2 Options To Tackle Menopausal Incontinence

Incontinence is possibly one of those symptoms that are never part of polite conversation, even if it is fairly common during menopause. There’s a reason why leaks happen while coughing, sneezing, or laughing: the lack of hormones – which is already affecting you all over – is also weakening the pelvic floor muscle, which essentially holds the bladder in place. 

I’ll try to save my own embarrassing anecdotes, but I will share two different approaches to help you banish incontinence for good: Kegel exercises and timed voiding.

First, Kegel exercises:

Kegel exercises are described by gynecologists as the gold standard when it comes to fighting menopausal incontinence. They are basically weight lifting for your pelvic floor muscles, and are also said to improve libido and fix vaginal dryness because they stimulate blood flow to the area.

Sources: 34-menopause-symptoms.com

The idea is to repeatedly squeeze your pelvic floor muscles – as if you were trying to stop your urine mid-flow. Just hold the squeeze for 3 seconds, and then relax for 3 more seconds before doing another rep. The goal should be 10 reps, three times a day, for at least a week before trying to increase your “holding” time by one second. 

The only downside of Kegels: they take a bit of patience – about a month before you can sneeze without fear. So the other approach I tried was mostly to play it safe while Kegels became effective.

Second approach, timed voiding:

Timed voiding is a way to take preemptive action against “accidents” by scheduling your trips to the bathroom beforehand. The concept is simple: go to restroom, even if you don’t feel the need to, at a certain interval, every day. This way, you can make sure your bladder is never so full as to let loose during inconvenient times of the day.

However, this approach requires a fair bit of planning ahead in order to calculate your ideal intervals and to schedule them in a way that they are consistent with your meal and drink schedule. Some people use special vibrating watches, although an interval alarm on your smartphone is just as good. The other downside is that this method will require you to avoid road trips or long errand runs in which you won’t have a restroom around… at least until the Kegels take effect. 

An extra option against menopausal incontinence includes taking some menopause supplements. I’ve had a great experience combining Macafem and cranberry supplements, which kept me from getting a UTI (which is sadly very common if you have incontinence).

I hope this helps!

 

Sources

https://www.nationalincontinence.com/s/TimedVoiding

http://www.34-menopause-symptoms.com/incontinence/articles/4-must-know-facts-about-kegel-exercises.htm