The trouble of
Incontinence
Urinary troubles come in many ways to both men and women. Many women, following childbirth, suffer from weakened pelvic muscles. The complaint is that coughing, sneezing or even getting up quickly from a chair results in wetting themselves and they fear becoming a social outcast.
But more people of both sexes are inflicted with OAB (overactive bladder). They seek relief from daytime and nighttime urinary frequency which becomes more of a problem with advancing age. The result is lack of sleep, depression, and often leakage of urine on their clothes.
It’s estimated that one in six adults over the age of 40 is affected by OAB, and by age 70 it affects 48 percent of women and 17 percent of men.
The cause for older women is often a combination of problems, particularly after menopause. Childbirth sets the stage with weakened vaginal muscles causing, in time, a falling of the bladder wall. But, in addition, a lack of estrogen causes thinning of the bladder lining and thence the urge to void.
For men, urinary incontinence is often associated with enlargement of the prostate gland. Or it may occur following radical prostate surgery or radiation therapy for prostate malignancy. Comments from patients indicate this happens more often than reported because patients who wet themselves are too embarrassed to talk about it and don’t report this outcome of prostate surgery to the doctor who performed it.
Contemplating Marriage?
“Darling, don’t forget to ask the doctor to measure your anal genital distance before we marry. I want to see if you’re fertile. Also get the doctor to check your earlobe crease.”
Protect Yourself
From Acute Kidney Injury
Today more and more invasive diagnostic procedures are being done requiring the insertion of catheters and the injection of dyes. These procedures are performed with great care, but hovering overhead there is ways the risk of infection. And often the roll of the dice determines whether or not one of these infections strikes.
So how can you decrease the risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI)? The tragedy is repeated over and over when people rush into surgical procedures when their quality of life is minimally affected. It’s often better to live with the devil you know than the one you don’t know.
Puzzling Cases
Pets and Yeast Infections
Some patients have yeast infections that continue despite every effort to rid the problem. Here’s a clue. Ask about their pets. “Do you have any animals and do they sleep with you?” And here’s a case: a patient admitted she had a cat and yes the cat often slept with her. So the cat was examined by a veterinarian and found to suffer from a vaginal yeast infection. Case solved.
Here’s another puzzler. A patient with a small dog admitted that her dog enjoyed the comforts of her bed on many occasions. But that was nothing new. It was only after intense probing that she finally admitted with embarrassment to teaching her dog a trick. Since she was away all day at work she had taught the dog to urinate in the bathtub! The dog had a yeast infection! Now that was something new! Please don’t teach your dog this trick.
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