Urinary Incontinence Awareness Campaign

Urinary incontinence is a touchy subject, so it remains an unspoken one. No one knows the exact percentage of women who suffer from leaky bladders, but experts suppose the number of actual cases is much higher than the number of cases reported and confirmed. Women just buy pads and adult diapers and suffer in silence. But that's a pity, since there are therapies that can really help solve this inconvenient and unpleasant health issue.

Speak Up

Wisconsin's Black River Memorial Hospital in Black River Falls will be holding an awareness campaign to encourage women to speak up about their problems with bladder control. The medical staff at this hospital hope to help the approximately one out of every three women who will deal with urinary incontinence during their time on this earth. "Women don’t mention their incontinence unless they’re having pretty severe problems with it," says Dr. Lea Coville, a family medicine physician from the Krohn Clinic who will be a featured speaker at the community program to be held at the hospital. "They try to manage it with liners or pads or by changing the things they do before they talk to anybody about it. They assume it’s just part of getting older and being a woman," the community program on urinary incontinence will be open to the public, free of charge.

Experts state that there is a wide range in the severity with which women experience urinary incontinence. There may be just a small spot of urine on the underwear or there may be enough leakage to soak through to a woman's outer garments. Coville stresses that early intervention can stop urinary incontinence before it becomes a more serious problem. She wants women to feel more free in speaking about such issues with their health providers, but would also like the providers to be more conscious of the issue and question their patients whether they suffer from incontinence. Once this topic is brought out into the open, she feels that women everywhere will have a better chance for a fuller, healthier life.

Very Treatable

Dr. Josiah Nelson, a urology specialist with Western Wisconsin who also sees patients at the Krohn Clinic and at BRMH explains that nine times out of ten, urinary incontinence stems from an underlying condition that is quite treatable. "It’s a difficult condition because even the simplest case can affect someone’s social, sexual or professional life when left untreated," said Nelson.

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