​Treating bladder dysfunction

At The Christ Hospital Health Network, we know that bladder dysfunction can interfere with your daily life and be hard to talk about with your doctor. That’s why our experienced physicians offer the most advance treatment options available including facilities like The Christ Hospital Pelvic Floor Center, which is dedicated to helping women get back their quality of life.

Treatment for bladder dysfunction depends on the type of incontinence you are experiencing. Our experts will take your medical history and may ask you to keep a diary of your incontinence issues.

Your first line of treatment for bladder issues is typically medical. You'll start with the least invasive treatment options before discussing surgery.

A combination of these treatments may improve your urinary incontinence:

• Behavioral techniques—changing your habits around bathroom use or teaching new skills to improve bladder control

• Bladder training—including fluid management, dietary changes, urge control and suppression strategies

• Bulking agents—injection of material into the bladder neck and urethra to treat involuntary leakage
  

• Catheter—thin tube inserted through urethra and into bladder for urine drainage

• Medications—over-the-counter or prescription medicine

• Pelvic floor exercises—to help strengthen muscles that control urine flow

• Pelvic floor electrical stimulation—mild electrical current that activates pelvic color muscles to strengthen ability to control urine flow

• Removable device designed to support the bladder—device inserted into vagina to support urethra 
  

Surgery

When medicine, lifestyle changes and other non-invasive treatments cannot ease your symptoms, your doctor may recommend surgery. For some women, hearing they need surgery may cause them to hesitate having a procedure they really need. That's why it's important talk with your gynecologist and get the facts.

Our women's health specialists can help you manage your anxiety about gynecologic surgery. We specialize in minimally invasive procedures that offer minimal pain, low levels of complications and fast recovery times, so you can get back to what you enjoy sooner.

Surgical treatments that may be recommended for bladder dysfunction or incontinence include:

• Bladder neck suspension—helps place a sagging bladder back into its normal position 

• Minimally invasive bladder repair—a surgery using small incisions to repair weak pelvic muscles or damaged urethra

• Vaginal sling (conventional and tension free)—uses tissue or a synthetic mesh to help close the urethra and bladder neck
  

Leading-edge facilities

At The Christ Hospital Health Network, we have an innovative Women’s Surgery Center designed specifically for women. Our Center features spacious operating rooms, the da Vinci surgical system for robotic-assisted gynecologic surgery, and telemedicine technology for real-time, remote consultations with pathologists.

At our Pelvic Floor Center one of only a few centers of its kind in the U.S.– specialists called urogynecologists care for women with bladder dysfunction and other pelvic floor disorders.