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Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine, whether a small leak or in a large quantity. The person who has problem with incontinence can suffer a most humiliating situation when it occurs during social settings. For this reason, many who have incontinence lead lives of seclusion. They would rather stay at home, fearing an embarrassing accident in public, when often the problem can easily be corrected if they would seek medical help.

During normal body function the bladder muscles stay relaxed so it can fill with urine. The bladder is supported by the contraction of pelvic floor muscles. Once the bladder becomes full, the bladder sends nerve signals to your brain to tell you that you need to release the urine. You then choose to urinate in a bathroom by relaxing your pelvic floor muscles, which in turn causes the bladder to contract and release the urine.

There are many medical conditions, medications, and other influences which can interfere with this normal process and cause incontinence. Women suffer from incontinence twice as often as men. This is due in large part to pregnancy and childbirth and to frequent bladder and urinary tract infections. There is always an underlying cause of incontinence and you should not be embarrassed to seek medical help for the condition. Gaining the knowledge of the underlying cause through a medical examination may aleviate the symptoms entirely, or at least to a large extent.

There are seven different types of incontinence:

1. Stress - This type of incontinence is caused by pressure on, or damage to, the pelvic floor muscles. This is the type of incontinence that causes you to leak when you laugh, cough, or sneeze.

2. Overflow- Overflow incontinence is the unexpected leakage of a small amount of urine because of a full bladder.

3. Urge- Urge incontinence is loss of a large amount of urine at unexpected times, including during sleep. The urge can be so strong that the person cannot make it to the bathroom in time. It can also result in a painful release of the urine similar, but not as strong, as is experienced when a bladder or kidney infection is present.

4. Overactive Bladder- Frequency and urgency to urinate can occur with or without incontinence.

5. Functional- This type of incontinence is caused by obstacles preventing a person from reaching the bathroom in time. These include mental or physical disabilities, injury, and surgery.

6. Mixed- This is a term referring to a person having two types of incontinence. It

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