Wearing Pads Will Fast Track You into a Care Home

As soon as we begin to walk, the involuntary loss of urine is socially stigmatising. Whether this is in school, at work, or in the nursing home – incontinence is a taboo that we must hide.

We can go to great lengths to hide the fact that we suffer from urinary incontinence. We wear black – wet patches will be less noticeable. We use sanitary protection products – we’d rather pad the problem than talk about it! Sound like you? It’s time to face the music and end your suffering once and for all. Read on to learn all about how incontinence affects us when we age.

How Common is Incontinence for Older Adults?

Incontinence affects more than 1 in 5 older adults – with up to 65% of nursing home residents suffering from urinary incontinence (and majority also suffer from faecal incontinence too!).

Around 20% of older adults are also limited in their ability to enjoy activities as a result of incontinence. Nearly 90% of incontinence nursing home residents have significant mobility problems – limiting their lifestyle choices.

There has also been a link discovered between incontinence and dementia.

What is Urge Incontinence?

Urge incontinence is the most common type of incontinence in late middle to older age adults. This is where the urge to urinate is felt suddenly, rather than gradually – this can sometimes be just moments before urine is involuntarily released.

This sudden urge often leaves you racing to the bathroom, and this is where even more harm can be caused. The race to the bathroom can lead to falls that may have not otherwise occurred.

Urinary incontinence increases the risk of hospitalisation and significantly increases the risk of admission to a nursing home, no matter your age, gender, or the presence of other disease conditions. The risk of admission to a nursing home is 2 times higher for incontinent women, and 3.2 times greater for incontinent men.

What is Stress Incontinence?

Stress incontinence is more common in older women than men due to natural lifestyle factors, such as childbirth and the menopause. In fact, urinary incontinence is twice as common in women as in men – affecting 1 in 3 older women.

Stress incontinence is the involuntary leakage of urine during physical movement, e.g. laughing, coughing, sneezing, running, or heavy lifting.

How Can You Prevent Incontinence?

We all laugh and joke about wetting ourselves when we’re old, but it is important to remember than incontinence is common, but not normal! That’s why Kegel8 have produced a list of top tips to prevent incontinence from occurring.

  • Kegel! – The first recommend line of conservative treatment for pelvic floor weakness and incontinence is pelvic floor exercises. Toning and strengthening your pelvic floor will help to prevent the muscles from becoming weak, allowing them to fully support your bladder and bowel. Learn how to perform a Kegel exercise on Kegel8! Not working for you? Sometimes we need a little helping hand – the Kegel8 Ultra 20 Electronic Pelvic Toner will do all of the work for you! Sit back and relax whilst the Ultra 20 strengthens your pelvic floor for leak-proof protection.
  • Nurture your Pelvic Floor – Collagen is the vital glue that keeps our pelvic floor in place, but unfortunately, we lose it as we age. As our body loses collagen, our muscles lose elasticity, meaning that a weak pelvic floor and prolapse of the pelvic organs is much more likely. Try nourishing your pelvic floor with Hydrolysed Collagen in boost muscle, energy and vitality!
  • Get the Knack – Whenever you are about to cough or sneeze, try ‘The Knack’ manoeuvre. This is where you consciously contract your pelvic floor muscles before and whilst your bladder is under pressure. When performed correctly, it can have a 98% success rate!
  • Try the Quick Flick – When that sudden urge takes over, try contracting your pelvic floor muscles quickly, 3-5 times, to reduce the need to urinate. This can help you go longer between each toilet trip.
  • Stop the Strain – Prevent constipation and straining by using a toilet stool. Constipation can result in weakened pelvic floor muscles, back pain, piles and even prolapse! Using a stool can help get you in the perfect position for bowel elimination.

Take charge of your pelvic health today with Kegel8!

Try nerve stimulation with the Kegel8 Ultra 20 Electronic Pelvic Toner

Reviews for the Kegel8 Ultra 20 Electronic Pelvic Toner

5 Stars

Tami - Don't Suffer Anymore, Use Kegel8!

"I was mortified when as a relatively young woman, I started to have problems with both stress & urge incontinence. The Kegel8 got great reviews and despite it seeming a bit expensive, I was desperate - so decided to give it a try. After four weeks of using this once a day (rotating between programmes 3, 9 and 10) I noticed real changes. I suddenly realised at work that I'd not been to the loo for 4 hours. I was no longer leaking lots of urine (this was previously getting to be a terrible problem). I don't normally write product reviews but I just wanted to encourage anyone out there with problems to give this a go. I spent too long worrying about it and wished I'd got this a few years ago.

5 Stars

Fiona - It Does What It Says On The Tin!

"Due to age and menopause I recently began to suffer from stress incontinence ... not wishing to have to wear pads for the rest of my life started to look at a ways of helping myself and came across Kegel8 pelvic toner which appeared to have rave reviews so took a leap of faith and bought it for myself. ... Well this instrument does exactly what it says on the tin .... after 12 weeks my stress incontinence is under control and I can again cough freely with out having to cross my legs and squeeze tightly....the pads are also a thing of the past. I would highly recommend Kegel8 Ultra20 Electronic Pelvic Toner to anyone suffering form weak pelvic floor muscles ... it does as it says on the tin!!


Sources

[1] Chang, H.J. et al. (2010) Urinary Incontinence in Older Women. JAMA. 303(21): 2208. Leung, F.W., Schnelle, J.F. (2009) Urinary and Fecal Incontinence in Nursing Home Residents. Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 37(3): 697-x.

[2] Saxer, S. et al. (2005) Risk factors for urinary incontinence in nursing home residents. Swiss Med Wkly. 135: 495-502.

[3] Thirugnanasothy, S. (2010) Managing Urinary Incontinence in Older People. BMJ. 341:c3835.

[4] Thom, D.H., Haan, M.N., Van Den Eeden, S.K. (1997) Medically recognized urinary incontinence and risk of hospitalization, nursing home admission and mortality. Age and Ageing. 26(5): 367-374.

[5] Vogel, S.L. (2001) Urinary Incontinence in the Elderly. The Ochsner Journal. 3(4): 214-218.