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Jargon busting THE BLADDER EDITION
If bladder control problems are new to you, you might not know exactly how to put into words the symptoms you have been experiencing. There are a lot of medical terms and complicated names that describe different ways your body can be impacted. The jargon buster below might help you decipher what you are experiencing to help you communicate with your health care provider.
Symptoms: May Indicate A Medical Condition, Disease or Disorder in the Body
Stress incontinence leaking wee when you laugh, cough, sneeze, jump, run or lift something heavy.
Urinary urgency the strong and sudden feeling of needing to do a wee. Urge incontinence the strong and sudden feeling of needing to do a wee which can't be controlled and results in leaking wee (urine).
Urinary frequency need to go to the toilet very regularly to pass urine (weeing more than 7 times a day and more than once at night).
Mixed incontinence leaking wee when you laugh, cough, sneeze, jump, run or lift something heavy as well as an urgent need to rush to the toilet with leakage.
Post-micturition incontinence (after dribble) involuntary or accidental leaking of wee when standing up after going to the toilet, pulling clothes up or when starting to walk away from the toilet.
Orgasm-associated urinary incontinence (climacturia) involuntarily leaking wee when you orgasm during sexual activity and can happen to both men and women.
Urinary retention not being able to fully empty the bladder, so some wee is left in the bladder after going to the toilet. It can be long-term (chronic urinary retention) or happen suddenly (acute urinary retention).
Nocturia waking up and needing to go to the toilet more than once at night.
Syndromes: Groups of Symptoms that can be caused by a few different conditions:
Bladder dysfunction when your kidneys produce wee (urine) it is stored in the bladder until you go to the toilet. Symptoms of bladder dysfunction (your bladder not working as it should) can include difficulty filling, storing or emptying the wee.
Overactive bladder sudden unexplained bladder contractions, resulting in symptoms such as urinary urgency, urinary frequency and nocturia.
Functional incontinence leaking wee because you can't get to the toilet in time.
This is due to either not recognising the need to wee (mental capacity/cognition) or their physical ability to get to the toilet and perform the necessary steps for toileting in time. Those with functional incontinence have a normally functioning bladder, so may not have any other medical diagnosis.