GynoFiles

There is no fix if you don't even bring up your incontinence problems with your gyno.  Dr. Elaine Waetjen of the University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, and colleagues evaluated 9 years of data of yearly check ups from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN), a multicenter, multiracial/ethnic, and multidisciplinary longitudinal study of women ages 40 to 55 at baseline. Over 60% of the women with incontinence said that they never brought the topic up and that they just thought it was 'a normal part of aging.' The researchers emphasized that it's important for the gynos to bring it up, as these problems can be disabling and yet curable if a woman works with her health care provider. . These problems are rampant at least 30% of women in reproductive age have urinary incontinence, and by age 72 over 70% of women have this. There are specific types of urinary incontinence, including urge, stress, or mixed incontinence. Very few ...

Jumping Jack (Jane) Dribble? Wet from a few leaks every time you go to the gym, and feel like you can't keep up with the pounding and zumba or cumbia and salsa moves? Lose the 5K race because you stopped for a bathroom break? Terrible! Unfortunately those with bladder issues of leaking with coughing and sneezing, find it's even worse at the gym. And that sort of leaking is what gynos mean when they say you have "stress incontinence" the stress is the rumba, the incontinence, the dribble! Bearing down to strain is a medical maneuver called a valsalva, and the strain of the forces of valsalva go directly to the neck of the bladder and affect if we can hold the urine in our bladder or if it leaks. Basic strategies like peeing before you bounce should help a bit, but often more has to happen, like lots of Kegel's, eating a bladder healthy diet, and otherwise trying medical interventions like pessary devices, medication, biofeedback, neuromodulation ther...

Moderate Cystocele, Atrophic Vaginal Tissue  The base of the bladder is located in the upper vaginal wall. When that wall protrudes into the vagina or through the vaginal opening, the medical term is cystocele. Some will just call it vaginal wall prolapse. Factors that cause the wall to weaken: age, straining, birthing, or even overly full bladders on a chronic basis. In the case when the cystocele is more than just a fullness when your bladder has filled the condition becomes a bulge and the condition is called a cystocele. For most women, it's something you are first told about at a gyno exam. Some women hear an actual pop and then notice the bulging. Others just notice that there is tissue plopping into their vagina. Other women just report discomfort with intercourse. Kegals exercises for your pubococcygeous muscles or strengthening balls (yes, you've been reading about these in your 50 Shades book!) help to make the muscles strong, but will nev...

Tsting the function of one's bladder may be as unsophisticated as a yearly check up with your gyno. But for many women bladder problems extend beyond the rare leak and need sophisticated testing. Multichannel urodynaic studies and a systematic examination of your vaginal support when there are additional problems. Reasons for more complex testing: 1.If you think you may actually have nerve damage to the area or be suffering from conditions which can affect the nerves such as diabetes 2. If you are planning invasive surgery 3. When there has been failure to correct an issue with prior surgery 4. When there is both a pelvic floor defect and incontinence If you wear pads daily, if you go to the bathroom significantly more than your friends or than you used to, and if you notice odors that might mean you are leaking urine, these are all reasons to get your bladder checked. 

Lots of factors have to do with the preservation of the pelvis and preservation of the pelvic floor during birthing. How big the bay is, whether you are birthing twins, how long the labor, how much pushing, what devices were used, whether you had an epidural. Too many to list, and not all studies are really clear if these factors are all damaging, and if so, how damaging. For instance in the 70s a gyno named Bickers thought epidurals were pelvic floor protective, and in research published much laters Legino in Nebraska did work that said epidurals actually led to more birth injuries. But both those studies were before epidurals were as common in the labor wards as they are now, so I'm not sure how much to believe either. But then there is the situation of one birth injury that could lead to the next round of birth injuries. It's safe to say your risk of a second injury is at least doubled with the next birth. We apparently cannot just rub it out, Labreique studied over 1500 C...

Bladder disconnect is also called overactive bladder, and it is fairly common and there can be a lot of signs of this problem. You sit on the toilet. You pee. But did you really pee all that was there? Normally when we are busy, or at work we don't want to pee frequently so we get in the habit of not going until we are quite full! On the other hand sometimes we don't want to pee until we finish the phone call or unload the groceries, so we just cannot stand it if the ability to hold the urine for more than moments after the signal that you may have to go occurs, Sometimes the physiologic adaptations that allow us to work around our busy lives can work a bit against us. WE have a bladder that holds our urine and a urethra that is the tube that funnels the urine out of our system. The bladder and the urethra are coordinated, but in a funny sort of discordant way! We are designed to hold that urine in and at the time the urethra will contract the bladder will actually, paradoxica...