Bladder-control problems may not be life-threatening, but they can certainly be embarrassing, inconvenient and uncomfortable. Fortunately for the millions of American women who have them, muscle training, medication and surgery can solve many of the problems.

Bladder-control problems are typically categorized as stress incontinence, urge incontinence or mixed incontinence. Stress incontinence causes women to leak urine when they cough, sneeze or laugh. Urge incontinence is marked by a frequent urge to urinate. Mixed incontinence is a combination of both problems.

Common causes of incontinence include infections, neurological disorders, age-related anatomical changes and cancer.

“Causes can be very diverse while the symptoms can be similar,” says James Choi, MD, a urologist at Hunterdon Medical Center.

Incontinence caused by infections can be treated successfully with antibiotics. Urge incontinence can be treated with medication to calm the bladder, but it often has side effects such as dry mouth, constipation and headache.

For stress incontinence, Dr. Choi recommends exercises to help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, such as Kegel exercises (see Kegels For Control article). Stress incontinence is often caused by anatomical changes resulting from childbirth or aging. For those who do not improve with Kegel exercises and wish to correct the anatomical changes, an outpatient surgical procedure can be to done to improve or cure the incontinence.

For mixed incontinency, which afflicts the majority of those with bladder control problems, treatment includes a combination of Kegel exercises and medication.

For more information, please call 908-788-6568.

James Choi, MD, is a urologist who recently joined the Hunterdon Medical Center staff. He previously practiced at Overlook Hospital in Summit, NJ, and is a graduate of NYU School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York.