Menopausal women

Estrogen levels drop dramatically during menopause, causing different effects on the body, one being the need to go to the bathroom more frequently.

Estrogen stimulates blood flow to the pelvic region which contributes to keeping your pelvic floor muscles in good shape, as the blood flow reduces duirng menopause, the muscles become weaker and there is less blood flow to the lining of the bladder and urethra. The pelvic floor muscles may not have sufficient strength to close the bladder effectively causing unwanted urine leakage.

This is all part of the natural ageing process and can be remedied along the way by simple regular pelvic floor exercises or regular use of SmartBalls.

The different types of incontinence:

• Stress Incontinence: this is a very common type of bladder weakness often associated with sneezing, coughing, laughing, and jumping, where pressure on the abdomen pushes on the bladder and can lead to urine leakage.
  
  
• Urge Incontinence: Urge incontinence is the most common type of incontinence. You may suddenly feel you have a desperate need to go to the toilet. Urge incontinence is often experienced by menopausal women.
  
  
• Mixed Incontinence: This type of incontinence is caused by a mixture of both stress incontinence and urge incontinence.
  
  
• Overflow Incontinence: During overflow incontinence your bladder cannot empty completely. As a result, your bladder will fill up very quickly making you feel like you need to go to the bathroom very frequently. Leakage is common.

Treatments for incontinence

Many women are too embarrassed to ask for help. Some women do not realise how many other women are also suffering from incontinence. There are many simple, effective and inexpensive treatments that we recommend considering and trying before seeking more radical options such as surgery.

What you eat and drink can improve your bladder strength:

• Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day to flush the bladder. Whilst to start with you may have to go to the toilet more frequently, this will drop off as your system reaches an equilibrium.
  
  
• Reduce caffeine intake from coffee, tea and ‘smart drinks’.
  
  
• Smoking can also exacerbate bladder weakness.
  
  
  

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Pelvic Floor or Kegel exercises, done regularly are an effective way to correct and prevent bladder weakness. Find out more on different ways to do pelvic floor exercises.

SmartBalls

SmartBalls are an easy to use system for toning your pelvic floor muscles. Worn vaginally as you go about you daily business, Smart Balls allow you to get your muscles in great shape without having to squeeze, lie down or even think about them. And this is true for women during menopause too – we are often asked ‘Is it too late to start, I’m menopausal’ – the good news is its never to late to start, menopause is the beginning of another stage of life for women, and one that can be enjoyed, without the worry of incontinence.

Smart Balls are easy and effective for preventing and correcting bladder weakness are for menopausal women and women of all ages and life stages. Smart Balls are not recommended for use during pregnancy and are ideal before and after giving birth, pre/during and post menopause and for older women. Find out more on how to use Smart Balls.

Natratone

NatraTone is a clinically proven exercise device and programme that has been designed by women, for women, as a treatment choice for Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) or light to moderate bladder weakness.

The 6 week Natratone programme is easy to follow and many women notice an improvement within as little as 10 days.

NatraTone teaches women how to correctly train and strengthen their pelvic floor and inner core muscles in a minimum 6 week programme incorporating exercise (5 minutes, twice a day, 3 x week) with NatraTone’s NatraToner (the small white bone shaped device). The Natratoner is inserted a small way in the vaginal opening and the pelvic floor muscles are squeezed around the device, following the simple exercises-as shown on the DVD.

Natratone can be used by women of all ages and life stages and we recommend for women who have POP (pelvic organ prolapse), are considering surgery for incontinence issues and for pregnant women.

Bladder Retraining

How to train your bladder to urinate less frequently:

• Drink 6-8 glasses of water each day, and delay going to the toilet each time, first by 5 minutes building up to each time by a few more minutes.
  
  
• Work towards delaying urination starting at 1-2 minutes after you get the urge and increasing over time.

View the step by step instructions on how to retrain your bladder.