If you’re an aging woman, noticing changes in your body is nothing new – it comes with the territory.
If you’re going through or have gone through menopause, you may notice big changes in your vaginal and urinary tract function. From uncomfortable sex, to vaginal dryness, a change in libido, urinary incontinence, and vaginal infections, it can be difficult to know what is (and isn’t) a normal part of aging.
As women enter and progress through menopause, their bodies undergo hormonal changes, the most dramatic being a decrease in the production of estrogen (the female sex hormone). After menopause, the ovaries stop making estrogen altogether. This drop in estrogen levels can make it difficult for women to maintain a healthy urinary tract.
Problems with urinary function – such as incontinence and infections – are often accepted as a stressful, unavoidable reality of getting older, but they don’t have to be. There are many treatment options available at WWMG that can help you get back to living your life free of these uncomfortable, embarrassing, stressful, and sometimes painful conditions.
But before discussing treatment options, we’ll first examine the role that estrogen plays in urinary incontinence and urinary tract infections.
Urinary Incontinence is a Common Problem
Urinary incontinence, or involuntary bladder leakage, is a problem that affects millions of Americans. While it may happen to anyone, this form of incontinence is most common in older adults, and women are more likely to experience it than men.
Studies show that up to 1/3 of men and women in the U.S. suffer from urinary incontinence, making it a much more common problem than most people realize.
This type of incontinence is often an embarrassing and inconvenient problem, and those who suffer from it may begin to plan their life based on their proximity to the nearest restroom or change of clothes.
Estrogen and Urinary Incontinence
In menopause, women experience declining levels of estrogen. A drop in estrogen and other hormone changes can affect muscle strength in the pelvic region, increasing one’s chances of experiencing incontinence.
If you are suffering from urinary incontinence, there are natural remedies, as well as medical treatments that are proven to help reduce symptoms. Combining the use of natural remedies with a doctor-prescribed medical treatment often yields the best results.
If you’re ready to seek medical treatments for your urinary incontinence, there are a few medical treatments available. Many women report an improvement in incontinence symptoms when estrogen is taken in the form of hormone replacement therapy. However, the use of locally acting vaginal estrogen is the preferred method of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence and has been proven to help.
Natural remedies include:
- Kegel exercises
- Acupuncture
- Hypnotherapy
- Eliminating tobacco products, alcohol, and caffeine
- Staying hydrated
Taking magnesium and vitamin D is also shown to help symptoms of urinary incontinence, but use of these supplements should be discussed with your healthcare provider beforehand.
Estrogen and Urinary Tract Infections
A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection caused by fungi, viruses, or bacteria in the urinary tract. Urinating (peeing) typically washes microbes out of the body, but there are a number of factors that can prevent total cleansing, and may result in a UTI.
UTIs account for about 8.1 million visits to the doctor each year. Women are at higher risk of getting a UTI, have more than a 50 % chance of getting a UTI in their lifetime, and a 25% chance of getting a second one within 6 months of the first.
UTI Symptoms
Symptoms of a UTI may include:
- Painful, burning feeling when urinating
- Abdominal pain
- Frequent and intense urge to urinate
- Pain in the back or side
- Passing small amounts of urine, despite strong urge to urinate
- Nausea and vomiting
- Cloudy or bloody urine.
A recent study found that estrogen stimulates production of antimicrobial substances in the bladder and strengthens the urinary tract tissue, making it more difficult for bacteria to grow.
In menopause, women’s ovaries stop producing estrogen, thereby weakening their body’s natural defenses against UTIs. This makes postmenopausal women more susceptible to infection.
Medical treatments, including those that involve delivering estrogen vaginally, have been shown to prevent repeat UTIs in postmenopausal women.
Preventing UTIs
There are a few ways you can reduce your risk of contracting a UTI. They include:
- After going to the bathroom, wipe from front to back
- Take showers and avoid baths
- Urinate every 4 hours (don’t “hold it”)
- Urinate after sex
- Wear breathable undergarments (such as those made of cotton)
- Drink lots of water
If you’re susceptible to UTIs, talk to your provider about cranberry supplements, as they have also been seen to reduce the risk of infection.
Aging is an unavoidable part of life. But changes in urinary tract function that often come with aging, such as urinary incontinence and urinary tract infections, don’t have to be.
Schedule an appointment with a WWMG Primary Care Provider to discuss treatment options and make a plan for preventing UTIs and urinary incontinence as you age.
This is a guest post from Chantel Bailey, and has been edited from the original text. All views contained herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Western Washington Medical Group.