Outside Influences on Incontinence
This article was part of our series for World Continence Week 2024.
Incontinence does unfortunately not exist in a vacuum. This means that many things can make incontinence more likely to occur. Today’s article is about four of those factors: food, fluid, weight, and medication.
Food & Drink
Aside from being necessary to survive, good food is also one of the great joys of life. However, when it comes to incontinence, we have to look at how the choice of food (and fluid intake) can affect it. The issues here will be more general, but fear not, we also have an article on specific foods and beverages to avoid when dealing with incontinence.
Aside from the effects of different kinds of food & drink, the amount also has a role to play. Simply put, the more you eat or drink, especially late at night and especially alcohol, the higher the likelihood of night-time episodes of incontinence. Generally speaking, most advice for sound food intake counts doubly so when dealing with incontinence. That means less alcohol, caffeine, and dairy, less fat and grease, and more fibre.
Aside from the chemical reasons (e.g., dairy or spicy food potentially upsetting the digestive tract & worsening incontinence), there is another reason why this advice mirror generally dietary best practice: weight. Obesity increases the risk of incontinence and worsens existing incontinence. It does so by creating more pressure on the bladder and the pelvic floor. This is also why weight has an even stronger effect on urinary incontinence than faecal incontinence: the extra pressure can cause stress incontinence by actively forcing urine out. However, this also means that if the extra weight is the sole cause of the incontinence, weight loss and changes to the diet can be enough to fix the continence issues.
Pelvic Floor Muscles
If you have dealt with incontinence for any amount of time, the phrase “pelvic floor exercises” is probably familiar to you (but on the off-chance it isn’t, we have an article on that, too). Just to recap though, the pelvic floor muscles support the organs in your pelvis (bladder, bowel, and uterus) in their functions, so weakness of these muscles can lead to or worsen incontinence. Aside from weight affecting the pelvic floor, these muscles can be weakened by a variety of causes, including but not limited to:
- Pregnancy
- Childbirth
- Chronic constipation
- Weakening muscle strength over long periods of time (e.g., working a job involving heavy lifting)
- Changes in hormonal levels (e.g., menopause)
- Age
Medical Conditions & Medication
Like we wrote at the start of this article, incontinence does not exist in a vacuum, and this is not limited to just a person’s diet, fluid management, and weight. Here are some medical conditions to consider as causes of or effects on incontinence:
Cardiovascular Diseases (e.g., heart failure or stroke) affect incontinence mainly in two ways: hormones secreted from the heart can become distorted, leading to either overflow or aridity, which can in turn lead to unconscious voiding, and heart failure medication (such as diuretics) aiding fluid distribution can likewise cause urinary incontinence.
Neurological Conditions (e.g., Parkinson’s disease) can affect the nerves communicating between brain, bladder, and bowel, and lead to involuntary voiding due to little warning that an episode of incontinence is imminent.
Bladder Infections are usually accompanied by intense urges to urinate, which commonly causes continence issues, especially in the elderly. However, when caused by such an infection, treating these continence problems is sometimes as easy as taking antibiotics for the infection or “flushing it out” by drinking copious amounts of water.
Prostate Cancer forms a tumour that can alter the function of the urinary tract, usually by exerting a great deal of pressure on the bladder due to the tumour growth.
What Does This Mean For You?
It all boils down to one point: Incontinence rarely exist randomly or by itself. While this means that there are many things that can cause or worsen your incontinence, it also means that there are many potential fixes! Dietary and lifestyle changes and pelvic floor exercises can have a massive effect on continence. Similarly, knowing that continence issues might be caused by other medical conditions or medication can direct treatment in the right direction.