Rochester Medical - Consumer Information

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <font size="+2" color="#663333"><b>Consumer Information</b></font> <p> Continence care involves the evaluation, treatment and management of both urinary retention and urinary incontinence. <i>Urinary retention</i> describes the clinical condition in which a person cannot completely empty their bladder at will. With urinary retention, urine flow is restricted even though the bladder continues to fill. <i>Urinary incontinence</i> is the clinical description for leaking urine when you don't want to do so. There are several categories of urinary incontinence, each related to the various reasons for accidental urine leakage.</p> <p> An estimated 13 million Americans presently suffer from incontinence. Although this topic was once ignored, today there are many <a href="03x01.html" target="frame3">educational and support groups</a> to help all of us to become better informed about the causes, treatments and management options for incontinence.</p> <p> An increasing focus on continence care has also heightened the awareness of <a href="03x02.html" target="frame3">latex-related sensitivities</a>. Many urological products on the market today remain latex-based products, even though studies show an increase in prevalence of latex allergy. There are many associations that provide information on latex sensitivities and latex allergies.</p> <p> <b>Types of Incontinence</b><br /> There are many types of urinary incontinence, designated according to symptoms as stress, urge, and overflow. Often, people will have more than one type of urinary incontinence.</p> <p> <i>Urge incontinence</i> is the involuntary loss of urine associated with an abrupt and strong desire to void (urgency).</p> <p> <i>Stress incontinence</i> is the involuntary loss of urine during coughing, sneezing, laughing, or other physical activities that increase abdominal pressure.</p> <p> <i>Overflow incontinence</i> is the involuntary loss of urine associated with overdistension of the bladder. This type of incontinence may have a variety of presentations, including frequent or constant dribbling, or have urge or stress incontinence symptoms.</p> <p> This site is built using frames and may only be viewed using a browser that supports frames. <b>If you are seeing this page, your browser does NOT support frames.</b> Upgrade your browser now to move further into the ROCM website. <br /> Browsers that may be used include <a href="http://www.netscape.com/download/index.html">Netscape Communicator</a> and <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm">Microsoft Internet Explorer</a>. If you are using <a href="http://www.aol.com/try/">America Online</a>, please be sure that you've upgraded to version 5.0 or higher.</p> </body>