Urinary Issues that Happen to MS Patients

MS patients can have problems with any major bodily function which engages the use of nerves sending signals throughout your body. So that means not only do you have to go through the tremors, tingling, pain and heat sensitivities, you may also have to deal with urinary incontinence, an embarrassing problem that no one wants to really deal with.

What is Urinary Incontinence?

People who have urinary incontinence have trouble with controlling their bladder. If you are one, chances are that you cannot control how to stop the flow of your urine from leaking out. Some people develop incontinence after childbirth while for others it may just be old age and the loosening of the elasticity of your urinary bladder.

For MS sufferers, urinary incontinence means that their nerves are not working correctly due to the lesions formed from the damage to the myelin, the protective covering to the nerve fibers. These lesions are hindering the ability of your nerves to “talk” to the nerves in the bladder telling it to hold the flow of urine. So while the mind is willing, the body is weak, thanks to MS hindering the signals coming from the nerves.

MS Sufferers are not Alone

MS patients are not alone when it comes to urinary incontinence. There are a number of other health factors which can contribute to the cause of it. As mentioned before, simple old age is one factor because of the elasticity issue. The muscles in the bladder may be too weak to hold in the urine and keep it from leaking. That is why some people who sneeze or laugh and have weak bladders will experience incontinence.

Urinary incontinence is not a problem that is going to go away. It has both social and health aspects that you may not even consider. For instance, some people become embarrassed by the incontinence and will avoid going out to places. This isolation can cause depression and loneliness. There are other physical factors which occur as a result of urinary incontinence like infection, sleeping problems, skin irritation and even falls.

The urinary system is rather intricate and involves several main parts like the urethra, bladder, ureter and kidneys. The breakdown in nerve communication in MS patients occurs sometimes around the sphincter muscles in the urethra which helps control the release of urine. The nerves in the brain may be trying to tell these sphincter muscles to hold tight, but because of the nerve damage caused by MS, that communication is severed or distorted.

Treatment

There are many treatments for MS but not one is going to cure the disease or curtail the incontinence facet. Quite a few treatments due exist for urinary incontinence so if you have MS, you would have to treat this one particular symptom separately from the rest of them. While it may not be able to be cured you can treat it. Plus, there are a variety of personal care products that you can use as well to mask the problem so that you can still get out and about in public without embarrassment or shame. Remember the disease is causing your incontinence; you are not to blame.