How to Get a Handle on Male Stress Urinary Incontinence

Your bladder stores urine until you need to release it. The average adult pees about 6-8 times a day, and you should be able to do whatever you want when you want between bathroom breaks without worry of leaking urine. 

However, if you have urinary incontinence, it means something is wrong with how your bladder stores urine, leading to leaks and accidents. This can affect your quality of life, keeping you from doing the things you need and want to do. 

Millions of people live with urinary incontinence — the most common kind is stress urinary incontinence. This type occurs when sudden stress is put on the bladder, and the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body) opens, causing urine leakage. 

For many men recovering from prostate cancer and its subsequent treatments, stress urinary incontinence is inevitable since your bladder, urethra, and the muscles that control them are directly impacted.

If stress urinary incontinence is affecting your work, hobbies, and relationships, our team led by Paul H. Chung, MD, FACS, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wants you to know that treatment is available. 

This month’s blog examines the causes of stress urinary incontinence and how we can help. 

Understanding stress urinary incontinence 

Stress urinary incontinence starts with sudden pressure on the bladder. The pressure causes the two sphincter muscles inside your urethra to open, allowing urine to leak out. 

Typically, any physical activity that puts pressure on your bladder can trigger stress urinary incontinence, including: 

• Coughing 
• Sneezing 
• Bending over 
• Laughing 
• Exercising 

What causes stress urinary incontinence?

The cause of stress urinary incontinence is weak pelvic floor muscles supporting your bladder and urethra. You can lose strength in your pelvic floor and develop stress urinary incontinence due to weight challenges or an injury to your urethra. 

In many cases, undergoing prostate cancer treatments — especially prostate removal surgery, radiation therapy, or both — causes stress urinary incontinence. This is because during prostate removal surgery, one of the sphincters that keeps your urethra closed is removed or affected. 

While having one remaining sphincter can still give you urine control, you may still have issues with urine control, especially if you’ve undergone radiation, which can weaken your bladder further.

Stress urinary incontinence can start mild, only leaking a few drops. However, as the condition progresses, you may start to leak several tablespoons of urine – enough to leak through your clothes — when you stand up, walk, or have sex. 

Severe stress urinary incontinence can lead to emotional distress, especially if you feel like you can never be far from a bathroom. You may even need to wear adult diapers, which may make you feel self-conscious and cause you to start isolating from others. 

Treating stress urinary incontinence

Dr. Chung offers many effective treatment strategies for stress urinary incontinence to restore your quality of life. 

If your incontinence is mild, lifestyle changes and physical therapy may be enough to address it, especially as you recover from prostate cancer treatments and your body learns to adjust to having one sphincter. 

These treatments can include: 

• Performing exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor
• Training your bladder to empty at certain times
• Eating more fiber to prevent constipation that worsens incontinence
• Losing weight
• Quitting smoking or tobacco use

However, if your incontinence is severe or doesn’t respond to more conservative treatment, surgery might be the best option. 

One surgical method places a surgical mesh sling to better support and position your urethra to prevent leaking. This option is typically best for more mild to moderate stress urinary incontinence. 

Another surgical option is to have an artificial urinary sphincter device placed, which helps keep your urethra closed. You manually activate the device with a pump whenever you need to urinate. 

Get relief from stress urinary incontinence 

If you’re ready to keep stress urinary incontinence from controlling your life, schedule an appointment with Dr. Chung and the rest of our expert team by calling your nearest office location today.