Description and Possible Medical Problems
Even a bodybuilder discovers by the age of 50 that his muscles aren’t as firm and toned as they were when he was in his 30s—or his 40s. With age, muscles lose their tone—even with regular exercise—and it takes longer for them to recover from exercise; for instance, instead of exercising one day and resting the next, you may need two days to recover. Needless to say, if muscles don’t get any exercise at all, they become flabbier.
The muscles that control urination are no exception. However, even though incontinence is more of a problem in older women than in men due to their physiology, men can have the problem too, for many of the same reasons as women, such as a urinary tract infection, a common cause of urinary incontinence. Depression can also be a cause, as can certain medications such as stool softeners and antibiotics. When you suddenly become incontinent for no clear reason, this is known as urge incontinence; it can be caused by either a urinary tract infection or nerve damage to the bladder.
Once a urinary tract infection or stool impaction is ruled out, the most common cause of urinary incontinence is a condition called overflow incontinence. As the prostate enlarges, it constricts the urethra and therefore limits the flow of urine from the bladder. The bladder “overfills” because it never completely empties. As the bladder fills, there is so much urine in it that it overflows around the prostatic obstruction and drips out, usually without notice. Overflow incontinence can also develop in a frail elderly man or any man who has had prostate surgery.
Treatment
If an enlarged prostate is responsible for your incontinence, your urologist will start you on a treatment plan that may include a medication called Proscar to shrink the prostate, regular checkups, and possibly prostate resection surgery, which will relieve the pressure on the urethra.
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