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Latest Articles
You Docs tips to avoiding incontinence
By The You Docs on January 28, 2012
What embarrassing health secret do teen athletes, guys in their 40s to 90s, mid-life women and military parachute trainees share but rarely ‘fess up to? Bladder problems. We’re talking dribbles, sudden leaks, mad dashes to the bathroom and pad-soaking floods.
Thanks to the billion-dollar absorbent-products industry — there are now even padded boxer shorts — it’s easier than ever to hide incontinence. But should you?
You may have heard that this wet-underwear issue is on the rise. More than half of women deal with it, and it’s increased 30 per cent in men just since 2002. Aging, hormone changes, pregnancy, childbirth, physical stress (gymnastics to parachuting) all play roles, but so do new factors like the obesity-plus-diabetes epidemic and the increase in radiation and surgery for prostate cancer. About 156,000 men have potentially life-saving prostate cancer surgery each year; 80 per cent leak for at least six months, and up to 65 per cent still have incontinence issues after five years.
More guys than once thought — as many men as women — also have bladder muscle spasms (a.k.a. overactive bladders), triggering panicky “gotta go” urges; however, these often are misdiagnosed as enlarged prostate problems. See a urologist to be sure.
That’s a lot of Depends and daily difficulties for loads of people (you?). Incontinence dampens your enthusiasm for exercise, sex, going out (you’re always looking for a restroom), even attending meetings (gotta . . . hold . . . it . . . till break time).
Yet few women and fewer men ask for help. The price of silence: missing out on improving stay-dry solutions. Among them:
Squeeze this. The exercises called Kegels help more than 80 per cent of women with stress incontinence — the leak-when-you-sneeze type — stay way dryer. The surprise? They work for guys, too. Men with overactive bladders — the gotta-go-now-oops-didn’t-make-it type — have fewer accidents when they do Kegels daily. So do men who’ve had prostate surgery.
The trick? Working the right muscles. Many people squeeze their butt, thigh or tummy muscles by mistake. To find your pelvic-floor muscles, do this: On your next bathroom trip, stop your stream of urine, then throw in the clench you’d use to hold back gas (yep, a fart). Those are the muscles you’re after. Squeeze, then completely relax them. Build up to 20 to 30 a day. Since nobody can see this, you can do Kegels anywhere: pumping gas, at your desk, in a grocery line.
Skip go-go-go drinks. It’s a no-brainer that your bladder’s going to yell after chugging a giant bottle of water, but you may be overstimulating it in other ways. Caffeine, fizzy drinks, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, tomatoes and citrus can all trigger an overwhelming urge to go.
Keep a “pee diary.” For three days, write down what you do and when your bladder loses control. Then look for connections. You may find patterns you can change easily, like the afternoon urge that always hits after your big-gulp diet cola. You may also find connections your doctor can help with (see below), like a bladder that always acts up when you walk in the front door.
Work with your doc. You owe it to yourself if you’re not staying dry.
• Get a check for health problems or medications (like some blood pressure drugs) that can cause trouble.
• Be sure you’re doing Kegels correctly. If not, a physical therapist can quickly make a big difference.
• For overactive bladders, discuss hypnosis, visualization, acupuncture and bladder retraining techniques. All can put your brain back in control so you can stroll — not sprint — to the toilet.
• There are also prescription drugs that calm overactive bladders.
• Surgical techniques can help tightly shut your urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body) or reposition a bladder that shifted during childbirth.
• For women, a plastic ring called a pessary can also stabilize a shifty bladder or tighten a leaky urethra.
• There are other treatments too, including muscle injections and nerve stimulants.
Speak up. Soon you’ll be walking right past those pads in the drugstore and taking long road trips worry-free.
YouDocs Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen are authors of YOU: Losing Weight. Order it at StarStore.ca. Submit questions and find more info at RealAge.com
How To Prevent Leaks And Dribbles Down There
By The You Docs on January 16, 2012
Topping off the growing stack of great stuff that vitamin D-3 does for you is this good news: Keeping your levels up dramatically lowers your risk for PDQ (Pee Doesn't Quit).
Medically, it's called urinary incontinence. You probably call it "Oh no." Turns out there's one thing many of the 10 million women struggling with it share: low levels of D-3. It makes them (you?) a whopping 170 percent more likely to leak than those with a healthy level of D-3. Why? The vitamin may help muscle tone in your sphincter, the muscle that stops dribbles. (By the way, men leak, too; it's just a better-kept secret. We don't know yet whether low D affects guys.)
The Department of Defense should be so lucky as to have such a simple way to prevent leaks.
How to be sure you're not D-ficient? A simple blood test. We like to see D-3 levels between 50 and 80. If you're low (up to 75 percent of folks are, especially in winter), take 1,000 IU of D-3 a day; 1,200 after age 60. Include what's in your multivitamin and combo calcium-D-3-magnesium pill. Don't go over 2,000 IU unless your doc says to. Too much can harm bones and kidneys.
Also, take 900 mg of DHA omega-3s daily. These healthy fats help you absorb vitamin D-3 (and do good things for your heart and brain). However, it's not easy to get enough DHA from food.
Bonus: While helping to keep you dry (what a relief), D-3 also protects you against asthma, dementia and the flu!
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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- Tips
Bladder Cancer Linked to Smoking Research Shows
By on October 28, 2011
Facts
Diagnosing Bladder Cancer
Blood in the urine is the first warning sign of most bladder cancers. The urine may be a very pale yellow-red or, less often, darker red. Blood can appear one day and not the next, usually reappearing with bladder cancer. Although the blood may come from other, non-cancerous causes, it needs to be checked by a doctor.
Changes in bladder habits or irritative symptoms: Bladder cancer can cause changes in urination, such as needing to urinate more often than usual, feeling pain or burning during urination; and feeling as if you need to go right away even when the bladder isn't full. Conditions like infection, bladder stones, overactive bladder or enlarged prostate can cause this too, but it needs to be checked.
If the cancer is large, people may have additional symptoms such as lower back pain or being unable to urinate.
Source: American Cancer Society
For more on cancer, as well as other health-related articles, read Polk MD in Saturday's Ledger.
Bladder Training Tips to Reduce Bathroom Trips
By Anne Harding on September 27, 2011
It's important to go the bathroom when you need to. "Holding it" can actually stretch your bladder, making it difficult to empty it completely.
But there's such a thing as going too often. (The norm is around seven bathroom trips daily.)
An overactive bladder contracts abnormally, triggering the urge to urinate too often. This can lead to urge incontinence, which occurs when you suddenly feel a strong urge to urinate but don't make it to the bathroom in time.
The good news is that bladder training can help.
What to Eat When You Have Overactive Bladder.
By Medical Reviewer: Susan Shaw, MD on September 27, 2011
Imagine a heaping plate of pasta with marinara sauce and a glass of wine, followed by a slice of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee. For many people, that would be a big night at their favorite Italian restaurant. But if you have overactive bladder (OAB), it could be the prelude to many hurried bathroom visits.
Always Need to Go? Bladder Retraining Can Help.
By Medical Reviewer: Susan Shaw, MD on September 27, 2011
Having an overactive bladder can be frustrating, even debilitating. The frequent, sudden urge to go, the accidental leaks, the constant worry of finding a restroom—all of it can take a major toll on your quality of life. But with bladder retraining, you can cut down on unwanted bathroom breaks and learn how to manage your overactive bladder.
Botulinum Toxin Effective in OAB Patients without Detrusor Overactivity
By Jody A. Charnow on August 31, 2011
GLASGOW—Intravesical botulinum toxin may be an effective treatment for overactive bladder (OAB) without detrusor overactivity (DOA) on urodynamic assessment, a study found. Intravesical botulinum toxin injections are an established therapy for OAB, but most studies have focused on patients with DOA, according to investigators at Nottingham University Hospitals in Nottingham, U.K. Up to 66% of patient with OAB, however, lack this finding, the researchers noted.
Antibiotics May Improve Treatment of Overactive Bladder
By Jody A. Charnow on August 29, 2011
GLASGOW—Antibiotics may be a useful adjunctive treatment for overactive bladder (OAB), according to British researchers. About 50% of patients presenting with OAB appear to have an infection or an inflammatory process at the heart of their OAB etiology, despite presenting with negative routine urinalyses, they noted.
FDA approves Botox for loss of bladder control
By Anna Yukhananov and Bill Berkrot on August 26, 2011
U.S. drug regulators approved Allergan's Botox for treating a specific kind of overactive bladder on Wednesday, setting the stage for wider use of the popular wrinkle treatment in those with bladder problems.
