> Health and Disease > Urinary Tract > urinary incontinence

Incontinence doesn’t need to be a problem, no matter what your age.

We’ve all seen the advertisements on TVľmen and women avoiding normally pleasant situations, worried that if they laugh, run or sing, they will “leak.” Incontinence is a subject no one likes to discuss, but it’s a reality for millions of people, both young and old. Urinating when you don’t want to can be an embarrassing situation. Worse yet is the feeling of not having control over one’s own body. The good news is that using a variety of natural approaches, incontinence is almost always curable.

There are five main types of incontinence: stress-related incontinence, where urine leaks during physical movements such as coughing, laughing and sneezing. Urge incontinence is a sudden and immediate urge to urinate. Overflow incontinence is unexpected leakage because of a full bladder. Functional incontinence is caused by a physical disability, external obstacles, or problems in thinking or communicating that prevent a person from reaching a toilet. Transient incontinence causes temporary leakage due to a condition that will pass (i.e. infection or medication).

What Are the Causes?

Women experience incontinence twice as often as men. Pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, and the structure of the urinary tract account for this difference. However, there are a host of reasons for incontinence that affect men and women alike. They may include:

1. Hormone imbalance in women
2. Enlarged prostate in men
3. Side-effects of certain medications such as anti-depressants
4. Urinary tract infections
5. Frequent constipation
6. Damage to or disease of the brain or spinal cord (MS, spinal cord injury)
7. Weakened muscles that control urination
8. Pelvic surgery, especially in women who have undergone hysterectomy
9. Smoking
10. Obesity or being overweight
11. High-impact physical activity

Elderly people experience incontinence more often but that doesn’t mean it’s inevitable as we age. Quite the contrary-bladder control problems are not a normal part of aging. With the right exercise, diet and supplements, elderly people can treat this problem, and younger folk can prevent it from ever happening.

Physical Treatment

Some of the most important treatments are Kegel exercises. They are beneficial for everyone, but most successful for those with poor muscle tone. First, identify your pelvic floor muscles. Partially empty your bladder, then stop or slow down the flow of urine. If you can stop or slow the flow, then you are contracting the right muscles. Now that you have identified the proper muscles, hold them contracted for about three seconds, 12 to15 times in a row. This exercise can be done three to six times per day while sitting, lying, or while urinating. Vary the exercises by holding for five to 10 seconds or contract and release quickly.

Nutrition

To reduce irritability or chronic inflammation within the bladder, always maintain a nutritious diet. Eat whole, organic foods, including whole grains, fruit, vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, unprocessed meat, cold-water fish (mackerel, salmon, sardines), legumes, beans, and unrefined oil. Include a daily portion of essential fats such as flax seed oil. Avoid processed and refined foods, as well as sugar and artificial sweeteners. Alcohol, coffee and dairy products need to be reduced significantly or eliminated completely.

Water is another key ingredient for fighting incontinence. Aim to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water daily (i.e. if you weigh 140 lbs, drink 70 oz of water daily). Without reducing your water intake, drink plenty of unsweetened cranberry juice. It contains a substance that keeps bacteria from adhering to the bladder and may help prevent infections that can make incontinence worse. It also helps diminish the unpleasant odour of urine.

Food is the first place to obtain sufficient nutrients. However, it is often important to supplement with specific vitamins and minerals. B-complex vitamins (in particular, vitamin B12), calcium, magnesium, vitamin E, Beta-carotene, and vitamin C are often indicated.

Remember, incontinence is not a disease, but rather a symptom of other bodily problems. By treating the underlying cause, incontinence will usually cease, leaving you free to laugh as often as you like.

Bladder Botanicals

Herbal preparations should have diuretic properties as well as address the underlying cause (menopause, prostate, infection, etc.). Some people may be surprised at using a diuretic for incontinence. However, the term applies to herbs that act on the kidneys or bladder.

Horsetail: A mild diuretic acts as an astringent (contracts the cell wall, condensing the tissue and making it firmer). It is also considered specifically helpful in cases of inflammation or benign enlargement of the prostate gland.

Agrimony: A mild diuretic that gently stimulates digestion and the liver through its bitter properties. This helps the digestive system produce less toxic waste that can be irritating to the urinary system.

Cornsilk: A soothing diuretic that reduces irritation of the urinary system.

Cypress oil: Regulates excess fluid production and has astringent properties-massage with almond oil onto to abdomen three times daily

Homeopathy

Use Causticum if the problem is made worse by coughing, laughing, sneezing, or excitement.

Use Gelsemium if fear and anxiety about symptoms increase the desire to urinate.

Use Nux Vomica when there is constant urge to pass urine, chilliness, or irritability.

Use Pulsatilla if the problem is made worse by sitting down, lying down, walking, or passing wind.

Use Sepia for incontinence associated with a “bearing down” sensation, as if the abdominal contents were escaping through the vagina, or the stream of urine is slow to start.

Facts

Incontinence affects:

25 per cent of women middle-aged or older
15 per cent of men aged 60 and over
1.5 million Canadians, and between 15 and 19 million people in all of North America

Source: The Canadian Continence Federation (continence-fdn.ca)

Tannis McLaren is a Naturopathic Doctor at the West End Holistic Health Centre in Toronto. She maintains an eclectic approach to practice, and has a special interest in women’s and children’s health. You can view more of her work in her regular self-health column in Canada’s fashion magazine, FLARE. Contact her at tannismclaren@sympatico.ca

Source: alive #253, November 2003