Control Incontinence.  Enjoy Being a Senior!
By Marja Sprock, M.D.

I've been asked by a Senior Medical Magazine "Could you give the seniors some idea of what to expect concerning urine and stool control when they progress in age?  Isn’t it normal to leak urine when you get older?"

“Not really” I answer, “the chance increases, when we age, but by all means there is so much that can be done to control urine and stool nowadays."

Urinary incontinence comes in a lot of different varieties and a lot of women will be helped by being taught pelvic floor or Kegel exercises correctly. This should not just be taught by a friendly lady encouraging you to squeeze harder, since if you do not know where and how to squeeze there will be no difference.

At Central Florida UroGynecology, we have small sensors that can be placed in the vagina and will be connected to a computer screen, to see and feel how to contract the muscles. Yes, we have the friendly lady too; she will be guiding and watching you and the computer screen. Guess what…. for urinary incontinence most women come in once a week for 3 weeks and master the pelvic floor or Kegel exercises. You will be surprised to find out how many seniors it has helped out of diapers or away from pads. Obviously there is much more that can be done and often needs to be done, but do not under estimate the power of correctly performed pelvic floor exercises.

A granddaughter flew in her grandma from Oklahoma; she was worried since her 79 year old Grandma had trouble holding stool and urine. Grandma used to be so upbeat and started to withdraw from life. She was in diapers and never knew what would be excreted where. She had tried to look for help in her home state, however had not accomplished much. When Grandma came to Central Florida UroGynecology in Rockledge, Florida, the granddaughter basically told me to take care of her beloved grandma, whatever it would take. By the way, Grandma wholeheartedly agreed with her granddaughter, they were a good team. After some tests for urine and stool, I had documented that the problem was quite severe and debilitating. There are nerve stimulators, pacemakers for bowel and bladder, and I expected that was where we were heading. However I always start with the basics. If someone is found to have weak muscles, start training them first!

Remember the small probe in the vagina to learn the correct way of contracting the pelvic floor muscles; it does not only help in prevention of urine leakage, but also leakage of stool.

Guess what?  Grandma flew back to Oklahoma, 2 months after arrival in Florida, without diapers, without pads, without surgery.

For fecal incontinence, I usually do 6 sessions of the pelvic floor muscle training, since we do some passive muscle stimulation, bulking up the muscle, with the machine and it really benefits the ability to hold stool till arrival at the toilet.

Grandma was her happy self again, did not need any prompting to keep up with her exercises and is back in Oklahoma again.

Pelvic floor exercises are the building blocks of your pelvic health and some people come in with significant problems despite having strong muscles. I meet seniors who bike 40 miles a couple times a week, do kayaking and keep on going. It's quite disturbing to have an unpredictable stool loss problem if you are in your kayak. One of these ladies I helped with a nerve stimulator-she called me from Montana where she resides part of the year and told me: “you have no idea how this has improved my life”. Anna, a senior with MS, does not kayak, however stated the same sentence after the nerve stimulator not only regulated her urine, but her life long battle with debilitating bowel cramps and fecal incontinence, “I am so happy”.

In other words it is not normal for seniors to lose urine and stool without control.

Another question: “isn’t it normal to get up at night to urinate when you are a senior”

Okay, I will admit for most seniors it is normal to get up once at night, however if it is more, it takes away from your quality of life and may be able to be corrected. By the way it is amazing to see how much friendlier and upbeat people are if they get rest at night and this applies to seniors as well as the more junior people”.

Enjoy being a senior and live a happy lifestyle, be glad you have Central Florida UroGynecology, Rockledge, Florida close by and do not need to travel from Oklahoma or Montana.

Dr. Sprock and her "Keep 'em Dry" Team

Call us at 321-806-3929 for an appointment or leave a note here.