Urinary Incontinence

Urinary Incontinence

There are many reasons of incontinence. The history often gives a clue to the diagnosis. There are five types of incontinence:-

1. TRUE incontinence - when the patient passes urine without warning. It must be remembered that the bladder remains empty in this condition.

2. FALSE (OVERFLOW) incontinence - when urine overflows from the distended bladder.

3. AUTOMATIC bladder - when there is periodic contraction of the bladder without patient's knowledge.

4. URGENCY incontinence - when the patient feels urgency to pass urine and if it is not possible a few drops may come out. This occurs in acute cystitis particularly in women and in benign hypertrophy of prostate in men.

5. STRESS incontinence - when a few drops of urine come out during physical strain ( eg-coughing, laughing, rising from a chair etc) due to slight weakness of the sphincteric mechanism.