What Happens When You Lose Control of Your Bladder?
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Loss of bladder control can be embarrassing at best; at worst, it can signal serious health issues. There are many causes of incontinence, some of which include pregnancy, age, stress, certain medications and overactive bladder.
Structure
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The bladder, which is located in the pelvis, is essentially a balloon designed to accumulate fluid waste products that are processed by your kidneys. When your bladder is full, nerves send a signal to your brain and you get the urge to urinate. Your pelvic muscles hold your bladder in place. When you urinate, the sphincter and pelvic muscles at the bottom of your bladder relax and urine is passed through a tube called the urethra.
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Weak Muscles
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Urine leakage is when you dribble out a little bit of urine when laughing, coughing or sneezing and is due to a weakness in the pelvic muscles that help hold your urethra closed. Sometimes called "stress incontinence," the stress isn't directly related to emotional stress; rather, it happens when the muscles holding your bladder closed aren't performing their job very well. Even some sports athletes may dribble a little during strenuous sporting events. The muscles that hold your urethra and sphincters closed become too weak to adequately do the job, which allows the bladder to sag a bit, stretching the sphincter that holds the urethra closed. This can be caused by pregnancy, getting older and muscle damage from surgery.
Nerve Damage
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When your bladder is full, nerves send signals to your brain that it is time to urinate. If the nerves are not communicating effectively, you may find some leakage occurring. In some cases, the nerves are unable to carry the message to your brain that your bladder is full, and as with an overfull water balloon, this can cause spontaneous urination. According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, nerve damage can come from a variety of sources, including diabetes, Parkinson's syndrome, stroke or surgeries on your lower back or pelvis. Sometimes, radiation like you would get from chemotherapy can damage the nerves in your bladder.
Medicines, Diuretics and Alcohol
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The bladder is a muscle working in conjunction with your pelvic muscles and the sphincter muscle that holds the bladder closed. Certain medications like sedatives or muscle relaxers can cause leakage--the medicine that is relaxing your back muscles or calming your nerves doesn't discriminate. Any medication that calms and relaxes, such as benzodiazepines and sleeping medications, some narcotics and anti-anxiety medications, can affect your bladder control. Alcohol can affect your muscles in the same way as sedatives. Diuretic medications and caffeine cause more liquid from your cells to overfill your bladder, which can leak.
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