Urinary incontinence is a condition where the urinary sphincter is weakened, causing involuntary urine leakage. There are two types of incontinence, including urge incontinence, which is caused by your bladder contracting and stress incontinence, which is caused by physical activity or movement.
Both can happen at the same time and cause irritability. They may also impair social and physical well-being.
There are several ways you can treat urinary incontinence, and one is through Botox injections. Botox is not only used to treat wrinkles in the face but also to relieve and address bladder continence issues.
When you inject Botox for the bladder, the drug helps block certain nerves from communicating with the sphincter muscles or the bladder itself, relieving certain bladder symptoms such as the inability to delay urination. However, it takes about a week before the drug fully works in the system.
Although Botox injections had shown positive results for many people, some decide against the procedure to prevent its main side-effect, urinary retention. This is a condition in which a person cannot entirely or partially empty their bladder.
This particular side-effect affects roughly five to eight percent of patients. To address this, patients will need to undergo urinary catheterization, a surgery in which a tube is inserted into the patient’s bladder through the urethra to empty urine. This procedure can be painful and trigger discomfort while the tube or catheter is inserted into the body.
What makes it more of a problem is that doctors cannot accurately predict which patients may experience urine retention. That is why having to undergo urinary catheterization may be possible for any patient, making some of them decide not to undergo the process altogether. However, since Botox for the bladder has been approved for incontinence, many still show interest in it.
Although Botox for the bladder is effective in treating incontinence, it is not recommended for everyone. The ideal candidates are female urology patients who do not show successful results from other treatments such as antispasmodic medication or fluid intake and pelvic floor exercises.
Patients would first need to undergo such steps or medication before a urologist allows them to receive Botox injections. For the best results, patients should receive more injections roughly every six months.
Urinary incontinence is common among older people, but it shouldn’t be normal. If you know someone or you are personally suffering from incontinence, make sure to consult the best urologist as soon as possible.
Botox injections are one of the best effective treatments for incontinence. However, these can result in urinary retention, and not everyone can immediately receive this treatment. Make sure to exhaust the other remedies, such as pelvic floor exercises, before considering this type of treatment.
If you are looking for the best urologist in New Jersey, contact UUANJ. Our professional and licensed doctors can help treat urinary incontinence and other conditions!
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