Urinary incontinence, leaky bladder common, but embarrassing topic to bring up with doctor

SALT LAKE CITY — Urinary incontinence is embarrassing to talk about and hard to admit, but doctors say it can be fixed.

"You don't need to live your life wearing a diaper all the time," said Dr. Christopher Hutchison, an OB-GYN at Intermountain Healthcare's Riverton Hospital.

He said he often has to go the roundabout way of getting women to talk about their urinary incontinence, but a good percentage of his patients are dealing with it.

"I'd say about 40 percent of them won't say anything about it if I don't ask," he said.

Hutchison, along with Dr. Orrenzo Snyder, a urologist at Riverton Hospital, will be featured on Saturday's Deseret News/Intermountain Healthcare Health Hotline, where they will take questions about female urinary incontinence. From 10 a.m. until noon, individuals can call 1-800-925-8177, or post questions online at the Deseret News' Facebook page, www.facebook.com/desnews.

Various types of incontinence — stress incontinence, urge incontinence or a mixture of the two — can be caused by poor genes, weak muscles, unhealthy lifestyles and/or an overactive bladder muscle, among other things. Most commonly, a leaky or bulging bladder has something to do with vaginal prolapse, which is a splitting of the muscles in the vaginal wall, allowing the bladder to sag internally.

Multiple pregnancies, hysterectomy and menopause can also contribute to the causes of female incontinence. However, that is not always the case.

Many women put up with the symptoms, but Hutchison said nearly all types of incontinence can be fixed, resulting in a better quality of life.

"There's a social stigma associated with incontinence," Snyder said. Putting up with the symptoms over the years, however, will not cause permanent damage.

Weight loss can sometimes help in the case of stress incontinence, which happens when coughing, sneezing, jogging or other activity leads to a loss of control of the bladder. But oftentimes, women must endure the inconveniences of urine leakage while losing the weight as most types of exercise can spur it on.

Men don't typically have the same issues with incontinence because their bladder is supported by the structure of the pelvis, Hutchison said.

He hopes women aren't just living with the constant annoyances incontinence causes, dealing with absorbent pads or diapers. Most cases, he said, can be prevented by "just taking care of yourself."