When Stress meets Urge...

Mixed Urinary Incontinence

Put both of the following symptoms together, and you have Mixed Urinary Incontinence.

  • Stress urinary incontinence happens when you sneeze, cough, laugh, lift or exercise. One in three women experience SUI at some point in their lives. Urine leaks because the pelvic floor is weak and unable to support the bladder properly.
  • Urge urinary incontinence is when you really have to go... NOW! Sometimes you might not reach the loo in time, or just be taking your panties down and leak too soon.

What can cause Mixed Urinary Incontinence?

  • Pregnancy – Extra weight and ‘pregnancy hormones’ put a strain on your pelvic floor resulting in leaks.
  • Childbirth – Difficult births and problems such as a vaginal tear or episiotomy means you are more likely to suffer from incontinence.
  • Ageing and the Menopause – Hormone changes mean the pelvic muscles, ligaments and fibres are not as ‘springy’ as they once were and your pelvic floor is ‘sagging’ which results in leaks.
  • Overweight – You are TWICE as likely to suffer stress incontinence if you are overweight.
  • Medication – some medications unfortunately contribute to stress incontinence, for instance muscle relaxants such as Statins and anti-depressants are a lethal combination for your pelvic floor and urinary system. Hay fever meds play havoc too.
  • Smoking – coughing plays havoc with your pelvic floor by making it weak and you’ve also got a 3x higher chance of developing bladder cancer.

What can you do about Mixed Urinary Incontinence?

  • Pelvic Floor Exercises – Kegels or pelvic floor exercises are recommended as the first line treatment. The results from strengthening your pelvic floor muscles won’t happen overnight (just as they didn’t get weak overnight!) but a strong pelvic floor means that your pelvic organs are well supported and you should be able to stop those pesky bladder-leaks. It is vital you adopt an exercise plan now - if you don’t you could be heading for even less bladder control and possible prolapse.
  • Vaginal Pessary - A pessary device inserted into the vagina presses against the bladder neck and urethra so you have less leakage.
  • Prescription Medications – Your healthcare provider will treat the incontinence that is worse for you. There are medications available that can help, but they will not strengthen your muscles so whilst they treat your symptoms (leaks) they won’t treat the underlying cause, which is a weak pelvic floor. Medications can take up to 3 months to work and they are a long term medication, not just a course like antibiotics, so why not try 3 months of pelvic floor exercising instead?
  • Surgery - Surgical operations to treat stress incontinence tend only to be used when kegels have not helped.  They aim to tighten or support the muscles and structures below the bladder. The tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure is a sling of synthetic tape used to support the urethra and neck of the bladder. Colposuspension is another operation to support the urethra and treat stress incontinence.

Mixed Urinary Incontinence is a warning sign to your body - you need to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and this is where Kegel8 can help. You may try medications or surgery but neither of these options will make your pelvic floor strong to prevent further incontinence and/or prolapse problems.  Take a look at our range of Kegel8 pelvic toners and specialist pelvic floor exercisers 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.