Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) is when urine leaks out with sudden pressure on the bladder and urethra, causing the sphincter muscles to open briefly. It is the involuntary leakage of urine during routine activities such as coughing, sneezing, lifting, laughing, or exercising.
This condition affects at least 30 to 40% of women, About 1 in 3 women suffer from SUI at some point in their lives. Urinary incontinence increases with age, many of whom do not realize that there are simple, effective treatment options available.
With mild SUI, pressure may be from sudden forceful activities, like exercise, sneezing, laughing or coughing. If your SUI is more severe, you may also leak with less forceful activities like standing up, walking or bending over. Urinary "accidents" like this can range from a few drops of urine to enough to soak through your clothes.
SUI can negatively impact women’s lives. SUI may limit women’s social and personal relationships, as well as limiting physical activity.
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There are a number of factors which can play a role in developing stress urinary incontinence. These include:
In all above causes most common causes are vaginal birth and menopause, which can be effectively treat by minimal invasive procedures.
The first step in diagnosing SUI is to talk to your doctor about your symptoms. If you think you have SUI, tell your doctor about what's happening. That is the only way to know for sure and find relief. Your doctors will ask you questions about the activities which cause leakage. After asking some questions your doctor also diagnosed about severity of you SUI symptoms.
For women, your physical exam may include checking your abdomen, the organs in your pelvis, and your rectum. Your doctor may also test how strong your pelvic floor muscles and sphincter muscles are. You may be asked to squeeze your pelvic muscles and sphincter muscles for a Kegel test.
The doctor may have you perform maneuvers such as coughing, straining down or stepping to see if these actions cause you to leak urine. There are several potential tests that your doctor may perform in order to properly diagnose you with stress urinary incontinence or another condition that may cause urine leakage.
To help with diagnosis your doctor may ask you to cough while you have a comfortably full bladder.
Bladder diary
You may be asked to fill in a bladder diary (otherwise known as a frequency volume chart). Recording how much you drink, as well as the number of times you pass urine and the volume passed each time. A record of the amount of leakage is also kept. Your doctor may recommend urodynamic studies. Urodynamics investigate the bladder’s ability to fill and empty and the mechanism or cause of the incontinence.
A urine test may be performed to look for a urinary tract infection.
Sometime your doctor may ask to go for TVS (Trans Vaginal Scan - Sonagraphy)
All these tests are designed to help plan the best treatment for each individual.
The key symptom of SUI is when urine leaks out during any activity that increases abdominal pressure. The amount can be a few drops to tablespoons or more. If you have mild SUI, you will leak during forceful activities such as exercise. You may also leak when you sneeze, laugh, cough or lift something heavy.
If your SUI is moderate or more severe, you may also leak when you do less strenuous activities, like standing up or bending over.
Stress urinary incontinence is the leakage of urine while the bladder is under However, urinary leakage doesn’t necessarily have to happen every time pressure is increased on the bladder.
Stress incontinence occurs when the muscles and other tissues that support the urethra (pelvic floor muscles) and the muscles that control the release of urine (urinary sphincter) weaken.
Pelvic floor is made up of layers of muscles which hold the bladder and bowel in place and help to stop leaks. The sphincter is a circular muscle that goes around the urethra (the tube that urine comes out of) and squeezes as the bladder fills up to create a seal so that urine can’t leak out. .
In women, these muscles can be weakened during pregnancy by the extra weight and natural hormonal changes. Childbirth can cause more problems especially if delivery is prolonged or the baby is large. Forceps and ventouse assisted deliveries may increase the risk of damage, muscle tearing or episiotomies (where the muscle is cut to allow an easier birth) can cause further damage. .
Some women develop stress urinary incontinence after the menopause. This is because the pelvic floor becomes weaker following hormone changes within the body. Even before the menopause, some women may notice that they have a weaker bladder than normal in the week before a period. Stress urinary incontinence may occur after a hysterectomy and also after operations on the bladder. .
People who have been constipated for a long time or have a chronic cough may also be prone to stress urinary incontinence. .
SUI involves involuntary leakage of urine in response to increased intra-abdominal pressure. This condition may be caused by a loss of pre-urethral support, usually as a result of pelvic support structure damage. Patients report varying severity of urine leakage during activities that increase intra-abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing, and physical activity.
At Samsara Aesthetic Clinic we use most advance Laser therapy, which is a safe and effective treatment for this indication, enabling women to enjoy a much more comfortable life – quickly and with no pain or minimal downtime. Using powerful energy to achieve a deep thermal effect, diode Laser 1470 nm stimulates collagen renewal as well as contraction of the elastin fibers, inducing rejuvenation and tissue remodeling. It treats the entire pre-urethral space, increasing the thickness of the vaginal walls and providing better support to the mid urethra underside.
If the problem SUI is mild then the patient may get cured in one session only. Usually, the patient has to undergo at least 4 sessions to ensure that they never face the problem again in life. The number of sessions for laser treatment also depends upon the seriousness of the disease.
The result is a significant reduction in SUI symptoms, improved control of urination, and long term patient continence.
Recovery time for stress incontinence takes only a few days after receiving the laser treatment. The patient can resume a normal lifestyle after taking rest for 4-6 days.
