What are the causes of loss of bladder control?

Losing control over your bladder can be embarrassing and interfere with your daily routines. If you experience urinary incontinence, your doctor can help you determine the causes. In some cases, remedying your condition will only require some simple lifestyle changes. It's also important to be aware of whether your incontinence is caused by a more serious medical problem.

Types

The Mayo Clinic lists the types of urinary incontinence as stress, urge, overflow, mixed, functional and gross total incontinence. Stress incontinence occurs with pressure on the bladder, such as sneezing. Urge incontinence occurs when you suddenly feel the need to urinate. Overflow is a frequent dribble of urine. Functional incontinence occurs when you are unable to get to the toilet in time once the urge is felt. Gross total incontinence means that you continually leak urine. Mixed incontinence is when you experience symptoms of more than one type of incontinence.

Lifestyle Causes

Your lifestyle choices could cause a temporary loss of bladder control. Consuming alcohol, caffeine and beverages and foods that contain sugar, acid, spices and artificial sweeteners can contribute to incontinence. Dehydration and excessive hydration may also contribute.

Warnings

Some medical conditions may also cause urinary incontinence, such as a urinary tract infections, constipation, pregnancy, childbirth, interstitial cystitis, prostatitis, prostate cancer, bladder cancer or stones, an enlarged prostate and an obstruction in your urinary tract.

Considerations

According to the Mayo Clinic, women generally have a higher risk than men for developing urinary incontinence, however men with prostate gland problems are also at a higher risk. Other risk factors include excess body weight, smoking, age and disease.

Prevention/Solution

See your doctor if you experience a loss of bladder control. Your doctor can determine if you have a more serious underlying medical condition. He can also prescribe medications or recommend physical therapy. For severe cases, you may need to consider surgery.

Source

The Mayo Clinic: Urinary Incontinence