Stress Urinary Incontinence

Gwen, a 54-year-old mother of two, felt wetness between her legs as she heaved a large box onto the counter. She noticed that her panties were completely soaked with urine as she returned to her truck after delivering three particularly heavy boxes to a customer. Gwen was at an age that she knew about urinary incontinence but she had never experienced major symptoms herself—just the odd leak when she laughed or sneezed unexpectedly. She had given birth to her two boys by vaginal delivery but that was many years ago and she had had no symptoms back then. Of course, her new job with the package delivery company had her clambering in and out of her truck and hustling heavy packages around and that could have an effect. She also knew that at her age she was close to the end of menopause. Maybe hormonal changes were causing the leakage to occur. Should she seek help?

As the name suggests, stress urinary incontinence, or SUI, happens anytime you put stress on your body, such as when you cough, sneeze, laugh, or exercise. Even standing up can cause leakage. Specifically, this type of leakage occurs whenever your intra-abdominal pressure suddenly increases. SUI happens when the pelvic floor muscles that support the bladder and urethra are weak or because the urethral sphincter, which normally keeps urine from leaking, isn’t as strong as it should be.

You involuntarily leak urine whenever you put stress on your bladder by:

• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Standing
• Exercising
• Engaging in any physical activity