Leakers Anonymous!

About five years ago, at dinner with girlfriends, we confessed one at a time, that we each had some leaking issues. You could hear the collective sigh that we aren’t alone. Reminds me of this video. Love the brave underpants lady!

Stats show that millions of women experience urinary leakage, but only fifty percent talk about the problem or look for help. Women become resigned to leakage after childbirth or as a consequence of aging. Big mistake! In 1948, Dr. Arnold Kegel first explained the pelvic floor exercise that works wonders. Thank you, Dr. Kegel.

Unfortunately, many women don’t practice kegels correctly or they stop doing the exercise. PeriCoach takes the guesswork out of kegels. Check out the PeriCoach website to learn more. 

PeriCoach is available by prescription. Click here for information on pricing and the form for your doctor to sign.

I’ve received compensation for posting this information about PeriCoach. I believe kegels work and so am glad to support methods that encourage the exercise.

Feeling Kegel Frustrated? Now there’s PeriCoach

Here’s an innovative product created to help women master the art of the mighty kegel! The post is prepared by Analytica Limited, the developers of the PeriCoach System:

The millions of women who experience bladder leakage now have a new option to strengthen and tone away their problem instead of covering it up with pads.

The PeriCoach System is a discreet device and smartphone app that helps women perform at-home pelvic floor muscle training, exercises recommended by the American College of Physicians as first-line treatment for urinary incontinence. PeriCoach is the only system that includes a web portal allowing clinicians to remotely monitor their patients’ progress.

“Pelvic floor muscle exercises are a great, non-invasive treatment for urinary incontinence.  However, with verbal or written instructions alone, many women find ‘Kegels’ difficult to do on their own, and they become frustrated with the lack of progress,” said Leslie M. Rickey, MD, MPH, associate professor of urology and obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale University.  “PeriCoach offers reassuring, visual feedback and allows clinicians to monitor progress between visits.”

Urinary incontinence affects close to 18 million women, yet many suffer in silence, which often stems from the misinformed idea that incontinence is an untreatable consequence of having had children or a result of aging.

The PeriCoach System is simple: a device containing three biosensors is inserted into the vagina.  The biosensors detect the strength of each muscle contraction and record each exercise session. These results are instantly sent to a smartphone over a Bluetooth wireless connection.  The app collects and analyzes the readings and gives a picture of how the user is doing over time.  It also sends exercise reminders to women and her results to a clinician or pelvic health specialist.

The PeriCoach System was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March 2015 and is now available by prescription from a clinician, nurse or physical therapist. PeriCoach can be ordered directly at www.PeriCoach.com with an uploaded prescription.

“It is shocking that women continue to suffer the challenges of bladder leaking when, in many cases, they can address it with consistent and properly performed pelvic floor exercises,” continued Dr. Rickey. “Women need to stop accepting bladder issues as a natural consequence of childbirth or aging and take control.  I hope women and clinicians will take advantage of this new technology.”

Analytica Limited is a Brisbane-based public company (ASX Code: ALT) specializing in the development of innovative technology-based solutions for unmet medical needs, manufactures and markets the PeriCoach System. For more information, visit www.AnalyticaMedical.com

I received compensation in return for posting this information about PeriCoach. I believe kegels work and so am glad to suggest methods for learning to do them effectively.

KegelSmart!

 

What’s new in the world of kegels? This innovative product from Intimina designed to help you keep your pelvic floor in shape. When they contacted me about a post, I was glad to give them THIS floor on Friend for the Ride:

About 20 million American women suffer from incontinence. While bladder leakage can occur at different stages of life, menopausal women are among the most frequently affected. Hormonal changes during menopause often weaken the pelvic muscles, making it easier for incontinence to occur.

Thankfully, the number one doctor recommended treatment is one that can be done in the comfort of your own home – Kegel exercises.

Kegels work your pelvic floor – a group of muscles that support vital internal organs like the bladder, bowel, and uterus and help control their function. Kegel exercises strengthen your pelvic floor and can eliminate leaks.

Knowing that the solution for most women is a simple exercise supported by doctors is comforting; however, the problem is that without guidance most women who try Kegels tend to quickly give up. They don’t know for how long they should hold each contraction or how many contractions to do; they can’t even tell if they’re making progress.

KegelSmart is a device that guides you through a short and effective Kegel workout. Made by Intimina, a Swedish brand, it’s small, discreet, and coated in a soft, medical grade silicone.

 

 

KegelSmart is like a mini personal trainer, coaching you through a complete Kegel session with easy-to-follow vibration guidance. The instructions are simple: contract your muscles when you feel the vibrations, and rest when they stop. That’s it. It only takes 5 minutes and you’re finished.

 

 

KegelSmart automatically adjusts the exercise level from 1 up to 5—with 5 being the highest—so you’re always working out at the strength level that’s right for you. When you turn on KegelSmart, a little LED light blinks to indicate which level you are on so you can keep track of your progress and keep motivated to reach level five.

Completing the KegelSmart routine once daily will help you achieve total pelvic health. Once you have reached your goals, you can reduce usage to 3-5 times a week to maintain your tone.

Bladder leaks are not something you need to live with; they can be treated. If you are experiencing leaks, talk to your medical practitioner today about Kegel exercises.

Thanks, KegelSmart, for the post and the information. Love that gorgeous shade of pink!

Light Bladder Leakage and Menopause

A post from Marilyn Suttle, the Light Bladder Leakage blogger at Poise:

So, you’re having night sweats, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and on top of all that – you leak. Welcome to the transition toward menopause (sometimes called perimenopause.)

Perimenopause is that time in life when your periods diminish and eventually come to a stop. The transition affects every woman differently. Your passage may be smooth sailing, or you may experience any number of symptoms in varying degrees.

Menopause (the permanent end of menstruation and fertility) is typically reached once you experience 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period.

During this transition, a decline in estrogen levels may result in weakening of the pelvic floor muscles that support bladder control, contributing to LBL (light bladder leakage.)

Though not all menopausal women experience LBL, it is common. One in three women experiences it.

We reached out to urologist, Jason Gilleran, MD at Beaumont Women’s Urology Center in Royal Oak, Michigan for his insights on ways to manage LBL during menopause.

“The sooner women address their bladder leakage, the better their results,” Dr. Gilleran said. By changing the habits that contribute to light bladder leakage during menopause, you may sidestep, reverse, or even eliminate those little leaks.

Seek out support

LBL can improve dramatically in some women by strengthening the pelvic floor muscles with Kegel exercises. However, telling a woman to do Kegels without instruction is a lot like sending someone to the gym without telling her how to use the equipment.

Dr. Gilleran recommends pelvic floor therapy as a first course of action. “I refer a lot of young women, who are perimenopausal and noticing early signs, to a pelvic floor physical therapist,” he said, “They can accelerate your ability to do Kegel exercises correctly and get results. They’re not as expensive as some of the other treatments, and there are no harmful side effects.”

If you aren’t getting the kind of support you’d like from your regular physician or gynecologist, be proactive and ask to be referred to someone with special training, like a pelvic floor physical therapist or urogynecologist.

What else can you do to prevent, reverse or eliminate LBL in menopause?

Dr. Gilleran suggests the following:

Stop smoking. Smoking is a contributing factor for bladder leakage during menopause.

Minimize weight gain. Women tend to gain weight during menopause. A noted research study showed that women with an average weight of about 200 pounds who lost 10% of their body weight, had a 70% reduction in leakage.

Treat chronic coughs and allergies. A chronic cough causes ongoing pressure on the pelvic floor and, over time, can weaken it. Get pulmonary issues like persistent coughing and sneezing under control.

Go to the gym. There are many benefits to exercising. It can even improve your mood and outlook. Some patients have told Dr. Gilleran, “I don’t let LBL stop me from exercising. I wear a pad and get on with things.” Others say they don’t want to go to the gym because they’re self-conscious about leaking. “High impact exercise may not be the best thing for the pelvic floor,” Dr. Gilleran said. “Doing core strengthening exercise like Pilates or yoga is better from that stand point.”

Be gentle with yourself

While some factors contributing to LBL are within your control, others are not. “Childbirth or a family history that predisposes you to issues, like prolapse, can contribute to a weakened pelvic floor,” Dr. Gilleran said. “If you’re predisposed then you’re more likely to experience some level of leakage after menopause.”

Remember, you are not alone. One in three women experiences LBL, and there are ways both surgical and non-surgical to manage it.

“Once a woman has gone through menopause completely, LBL is a factor of what has happened to the pelvic floor tissue,” said Dr. Gilleran. “Some women come in with signs that they have changes in their vaginal tissues, while other women’s tissues are still in pre-menopausal shape. After menopause, women, in their mid-50’s or 60’s, who have intact muscles in their pelvic floor, tend to have better results with a pelvic floor physical therapy.”

When women experience bladder leakage and wait too long to see a pelvic floor physical therapist, it’s more likely that muscle loss may have taken place. The earlier you intervene, the better results you’ll have long term.

When to consider surgery

The reason some women are likely to opt for surgery is that they’ve tried conservative treatments, like pelvic floor therapy, and it failed. The surgery for LBL has changed over the years. “It used to be a fairly invasive surgery involving a bladder lift or bladder suspension, which would be done sometimes through a cut in the abdomen,” Dr. Gilleran said, “Now, most everything, is done through three small incisions in the vagina, sometimes only one. The most common type is called a sling surgery.”

The goal of the sling surgery is to place a type of backboard under the urethra. It acts as a mechanism to stabilize the tissues so that with exercise, coughing, and sneezing, the urethra itself doesn’t fall down. “It’s not designed to lift it up like we did in the past, but keep it from falling down,” Dr. Gilleran said, “To better understand it, picture yourself trying to sit down and you have no chair. What we’re doing is putting a chair there.”

Sometimes Dr. Gillleran has patients use a tampon. A tampon can actually act to stabilize, a bit like what a sling does except they use it externally. When women use a tampon and they don’t leak as much, it’s a good sign sling surgery will help them.”

Controversy over hormone replacement

Some women wonder if hormone replacement is the answer to eliminating LBL during menopause. “From a risk/benefit standpoint, it’s not something I use as an everyday practice for LBL alone,” said Dr. Gilleran, “I tend to avoid it because of the concerns with breast cancer, uterine cancer, blood clots, heart attack, and stroke – those things that have been associated with it. Hormone replacement is a very controversial issue.”

You are not alone

Dealing with menopause can be challenging, especially when it includes light bladder leakage.

If you find yourself feeling down, resist the urge to withdraw and isolate yourself.

You are not alone. One out of every three women experiences LBL – that’s about 40 million women! This is a time to reach out to your close friends and family. Many of them may be going through it too.

When you start the conversation about LBL, you will find support and camaraderie with the women in your life. It’s possible to manage LBL, and move on to living your life to the fullest.

Choose to be your most vibrant self, and enjoy your mid-life adventure.

Marilyn Suttle is a women’s success coach and the Poise LBL blogger. You can learn more about Marilyn and the Poise products for feminine wellness at www.poise.com.

 

Top Photo:  Since Light Bladder Leakage often makes its first appearance during a sneeze, I offer you my handkerchief collection POISED (pun slightly intended) on old handkerchief box.