OVERACTIVE BLADDER

Urinary incontinence is the inability to control the release of urine from your bladder. The problem has varying degrees of severity. Some people experience only occasional, minor leaks — or dribbles — of urine. Others wet their clothes frequently. For a few, incontinence means both urinary and fecal incontinence — the uncontrollable loss of stools.

Stress incontinence. This is loss of urine when you exert pressure — stress — on your bladder by coughing, sneezing, laughing, exercising or lifting something heavy. It has nothing to do with psychological stress. The problem is especially noticeable when you let your bladder get too full. Stress incontinence is the most common type of incontinence, often affecting women. Physical changes resulting from pregnancy, childbirth and menopause can cause stress incontinence. In men, removal of the prostate gland can lead to this type of incontinence.

Urge incontinence. This is a sudden, intense urge to urinate, followed by an involuntary loss of urine. Your body may give you a warning of only a few seconds to a minute to reach a toilet. With urge incontinence, you may also need to urinate often. The need to urinate may even wake you up several times a night. Some people with urge incontinence have a strong desire to urinate when they hear water running or after they drink only a small amount of liquid. Simply going from sitting to standing may even cause you to leak urine. Urge incontinence may be caused by a urinary tract infection or by anything that irritates the bladder. It can also be caused by bowel problems or damage to the nervous system associated with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, stroke or injury. In urge incontinence, the bladder is said to be "overactive" — it's contracting even when your bladder isn't full. In fact, urge incontinence is sometimes called overactive bladder or irritable bladder.

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