What are the symptoms of urinary incontinence?

• Leaky urine when laughing, sneezing or coughing (stress incontinence)
• Urge to urinate, often leaking urine without any control over your bladder
• Tiny drops of urine leaking from your bladder (overflow incontinence)

---

When the type and cause of urinary incontinence have been established, medical or surgical management can be decided. There are a few types of urinary incontinence, including:

• Stress incontinence occurs when you leak urine when your bladder is put under sudden extra pressure – for example, when you cough. It's not related to feeling stressed. Stress incontinence is due to overly stretched pelvic muscles or a weak sphincter which cause it to weaken and allow urine to escape uncontrollably.

Other actions that may cause urine to leak include:

• Sneezing or laughing
• Weight lifting
• Any form of exercise

Cause: Any excessive pressure on your bladder, such as exercising, laughing or sneezing, can cause urine to seep out of your urethra if you have stress incontinence. Your urethra may not be able to remain closed if the muscles in your pelvic floor muscles are too weak or if your urethral sphincter – the ring of muscle that keeps the urethra closed – is injured.

---

• Urge incontinence (overactive bladder contractions) is another widespread type of urinary incontinence that happens when the brain transmits messages, instructing the bladder to drain even when it isn’t full. Urge incontinence is when you feel a very intense need to urinate, and you're unable to delay relieving yourself. There are only a few seconds between the urge to urinate and the release of urine.

Cause: The urgent need to pass urine can be caused by an issue with the detrusor muscles in the bladder walls. The detrusor muscles relax, allowing the bladder to collect urine, then contract when you go to the toilet to let the urine out. Sometimes the detrusor muscles contract too much, creating a need to go to the toilet. This is known as an overactive bladder.

---

• Overflow incontinence is when the bladder cannot become entirely empty when you pass urine. This causes the bladder to swell abnormally. If you have overflow incontinence, you may urinate in small amounts frequently. It may also feel that your bladder is not completely empty, and you cannot empty it fully even when you try. This is typically seen in Diabetic patients.

Cause: Overflow incontinence is often caused by a blockage affecting your bladder. Your bladder may fill up, but because of a blockage, you will not be able to relieve it entirely, even when you try.

At that time, pressure from the urine that's left in your bladder accumulates behind the blockage, causing frequent leaks.

Your bladder can be blocked by an enlarged prostate gland (males), bladder stones or constipation. Overflow incontinence may also be a result of your detrusor muscles that are unable to contract, which means your bladder cannot empty when you urinate. As a result, the bladder expands.

Your detrusor muscles may not contract if there is damage to your nerves or you are taking certain medications.

---

• Neurogenic incontinence is when a person lacks bladder control due to a defective nervous system. You may pass urine often or have frequent leaking.

Cause: This may be caused by a problem with the bladder from birth, a spinal injury that can interfere with the nerve signals between your brain and your bladder or a bladder fistula. This small, tunnel-like hole can form between the bladder and a nearby area, such as the vagina.