Leaking urine when coughing? This "embarrassing" disease is ignored by many people...

Expert of this article: Zhu Hongjian, Chief Physician, Beijing Jiangong Hospital

Coughing, laughing, and sneezing are common behaviors in life, but they are very scary in the eyes of some people.

Because once these actions occur, embarrassment will follow - they will leak urine involuntarily.

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This symptom often indicates a disease, namely stress urinary incontinence.

According to statistics, stress urinary incontinence is more common in women. The incidence rate of adult women is 18-20%, and the peak age is 50-59 years old. However, many people find it difficult to talk about this disease and are reluctant to seek medical treatment, which leads to worse conditions later.

What is stress urinary incontinence? What are the causes? How can it be relieved? Find out in one article.

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What is stress urinary incontinence?

Stress urinary incontinence refers to the involuntary leakage of urine from the urethra when the abdominal pressure increases due to laughing, coughing, sneezing, exercise or other physical activities. This is because the muscles and other tissues supporting the urethra (pelvic floor muscles) or the muscles controlling the urethra (urethral sphincter) are weakened. When the intra-abdominal pressure suddenly increases, they cannot control the urine, resulting in urine leakage.

The causes of stress urinary incontinence are complex, mainly including age, childbirth, pelvic organ prolapse, obesity, decreased estrogen, high-intensity exercise, family history, race, smoking and other factors.

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After suffering from stress urinary incontinence, many people are too ashamed to talk about it, and are unwilling to talk to their family or doctors, choosing to endure it silently. In order to avoid embarrassment, some patients secretly use adult diapers, but long-term urine soaking in the perineum can cause eczema, dermatitis, and even serious lesions of the urinary system. Some patients often worry that they will wet their pants, dislike the smell of urine on their bodies, increase the number of toilet visits, and dare not go out to socialize. In the long run, patients will suffer from depression, frustration, inferiority, anxiety, and are often in a state of tension.

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Who is most likely to suffer from stress urinary incontinence?

Patients with chronic cough: Constant coughing causes increased abdominal pressure, which damages the pelvic floor muscles and the mechanism for controlling urine.

Patients who are too obese: The internal organs are too heavy and put pressure on the pelvic floor muscles, which may cause stress urinary incontinence.

Those with a wide pelvic structure inherited from the past;

Older women: As they age, their weight and estrogen levels decrease;

Women who are pregnant or giving birth.

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How to determine if you have stress urinary incontinence?

① Mild: after normal activities, when abdominal pressure increases, such as coughing, laughing, urine leakage symptoms will occur, but there is no need to carry a urine pad;

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② Moderate: When negative pressure increases after physical activity, frequent urine leakage occurs and the patient needs to carry a urine pad;

③ Severe urinary incontinence is when the symptoms of urine leakage worsen when the body position changes or after physical activity, which seriously affects one's quality of life.

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How to relieve and treat?

Perineal muscle exercises: For patients with mild urinary incontinence, appropriate perineal contraction exercises, such as raising the buttocks and contracting the anus, can relieve the symptoms of stress urinary incontinence.

Behavioral therapy: also known as lifestyle intervention, including weight loss, smoking cessation, and reduced consumption of caffeinated beverages for patients with a body mass index greater than 30; avoiding and reducing activities that increase abdominal pressure; treating primary diseases, such as constipation, cough and other chronic diseases that increase abdominal pressure; pelvic floor electrical stimulation therapy, which improves stress urinary incontinence symptoms by increasing the strength of the pelvic floor muscles and increasing urethral closure pressure.

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Drug treatment: Because each person's situation is different, there is no absolute effective medication. You should choose the right medication under the doctor's advice. Drug treatment can reduce the number of urine incontinence and improve the quality of life. Drug treatment is mainly used for mild and moderate patients. Its main function is to increase urethral resistance by enhancing the contraction of urethral smooth muscle, so as to achieve the purpose of enhancing urinary control ability.

Surgical treatment: Patients who have poor response to non-surgical treatment, poor compliance, intolerance, or have surgical indications and do not want to continue observation can choose surgical treatment. Patients with moderate to severe conditions and those with concurrent pelvic organ prolapse who require pelvic floor surgery can directly choose surgical treatment. They can undergo mid-urethral sling surgery, transabdominal retropubic bladder neck suspension, and other anti-stress urinary incontinence surgeries.

Finally, I would like to remind you

Once the above symptoms occur

Go to the hospital for a check-up

Timely treatment

There is no shame in being ill

Good health is the most important thing

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