Managing Incontinence in Drug Recovery: Understanding Causes, Types, and Treatments

The loss of bladder control can be an embarrassing problem. If you’re already in drug recovery, the last thing you want to bring up is another health issue surrounding urinary leakage. It can add more stress and anxiety and take a toll on your mental health, which may already be suffering.

 

The severity of incontinence can range from just an occasional leakage when you cough or sneeze to having a desperate urge to go that’s so sudden you don’t make it to the bathroom. Most people associate incontinence with aging, but it can have a genuine negative effect on your daily activities. 

 

You may become more isolated and depressed, and being in drug recovery, these can be triggers that cause other urges to pop up. It’s necessary to understand the causes of incontinence, the types, and what sort of treatment is available or what you can do to help reduce the effects while in drug recovery. 

 

Causes of Urinary Incontinence

There are numerous causes that contribute to incontinence. It’s far more common in women over 50, although it can occur in males and females at any age. It typically occurs because of issues with the muscles or nerves that surround the bladder to help it hold and release urine.

 

Urinary Incontinence (UI) may be a temporary condition resulting from an underlying medical condition, which may include diabetes, a stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS), or constipation. Some of the more common causes of incontinence include the following:

 

• Urinary Tract Infection (UTI): if you’ve had or have a UTI, the infection can irritate the bladder. It usually leaves people with a strong urge to urinate often and sometimes leads to incontinence.

 

• Enlarged prostate: men who undergo prostate surgery or suffer from an enlarged prostate are more likely to have incontinence.

 

• Pregnancy and childbirth: during pregnancy, a woman’s uterus places more pressure on the bladder as it expands, and the strain from carrying a baby and giving birth can weaken pelvic muscles and nerves, leading to incontinence.

 

• Caffeine and alcohol: drinks that are known as bladder irritants can lead you to urinate more often than necessary and could potentially bring on incontinence.

 

• Medications: during drug recovery, you may have to be on specific medications that help, including antidepressants or diuretics, and later find you have incontinence due to the side effects of those medicines.

 

• Tobacco use: Smoking is another bladder irritant that can increase your risk of incontinence.

 

Types of Urinary Incontinence

There are several different types of incontinence, and they all can have various triggers or qualities that initiate a leakage of urine. Understanding the type of incontinence you suffer from during your recovery is necessary for diagnosis and treatment.

 

Types of incontinence include the following:

 

• Stress incontinence: having a urine leakage during activities such as heavy lifting, laughing, coughing, sneezing, or dancing is known as stress incontinence. The pelvic floor muscles are weak and no longer support the pelvis properly, leading you to leak urine accidentally.

 

• Urge incontinence: when you feel a sudden urge to urinate, and it can’t wait, you often leak before you make it to the bathroom – this is urge incontinence. In most cases, this type of incontinence is caused by what’s known as overactive bladder (OAB), which could be caused by weak pelvic muscles, an infection, or nerve damage.

 

• Overflow incontinence: if you don’t realize that you’re not emptying your bladder fully when you urinate, it’s likely to cause overflow incontinence. Usually, you’ll have leaks of urine even after you’ve just gone to the bathroom. 

 

Treatment and Management of Incontinence

There are plenty of things you can do to help prevent and manage your incontinence. If home maintenance isn’t working, however, you may need to visit a doctor or healthcare professional for more help. 

 

Some things you can do to treat incontinence on your own are as follows:

 

• Invest in pads or underwear: as you work on your incontinence, it’s handy to have some women’s leakproof underwear or pads that you can use. These products can help ensure you don’t isolate yourself and continue your daily activities without worrying about embarrassment.

 

• Bladder training: To help train your bladder, you can coordinate and set your bathroom schedule each day. Gradually, you can work to increase the time between your bathroom trips.

 

• Lose weight: weak muscles in the pelvis are sometimes associated with obesity, so working to exercise and eat more nutritious meals to lose weight can help keep incontinence at bay. Eating more fiber can also help prevent constipation, which is a cause of UI.

 

• Cut back on the caffeine and alcohol: In drug recovery, you may not be allowed any alcohol, which is a great way to help treat your incontinence if such bladder irritants are exacerbating it. Cutting back on caffeine can also help.

 

• Quit smoking

 

• Kegel exercises: Strengthening the pelvic floor muscles can help stop leaks. Think of working these muscles as if you’re stopping the urine flow by squeezing them, holding them for five seconds, and then releasing them. Repeat the steps ten times over three reps per day.

 

• Drink more water: You might think that cutting back on hydrating will make it less likely that you’ll need the bathroom, but if you don’t drink enough water, you can make the problem worse. Try to aim for six to eight glasses per day.

 

Therapy may also help, and since in drug recovery, you’re likely undergoing therapy in some capacity, you can get some help through relationships and others who may be dealing with a similar problem.

 

When To Visit a Doctor

You may want to discuss your incontinence during drug recovery with a doctor or healthcare professional. It’s possible that treatment and diagnosis could mean more than just some of the lifestyle changes noted above.

 

Your physician or healthcare provider can perform a thorough exam and accurately diagnose your incontinence, which may include the need for certain medications or even surgery. If you have other medical conditions or health problems you aren’t aware of, they could also cause your incontinence, so it’s best if a doctor can examine you.

 

It can feel uncomfortable to go through drug recovery and deal with incontinence. But if it impacts the quality of your life and interferes with your recovery, you must seek medical advice to manage and treat the problem.