Celebrities today are owning up to having some level of bladder control issues.
Katy Perry, Kate Winslet and Tony Romo are among the celebrities admitting to having mild to more serious forms of incontinence.
Urgency combined with increased frequency of urination equals a constellation of symptoms called Overactive Bladder. Dr. Emi Adekoya, a Urologist with OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony's Health Center in
Alton, says the condition is very treatable and people don't have to suffer.
"A lot of people don't want to go to the extreme of surgery and that's understandable but there are minimally invasive things, oral medications and injections we can try out before we have to commit you to surgery."
One in 10 Americans, including one in three women, will experience symptoms of incontinence at some point in their lives.
New medications have come on the market. Dr. Adekoya says this newer class of drugs is much better, particularly for patients who had experienced falls because their incontinence medications made them groggy.
"I want medications that have good effects locally on the bladder but also do not have the side-effects of diminishing their brain function which is kind of the big thing that happened with the older medications that used to have side-effects on the brain which made them respond slower."
He says Botox injections can also be used to treat severe bladder symptoms, such as severe urgency and inability to delay urination.
Sometimes simply eliminating certain liquids that can irritate the bladder such as coffee or carbonated beverages and practicing better bathroom habits can stop the problem. Dr. Adekoya finds some patients simply wait too long to find a bathroom and this repeated practice stretches out the bladder. Over time, the brain can miss triggers that you have to go.
He encourages anyone experiencing incontinence on any level, to see their primary care doctor and be referred to a urologist to explore options.
