Types of Urinary Incontinence

Stress Urinary Incontinence

Stress incontinence is leaking when you sneeze, cough, laugh, or do some type of physical activity like exercising, lifting, or climbing stairs. It’s usually caused by weakened or damaged pelvic floor muscles that create a loss of support for the bladder.

We can usually treat stress incontinence with a brief outpatient bulking procedure.

Overactive Bladder

Overactive bladder is the most common bladder control problem we treat. Unlike stress incontinence, overactive bladder has little to do with a loss of support for the bladder.

Overactive bladder occurs when a patient has one or more of the following symptoms:

• Frequency – eight or more visits to the toilet per day
• Nocturia – 2 or more visits to the toilet per night
• Urgency – a sudden, strong urge to urinate
• Leakage – sudden, involuntary loss of urine

Patients may also have symptoms of both stress incontinence and overactive bladder, which is called mixed incontinence.

In men, the symptoms of OAB may be complicated by prostate issues, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which can have similar symptoms.