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There are at least 20 million people in the United States with a sometimes embarrassing problem. It's called urinary incontinence. Of those 20 million, 40 percent never tell their doctor about it, and half of those rarely get treated.
There are at least five types of urinary incontinence. Two of the most frequent are stress and urge incontinence. The good news is you don't have to live with it. In simple terms, it’s loss of bladder control.
There's a treatment available right here in Bay County that is helping hundreds of people get their life back to normal.
Physician Assistant Bea Soto is helping people overcome an all too common, often embarrassing and frustrating problem.
“That's where there's a weakness around the bladder neck and weakness in the pelvic floor muscles. If you cough or sneeze or get up from a sitting position to a standing position or bend over or lift that exerts a downward physical pressure on the bladder.”
It may be common, but it's not a normal part of the aging process. There is non-surgical help available right here in our area. It's called Electro Stimulation. It helps strengthen the pelvic muscle and in turn makes the urgency symptoms either decrease or stop all together.
Bea Soto says it also helps increase the bladder capacity so you don't have to go to the bathroom as often.
"By way of a computer we deliver artificial stimulation by way of the little sensor to the pelvic muscle. This makes the muscle contract and relax, contract and relax for a period of time and the time period depends on how weak or strong the muscle is at the time we evaluate that muscles group on each visit.”
The program also teaches you how to do pelvic floor exercises which are also called Cagle exercises. The main message is you don't have to live with urinary incontinence.
"It is something that is treatable and sometimes curable, so there is no sense in losing your self control and being depressed and having odorous condition and having to buy all kinds of equipment and supplies to take care of the situation. There is this non-surgical, non painful no side effect procedure.
The direct cause of urinary incontinence can be anything from past pelvic or gynecological surgeries, gaining weight, certain medications to certain medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis or diabetes.
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