Urinary incontinence in women
Urinary incontinence is when you pee by accident. You may find it can happen when doing exercise like running, or jumping on a trampoline. If this is something that happens to you, you are not alone.
Although it's common, it shouldn't be thought of as normal. There are things you can do to reduce the chance of this happening and improve your symptoms.
Prevention
You shouldn't wait for symptoms to start. There are things you can do that may help reduce the chance of urinary incontinence in the future.
Do
- strengthen you pelvic floor muscles with simple pelvic floor exercises
- stay active
- maintain a healthy weight
- avoid or cut down on alcohol and caffeinated drinks, such as coffee, tea and some fizzy drinks
Types of urinary incontinence
The 2 most common types of urinary incontinence are:
- stress incontinence – when urine leaks out when your bladder is under pressure (when you laugh, cough, sneeze, are heavy lifting or exercising)
- urge incontinence – when you feel a sudden and very intense need to pass urine and are unable to stop it
You may experience both types of incontinence.
Certain things can increase the chances of urinary incontinence developing, including:
- pregnancy and vaginal birth
- being overweight
- a family history of incontinence
- getting older – but incontinence isn't an inevitable part of ageing
When to speak to your GP practice
Urinary incontinence is a common problem, estimated to affect 1 in 3 people in their lifetime.
Non-urgent advice: Speak to your GP practice if:
- you have any symptoms of urinary incontinence
Your GP will ask you some questions to understand what may be causing the incontinence and how bad it is.
They may ask you:
- whether you leak when you cough or laugh or sneeze or exercise
- whether you need the toilet a lot both in the day and during the night
- whether you have difficulty passing urine when you do go to the toilet
- how much fluid like water or juice, alcohol and caffeine you are drinking
- about any medications you may be taking
Diagnosis
Your doctor may firstly look to rule out other things that could be causing your symptoms, such as a urinary tract infection. Depending on your symptoms they may refer you to a specialist, usually a physiotherapist.
Your doctor, nurse or physiotherapist might suggest that you keep a bladder diary.
They'll tell you how to keep a bladder diary and the information that they would like you to provide. This will give them more information about it's affecting your day to day life and what your best treatment options might be.
Your doctor may also undertake a pelvic examination. This may involve an internal examination to check your womb (uterus) and pelvis as well as your tummy (abdomen). As this is an intimate examination, the doctor may have another person (chaperone) present. You can ask for a female doctor if you prefer. If there isn’t a female doctor available, you can ask if there’s another female health professional who can carry out the examination. The internal examination is similar to a smear test and should only take a few minutes.
In some cases of incontinence, your doctor may find that you have a prolapse. They'll explain this to you at the time. The doctor may also ask you to squeeze during an internal examination so that they can check your pelvic floor muscles.
Treatment
Treatments which do not involve taking medication or having surgery are usually tried first.
If these types of treatments don’t work for you, your healthcare professional may suggest trying other treatments such as medication or surgery. This will depend on the cause and type of incontinence you are experiencing.
Last updated:
01 June 2023