Word: nygaard
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Increasingly, however, advertisements for urinary incontinence drugs have made women aware of the prevalence of the condition and its treatments. Not so for fecal incontinence, says Nygaard, which she calls a "profoundly embarrassing" condition for most patients. It can be attributed to muscle damage during childbirth, but a more common cause is irritable bowel syndrome. Most patients are shocked when they discover just how common prolapse and leakage problems are - about one in 10 women will have surgery to address the disorders, Nygaard says...
...factors that increased the risk of incontinence, the study found, were obesity and childbirth. Although the odds of suffering a pelvic-floor disorder were lower for thin women who had not been pregnant, there is no way to avoid the risk altogether, Nygaard says. But there are few simple things women can do to lower risk, including changing two common habits. For one thing, Nygaard says, she sees too many of her patients lugging around one-liter bottles of water. This trend makes it more likely that women will drink too much water, leading to what doctors call urge incontinence...
Another possible culprit: those addictive lattes. Caffeine is a diuretic that is believed to increase the urge to urinate. Though the association between caffeine and incontinence requires further study, Nygaard suggests that for women who know they already have incontinence, it doesn't hurt to "keep caffeine down to one or two cups...
...also important for women to raise the issue with their family physician or gynecologist. Physicians have to depend on patients to detail symptoms like urinary and fecal incontinence that are not apparent in a routine physical exam. Pelvic-organ prolapse, in severe cases, may be obvious to a doctor, Nygaard said, but in some cases women don't necessarily feel discomfort, so patients need to explain their symptoms and ask for a physical exam...
...most important thing a woman can do, given the study's conclusion that a pelvic-floor disorder may be in her future, is to get better acquainted with the condition and its cures. Surgery is not the only treatment, Nygaard says. Rather, there is a wide range of other therapies, including drugs, lifestyle changes, biofeedback, pelvic muscle exercises and medical devices that relieve prolapse without surgery. Nygaard, a past president of the American Urogynecologic Society, suggests visiting the group's website for a guide to the disorder and helpful advice for women...