When you can't hold your pee, it means you have urinary incontinence, leaking urine involuntarily due to weak bladder/sphincter muscles or nerve signals, commonly from stress (coughing, laughing) or sudden urges (urge incontinence/overactive bladder). It's common, especially in women, and can be managed with treatments, but untreated incontinence can lead to skin issues, infections, and affect quality of life, so seeing a doctor is important.
Causes of urinary incontinence
Stress incontinence is usually the result of the weakening of or damage to the muscles used to prevent urination, such as the pelvic floor muscles and the urethral sphincter. Urge incontinence is usually the result of overactivity of the detrusor muscles, which control the bladder.
If any of these symptoms are present, it may be worth making an appointment to see a doctor: Blood in the urine, frequent urination, painful urination or back pain. Your doctor may investigate the more common causes of the symptoms first, or may refer you to a specialist, like a urologist or an oncologist.
problems with storing urine, such as an urgent or frequent need to pass urine or feeling like you need to go again straight after you've just been. problems with passing urine, such as a slow stream of urine, straining to pass urine, or stopping and starting as you pass urine.
Daytime wetting in children is commonly caused by holding urine too long, constipation, or bladder systems that don't work together smoothly. Health problems can sometimes cause daytime wetting, too, such as bladder or kidney infections (UTIs), structural problems in the urinary tract, or nerve problems.
This condition can occur at any age, but it is more common in women over the age of 50.
Research shows that approximately 10% of children experiencing bedwetting have a disability, with autism and ADHD being the most prevalent. Notably, children with these conditions often experience longer-lasting bedwetting episodes, sometimes extending beyond the typical age of 12.
Fluid and diet management, to regain control of your bladder. You may need to cut back on or avoid alcohol, caffeine or acidic foods. Reducing liquid consumption, losing weight or increasing physical activity also can ease the problem.
There are 4 broad categories for urologic causes of incontinence: urgency, stress, mixed, and overflow. These are the result of urethral and/or bladder dysfunction (Table 2). Less common urologic causes of incontinence include anatomic abnormalities such as urinary fistula or ectopic ureteral orifices.
Smell: Try to identify the odour of the fluid. Amniotic fluid is odourless or may have a sweet or musky scent, while urine has a distinct urine odour. Colour: Note the colour of the fluid. Amniotic fluid is typically clear or straw-coloured, while urine is pale yellow.
Contact your primary care provider for a visit if: You're embarrassed by urine leakage, and you miss important activities because of it. You often rush to a bathroom, but can't make it in time. You often feel the need to pee but pass little or no urine.
Overactive bladder is most common in people 65 and older. Women may have OAB at a younger age, usually around 45.
How is urinary incontinence diagnosed?
Urge incontinence may be caused by a minor condition, such as infection, or a more severe condition such as a neurological disorder or diabetes. Overflow incontinence. You experience frequent or constant dribbling of urine due to a bladder that doesn't empty completely. Functional incontinence.
Consult a doctor if leakage interferes with daily activities, worsens over time, or is accompanied by pain or frequent urgency.
Urgency incontinence is when you get the urge to go, and if you don't make it to a bathroom, your bladder will empty. It can have serious effects on your life and your work. Experts don't know what causes urgency incontinence, but there are different ways to approach it.
Pelvic Floor Exercises
Kegel exercises can strengthen the urethral sphincter and pelvic floor muscles. This works for all genders. Learning to tighten and relax these muscles may help your bladder control. Kegels may also help control the bladder spasms that trigger the urge to go.
Sometimes, urinary incontinence is a short-term issue that goes away once the cause ends, such as a UTI. But incontinence also has long-term causes. You may have incontinence for a long time, maybe even the rest of your life, if you have a chronic condition, such as diabetes or multiple sclerosis.
Top Over-the-Counter Products for OAB
Studies have found that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aggregates in families, and twin studies estimate the proportion of the phenotype variance due to genetic factors (heritability) to be about 90%.
How it works: Commit to doing a task for just 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you can stop—or often, momentum carries you forward. This leverages reduced overwhelm and the brain's reward system.
Chinning is a form of repetitive self-stimulatory behavior (stimming) that you may notice in children or adults with autism. It involves pressing, rubbing, or holding the chin against objects, surfaces, or even hands to gain sensory input or comfort.