exercising – increases the pressure in your abdomen enough that it pushes urine past the urethra. In other words, some external force pushes on the bladder and urine squirts out. Urge incontinence happens when women are not able to wait until they empty their bladder. They find that “When I have to go, I have to go.” This occurs because the normal ability to tell the bladder to wait until it is the right time is weakened. With incontinence, when a woman feels the need to empty her bladder, telling the bladder to wait simply doesn’t work anymore.
Incontinence occurs when women have trouble controlling their urine (urinary incontinence) or their bowels (fecal incontinence). There are many possible causes of incontinence. The two most common forms of urinary incontinence are “stress incontinence” and “urge incontinence.” Stress incontinence happens when something you do – such as coughing, laughing, sneezing jumping, lifting or exercising – increases the pressure in your abdomen enough that it pushes urine past the urethra. In other words, some external force pushes on the bladder and urine squirts out. Urge incontinence happens when women are not able to wait until they empty their bladder. They find that “When I have to go, I have to go.” This occurs because the normal ability to tell the bladder to wait until it is the right time is weakened. With incontinence, when a woman feels the need to empty her bladder, telling the bladder to wait simply doesn’t work anymore.
