What Treatments are Available for Urinary Incontinence?

Dealing with bladder control problems? We can help.

Urinary incontinence is more common than you might realize. In fact, up to 50 percent of women experience urinary leakage at some point during their lifetime, with up to 20 percent dealing with regular and uncomfortable leakage. While this is often a normal part of growing older, there are certain conditions and issues that could also be to blame. Our Brownsville, TX, gynecologist, Dr. Gabriel Guajardo, and his team can provide several strategies to improve urinary leakage.

Causes of Urinary Incontinence

There are many reasons you may be dealing with urinary incontinence. Some of these problems can easily be treated to help eliminate bladder leakage. Some of these causes include:

• Certain medications
• Urinary tract infections
• Growths or polyps within the bladder
• Abnormalities in the urinary tract
• Muscle dysfunction caused by muscular disorders or childbirth

It’s important for our Brownsville, TX, OBGYN to be able to determine the root cause of your urinary incontinence in order to create an effective treatment plan.

Treating Urinary incontinence

There are certain measures you can take to improve your symptoms. These lifestyle adjustments include:

• Performing pelvic floor exercises to strengthen weakened muscles of the pelvic floor after childbirth or due to aging
• Managing how much water you drink throughout the day to reduce leakages
• Avoiding alcohol, caffeine, and carbonated beverages
• Avoid drinking water about 3-4 hours before bedtime
• Losing weight if overweight or obese
• Retraining your bladder

If you are unable to control your urinary incontinence through lifestyle changes and at-home care then our gynecologist can provide other treatment options including,

• Medication: There are certain prescription medications such as tricyclic antidepressants that can help the bladder to relax, which improves how much urine the bladder can hold and prevents leakage.
• Botox: These same injections that are used to relax the muscles of the face for cosmetic enhancements can also relax the bladder and improve urinary incontinence.
• Catheters: Your doctor may recommend using a catheter to help empty your bladder. This may be used for women dealing with stress incontinence.
• Electrical Nerve Stimulation: If medication, medical devices and other methods haven’t been effective then electrical nerve stimulation may be used to alter the reflexes of the bladder to improve bladder control.

Schedule an Online Appointment with Us!

Dr. Guajardo and his OBGYN staff know that it’s important for women to be able to have access to gynecological and obstetric care and treatment. During the pandemic, our goal is to keep our patients healthy and safe. We are offering teleconference appointments via your Healow app (which you probably already use to access your medical records).

Whether you have concerns about urinary incontinence, fertility treatments, menopause treatments, or questions about your pregnancy, schedule a telemedicine visits with us by calling (956) 350-4821.