WHAT IS BLADDER LEAKAGE?
Bladder Leakage or Urinary Incontinence is a loss of control over your bladder, which results in you leaking urine in your pants. The leakage is mostly uncontrollable and involuntary. It is most commonly seen in people of the older generation, especially women.
Shyamprasad Pandey from Delhi wrote to us expressing his heartfelt gratitude, “I used to lay in bed all day. My friends were making trips to Europe after retirement. I never went; how could I? I leaked urine every time I sneezed or coughed. I switched to Friends Adult Diapers a year ago; since then, I have visited Italy, Norway, and many local places in India. I want to thank everybody who works to make the dreams of people like us a reality!”
Friends is India’s No. 1 Adult Diaper Brand. With Tape Style Diaper, Pants Style Diaper, Premium Diaper, and many more, we give you a wide variety to choose what fits your needs. Our diapers are chemical fragrance-free, sulphur, and paraben-free and contain no bleaching. With Friends, Azadi Mubarak to you! Your kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra make up your urinary system. Each has a job to perform within the system.
Your kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra make up your urinary system. Each has a job to perform within the system. Your kidneys help in removing the waste from your body by filtering your blood which creates urine. The urine moves down to the bladder through two thin pipes called ureters. It reaches your bladder through these pipes. It is your bladder’s job to hold in the pee till it's full, and you receive a signal from your brain to go use the bathroom. The sphincter muscle opens up to let the urine pass out of the body through the urethra.
When this system is working properly, you get the time you need to go to the bathroom whenever required. Bladder leakage happens when these parts of your body do not function as they are meant to.
WHAT CAUSES BLADDER LEAKAGE?
You might be suffering from a bladder leakage due to a variety of different reasons, including:
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Alcohol
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Spicy foods
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Ageing
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Caffeine
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Menopause
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Surgery
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Pregnancy
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Childbirth, etc.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF INCONTINENCE?
There are different types of urinary incontinence with different causes, triggers, and solutions.
They are:
URGE INCONTINENCE
In urge incontinence, you have an intense need to pee right away. This happens at a speed that does not give you the chance to find a bathroom quickly enough. It can be caused by a condition called OAB or an Overactive Bladder. You could be experiencing urge incontinence because of:
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Weak pelvic floor muscles
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Nerve damage due to abdominal trauma, pelvic trauma, surgery, etc.
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Low levels of reproductive hormones after menopause
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Obesity
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Heavy levels of alcohol intake
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Heavy levels of caffeine intake
STRESS INCONTINENCE
In this type of incontinence, you leak urine while doing daily activities that engage the muscles of your lower abdomen. Your pelvic floor becomes weak and no longer supports your pelvic organs as it should. You leak urine when you’re moving around, jumping, lifting things off surfaces, sneezing, laughing, etc., all of these actions put pressure on your bladder, and since your pelvic muscles are not strong enough to help the bladder hold pee in, you start leaking. Men who might have gone through prostate surgery have higher chances of developing stress incontinence.
OVERFLOW INCONTINENCE
When you use the bathroom, your bladder does not completely empty itself. Take the example of a water jug. If you don’t pour all the water out of the jug, it will fill up again more quickly than before and have a higher chance of spilling water out. The same is with the people who suffer from overflow incontinence. There is always some fluid that remains in their bladder, causing urine leaks. Usually, this type of incontinence results in people dribbling small amounts of urine. People with diseases like diabetes, stroke, or multiple sclerosis suffer from overflow incontinence. Pads are generally made for people who suffer from overflow incontinence.
Did you know Friends also has Adult Insert Pads? These pads have core padding to ensure the target areas have maximum absorbency and are perfect for stress incontinence. With adhesive tabs, the garment remains secure in its place. It has a standing leak guard to prevent accidents, and it is designed for both men and women.
Friends has got you covered literally!
MIXED INCONTINENCE
Leakage issues are caused by this type of incontinence due to many different reasons. You might be dealing with stress incontinence and an overactive bladder all at the same time.
BLADDER LEAKAGE SOLUTIONS
Keep a diary. It sounds a little tedious and boring, we know, but it helps. Track your visits to the bathroom. They should not exceed more than 7 times a day. Write down the number of times you leaked urine. Make this diary your best friend and let it know what you had for breakfast, lunch, dinner, everything! This will help you keep track of foods that are secretly working against you. Some things you can do to help control bladder leakage are:
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Exercise daily
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Do daily Kegel or pelvic floor exercises to help your pelvic floor muscles in becoming stronger
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Stop smoking
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Avoid lifting
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Do the right exercises
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Lose excess weight
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Cut down on caffeine
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Cut down on alcohol
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Eat the right foods by having nutritious meals with a balanced diet
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Drink plenty of water
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Schedule bathroom breaks and try holding off going to the bathroom for some time
If bladder leakage has hampered your routine too much, you should see a doctor start your bladder leakage treatment.
BLADDER LEAKAGE PRODUCTS
Treatments can help you cure the problem, but products will help you in better managing bladder leakage. There are dozens of products available in the market today to help you manage incontinence, but there are also many things to consider. Finding what’s right for you can be difficult when the products available in the market just don’t tick the right boxes.
Let us help you out a little bit. Friends Adult Diapers are the way to go for anyone suffering from incontinence. Friends diapers are made with the softest material to give you a premium experience; it fits you just right to prevent urine leaks, elastic that doesn’t dig in or cause irritation, and technology that can absorb 1 litre or more of urine. Friends is for everyone!
Some of the other products that are available in the market today are:
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Bladder leakage pads – Pads for urine leakage are available in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Pads are usually curved to catch urine easily.
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Bladder leakage liners are wider and longer than pads and provide all-round protection.
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Disposable undergarments have built-in protection throughout the garment to absorb fluids.
Bladder leakage causes a lot of shame, guilt, and embarrassment for the person. They may hide away from the world due to incontinence. We need to be kinder to people who are silently struggling and strive to find solutions to make this world a better place for them.
