Freedom from Leaky, Overactive Bladders
Do you leak urine when you exercise, laugh or sneeze? Do you have to pee frequently or have an overactive bladder? Although urinary incontinence is very common among women, that doesn’t mean that it has to be a normal part of your everyday life.
Rochester Regional Health is home to Western New York’s most experienced and specialty-trained urogynecologists, doctors who have unique expertise in treating women who have bladder leakage using the latest non-surgical and surgical approaches.
What is Urinary Incontinence? And What Causes My Leaky Bladder?
Urinary incontinence is the inability to control the bladder – often causing urine leaking with activity (stress incontinence) and/or frequent urination (overactive bladder or urge incontinence). While stress incontinence is caused by an issue with the muscles in and around your bladder, overactive bladder is often caused by issues with the nerves in your body not working together properly to tell your body when to release urine at the right time.
Many women think urinary incontinence is a normal part of aging or post-pregnancy life, but it doesn’t need to be. There are a number of treatment options available, and offered by the specialists at Rochester Regional Health, that can help to reduce symptoms and get you back to your active and diaper-free life.
Solutions For a Leaky Bladder & Treatment Options For Urinary Incontinence
Our urogynecology team works closely with each patient to deeply understand your history, needs and future goals before developing our recommended treatment plan. We typically start with non-surgical methods for reducing urinary incontinence symptoms before exploring more invasive and non-reversible methods.
Because our doctors are specialty trained and work closely with colleagues in physical therapy and other specialties across the system, we’re able to offer women the full range of treatment options for urinary incontinence, including:
Non-surgical Treatments for Urinary Incontinence
- Behavior modification therapy – our team may teach you bladder retraining techniques which could include teaching yourself to urinate at preset times; performing deep breathing and relaxation exercises when the urge to urinate strikes; adjusting your diet and limiting beverages like alcohol and coffee
- Kegel exercises and pelvic floor strengthening – we may recommend working with our physical therapy colleagues to practice pelvic floor exercises to strengthen the muscles that support your bladder and urethra. This can help reduce urine leakage.
- Medication – we may prescribe medications that help control the bladder muscles including anticholinergics, beta-3 agonists and Botox
- Pessary – your doctor may recommend a pessary, which is a removable rubber device that is inserted into the vagina to support your pelvic organs and prevent stress incontinence. We’ll teach you how to insert and remove the device and how to care for it.
- Urethral bulking – this approach involves injecting a synthetic material into the urethra to build up its thickness (or bulk it up). This helps the urethra to close tightly when you hold urine in. The procedure requires only local anesthesia and may need to be repeated depending on your symptoms.
- Neuromodulation – we offer two types of neuromodulation: posterior tibial nerve stimulation and sacral neuromodulation. For both approaches, our doctors use technology to deliver low-voltage pulses to the nerves that affect bladder function, reducing the symptoms of incontinence.
Surgical Treatments for Urinary Incontinence
- Sling surgery – during a sling surgery, your urogynecologist will create a hammock-like support for the urethra using either a synthetic sling or one made from tissue from your body called a fascia.
- Retropubic suspension – during this surgical procedure, your urogynecologist lifts the area where the bladder and urethra meet to a more supported position.
Get started by finding a urogynecologist near you