Urinary Incontinence During Menopause: Ways to Improve Bladder Control

Menopause is one of the biggest transitions in every woman's life, changing both health and well-being. Of all these changes, urinary incontinence in menopause can feel particularly overwhelming. When bladder control becomes difficult, it disrupts daily life and adds both physical and emotional stress that nobody needs. Remember this above all—you are not walking this path alone. Many women share your experience. If you are in this transition and looking for a women's urinary incontinence treatment, know that real solutions exist to help you regain confidence and control. Let us explore together how to care for your bladder health during menopause.

Understanding Bladder Changes During Menopause

Menopause comes with crucial changes in the hormone levels that affect bladder function and control. Such changes occur when oestrogen levels decrease, which is the primary reason, making the urethral lining thinner and weaker. This often results in untimely leaks. During menopause, your pelvic floor muscles, which are otherwise so important in supporting your bladder and urethra, weaken. For many women, urinary incontinence in menopause is, therefore, especially problematic.

Clearly, research has established the association between menopause and incontinence: 40% of women experience an overactive bladder after menopause. What is more, 70% of women who first present with bladder control problems, i.e. urinary incontinence, have changes noted during the same time their menopause starts.1 Such patterns inform treatment decisions and improve the ways to live with these changes during and after menopause.

Navigating Incontinence Through Your Menopause Journey

The different stages that the body goes through when passing through menopause bring with them bladder control variations to mark every phase. Stages include perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause.

• During perimenopause, your hormone imbalances change not just your periods but also how your pelvic floor muscles work and your bladder function. Most women notice different urinary patterns, such as needing to go more often to the toilet or having sudden urges since the oestrogen levels start falling. Understanding why these changes occur makes them easier to handle, even when they feel unavoidable and beyond control.
• At the onset of menopause, or twelve months without menstruation, you may notice that most of these changes become more apparent. Lower oestrogen levels cause tissue around your bladder and urethra to weaken. In addition, your pelvic floor muscles weaken, causing stress incontinence. Even the simple actions of coughing, sneezing, or laughing can cause an unexpected urine leakage.
• The post-menopausal period that extends throughout a woman’s life has its own difficulties due to persistently low levels of oestrogen, which causes long-term effects on your bladder tissues, vaginal tissues, and urethral tissues, making them thinner and less elastic. This will make urinary incontinence more obvious, but control and comfort may often be maintained using various management techniques, from simple changes to your daily habits to medical treatments.

Types of Urinary Incontinence in Menopause

Knowing what type of menopause incontinence occurs in you guides your choice of treatment. Recognising these patterns proves helpful when discussing with your healthcare provider what might help you find your path:

1. Stress incontinence happens when physical movements exert pressure against your bladder, causing leakage during activities such as coughing, sneezing, laughing, or exercise. This mainly occurs because lower levels of oestrogen weaken your muscles in the pelvic floor region, which then cannot assist your bladder properly.
2. Urge incontinence results from an overactive bladder, with sudden, strong urges to urinate, often causing leaks before reaching the toilet. This can happen at any time of day or night and disrupt sleep and daily activities. Changes in your bladder's nerve and muscle function, probably due to decreased oestrogen, usually cause this type of incontinence.
3. Some women have both—a mix of stress incontinence and urge incontinence—and this type is known as mixed incontinence.

Knowing your type will guide your treatment plans and lifestyle changes to manage your symptoms more efficiently.

Self-Management Without Surgery

The typical course of treatment for menopause-related incontinence is a combination of different approaches. Many women find relief through non-surgical techniques. Here are some strategies that can work:

Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor

Pelvic floor exercises, especially Kegels, are the basics of controlling urinary incontinence. These exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles holding your bladder, uterus, and bowel, helping you regain control. Regularly practising these exercises enhances bladder control and builds confidence in everyday activities, improving overall wellness.
Here's how to do Kegel exercises properly:

• Identify your pelvic floor muscles by trying to stop your urine flow midstream.
• Once you find them, tighten and release those muscles to build strength.
• Complete three sets of 10–15 repetitions daily—maybe while watching TV or practising at bedtime.

By doing Kegel exercises regularly, you will see a gradual improvement in the strength of your pelvic floor and more bladder control.

Lifestyle Changes & Bladder Training to Increase Control

Exercise alone cannot overcome incontinence. Lifestyle changes help reduce the frequency and urgency of visits to the toilet and, over time, increase muscle strength and control, enhancing your quality of life.
Make these lifestyle adjustments:

• Avoid bladder irritants such as caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods, and acidic items.
• Take fluids at frequent intervals throughout the day, distribute the fluid intake evenly, and reduce drinking fluids during evening hours/night to reduce the disturbances while sleeping (although discuss changes to nighttime fluid intake with your doctor).

Bladder training may also be helpful. Follow the practices given below:

• Establish a regular pattern of visiting the toilet, i.e. scheduling every 2–3 hours even if you do not feel a sensation of urgency.
• Gradually increase the time between each visit by 15 minutes if you become accustomed to the initial schedule.
• Practice holding urges with deep breathing and pelvic floor exercises, i.e. contraction by doing Kegels, to temporarily delay urination by a few minutes.

These lifestyle changes and bladder training activities work together to strengthen bladder muscles and help extend the time between toilet visits.

Manage Urinary Incontinence During Menopause

It is indeed challenging to live with urinary incontinence during menopause. However, proper strategies and support are available to help you manage your symptoms effectively and regain control over your life. After all, bladder issues do not have to limit your activities or affect your quality of life—many techniques and treatments can help you stay comfortable during this transition.

At JOGO, we offers painless, non-invasive Digital Therapeutics (DTx) solutions tailored to your needs to deliver a long-term outcome. Connect with us today.

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