Incontinence

Most bladder and bowel problems can be treated - the products on these pages are not a cure, but are designed to be used alongside treatment and to cope with leaks that can make the difference between a fairly normal life and a very restricted one.

It is estimated that some 6 million people in Britain suffer from some form of incontinence: stress incontinence, passing urine accidentally when you laugh or cough; urge incontinence, needing to urinate very often; bladder control problems; night-time enuresis or bedwetting. Infections of the urinary tract can also cause incontinence. Men often develop incontinence problems associated with the prostate, which becomes enlarged with age, pressing on the urethra, and making it difficult to pass water. This often manifests itself through a need to get up several times during the night - because the bladder has difficulty squeezing out the urine, it doesn't get completely emptied, and therefore takes a shorter time to fill up again.

Bowel incontinence or faecal incontinence is not so common, but occurs more often than you might think, because it is something that people are very reluctant to talk about. It may be caused by damage to the anal sphincter muscles which normally control bowel movements, diarrhoea or constipation, as a result of surgery, or following nerve or spinal cord injury.

Continence nurses specialise in helping people to manage their incontinence problems. They can help diagnose causes, provide exercises to help strengthen pelvic floor muscles, and advise on strategies and products to help manage the situation.