When your bladder calls the shots…

Urge Incontinence

Yep it’s that feeling again, you have lost control, your body says you need to go, NOW, and no matter what you do, urine leaks before you are ready.  Urge incontinence is a really common form of incontinence and it is usually due to an overactive bladder.

What can cause Urge Incontinence?

  • Overactive Bladder – Your bladder wants to squeeze out urine and you are not ready, sometimes your bladder might not even be full so there is a bit of ‘frequency’ there too.
  • Caffeine – Everything from tea, coffee and coke to caffeine in pain killers can really irritate your bladder resulting in you losing bladder control. Caffeine is a diuretic which means your kidneys will increase the amount of urine they produce and it is also known to stimulate your bladder too – double whammy!
  • Alcohol – Can make urge incontinence and overactive bladder symptoms worse.
  • Excess Weight – if you are overweight you have a 50% higher chance of suffering with incontinence problems, your pelvic floor just can’t take the strain.

What can you do about Urge Incontinence?

  • Bladder Retraining – also known as bladder drill or bladder training, bladder retraining is a simple solution. By creating a schedule of your loo visits you’ll be able to understand more about your bladder and how it works – ultimately you’ll be able to control your bladder rather than your bladder controlling you! For instance set yourself the challenge to go to the loo ever two hours or another regular interval if you can’t go that long.  If your bladder signals for you to go before your scheduled time, use pelvic floor or ‘Kegel’ exercises or relaxation techniques to control the feeling until the urge passes. When you start to recognise what triggers your bladder you will be able to train yourself to go less frequently, with longer and longer intervals between your scheduled ‘loo times’.
  • Pelvic Floor Exercises – Kegels or pelvic floor exercises are essential. Results can take up to 3 months but strengthening your pelvic floor muscles means that your bladder and pelvic organs won’t sag and cause leaks.
  • Caffeine and Alcohol – Reduce the amount  you consume, but don’t reduce the amount of water you drink! Some women reduce the amount they drink thinking it will minimise loo visits... wrong! This simply makes your urine more concentrated and that can actually aggravate your bladder even more.
  • Prescription Medications – There are medications available from your Doctor that can help urge incontinence, however if your urge incontinence is due to a weak pelvic floor, the medication will only address the leaks and will not help strengthen your pelvic floor, so don’t forget to do your kegels too! These medicines usually take up to 3 months to work and they are a long term medication (not just a course), they block nerve impulses to your bladder which relax the bladder muscle, so your bladder capacity is increased. Side effects include dry eyes and mouth and sometimes constipation.
  • Weight – Even a modest 5-10% weight loss can help your urge incontinence and take the strain off your pelvic floor too!
  • Surgery – is not recommended for urge incontinence, unless other symptoms are present.

Urge Incontinence is a warning sign to your body - you need to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and this is where a Kegel8 pelvic toner can help. Take a look at our range of Kegel8 pelvic toners and specialist manual pelvic floor exerciser products to help you get strong and calm your bladder!

Alleviate the symptoms of bladder weakness & strengthen the pelvic floor in just 12 weeks, with the help of the Kegel8 Ultra 20 & Amanda Savage!

Amanda Savage is one of the UK’s leading specialist pelvic floor and women’s health physiotherapists, who has worked in the field for over 20 years offering supervised pelvic floor muscle training and support for the recovery of pelvic organ prolapses, incontinence and pelvic surgeries. With post-graduate qualifications, including a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, she has also gained full membership of the Professional Network of Pelvic, Obstetric & Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP). As a Kegel8 ambassador, Amanda Savage has worked alongside us for many years in the development of our best-selling device, the Kegel8 Ultra 20 V2 Electronic Pelvic Toner, to ensure its efficacy. In addition, she has been integral to ensuring all supporting information and instructions are medically accurate so that the device is used correctly/effectively, and treatment is tailored to the specific condition of the user.

Find out more about Amanda Savage, her qualifications, experience, knowledge, and affiliations here.

Amanda Savage

Comes complete with an easy exercise plan, created by Amanda Savage, to get results in just 12 weeks!

If ‘laughter leaks’ are making you want to cry, you are by no means alone! Indeed, more common that you may realise, bladder weakness and stress incontinence affect millions of people worldwide. And, here at Kegel8, we are all too familiar with the impact it has on both physical and emotional well-being, as well as on life in general. It’s true that, left untreated, symptoms of bladder weakness will simply worsen over time. However, it should by no means be accepted as an inevitability! Indeed, regular pelvic floor exercise, much like any other type of exercise, will strengthen the muscles over time, enabling them to perform their role much more effectively and offer the right amount of support to the bladder to ensure there are no leakages. In addition, it can calm ‘overactive’ nerves for those experiencing ‘jumpy’ or ‘irritable’ sensations in their bladder. That means you can get back to doing all the things you love!

The included 12-week exercise plan has been specifically developed by Amanda Savage to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and enable them to provide optimum support to the neck of the bladder, thus preventing any leakages. In addition, it will calm the ‘overactive’ nerves that are responsible for ‘jumpy’ or ‘irritable’ sensations in the bladder, thereby reducing bladder sensitivity. In addition, it prepares the user for ‘real life’ scenarios where they don’t have access to the machine.

So, why opt for an electronic pelvic floor exerciser rather than performing your Kegels independently?

It is thought that many women push downwards when performing independent pelvic floor exercises, which, rather than strengthening the muscles, can lead to further damage. In addition, it can be difficult to locate and target the correct muscles, making exercise less effective. As such, many women opt to use an electronic pelvic floor toner to ensure effective exercise and optimum results. The Kegel8 Ultra 20 V2 Electronic Pelvic Toner removes the guesswork and essentially acts as a Sat-Nav for your pelvic floor muscles, correctly targeting and stimulating a contraction within them using a small electric current. These contractions build strength and tone in a matter of weeks! With 20 clinically proven pelvic floor exercise programmes which vary in frequency, intensity and duration, the Ultra 20 is proven to treat a variety of different conditions, including bladder weakness and stress incontinence. And, in addition to tailored programmes, the specific 12-week exercise plans created by Amanda Savage advise exactly how the device should be used, depending upon the condition, to ensure the very best treatment.