Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) is a condition associated with physical activities like coughing, sneezing, laughing, or lifting anything heavy.
If the described symptoms sound familiar, and you are sick and tired of living with it, there is a solution! I will share with you several simple ways to manage the symptoms of SUI.
Make sure you empty your bladder before anticipated physical activity.
You can also insert a large tampon into the vagina—it will compress the urethra and help with leakage. If a simple tampon does not fit properly, there is a special device called Impressa that is specially designed to stay in the vagina and compress the urethra to decrease urinary leakage with physical activity.
Next, training your pelvic floor muscles can improve leakage, and there are several ways to train them.
You can do Kegels on your own. Try to isolate the correct muscles by imagining you are about to pass gas, but you are trying to hold it. Those are the exact pelvic floor muscles you should use to do Kegels. Hold each contraction for 10 seconds, and try to do a set of 10 at least twice a day.
If you are having difficulty identifying the correct muscles, you can try a biofeedback device. It’s a probe that inserts into the vagina and connects to a phone app, which shows you the strength and effectiveness of your contractions.
You can also search for a pelvic floor therapist in your area and set up an appointment. Pelvic floor physical therapy is amazing at helping women identify the correct muscles, helping to work the muscles that need it and relax those that need to be relaxed.
Another modification that has proven to be successful is weight loss. Losing between 5 to 10% of your body weight provides significant improvement in SUI! The reason behind it is that by removing extra weight from the stomach area, extra pressure on the urethra also decreases, improving SUI.
If you still have symptoms despite emptying your bladder, doing Kegels, losing weight, and trying physical therapy, it’s time to see a urogynecologist.
It is time to live your best life, and that is no place for SUI. Learn what options you have to stop SUI from ruining your life in my next post!
#bladder #bladderhealth #bladderleakage #SUI #pelvichealth #pelvicfloor #urogynecology
