As men age, the simple act of urinating can get complicated. Prostate surgery often leaves men vulnerable to leakage when they cough, sneeze, or just rise from a chair. Or the bladder may become impatient, suddenly demanding that you find a bathroom right now. “Thousands of years ago, it was not as much of an issue,” observes Dr. Anurag Das, a urologist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “There were lots of trees, and you could just find one and go.”
Urinary incontinence means the accidental or involuntary loss of urine from the bladder. Many cases involve slight “dribbling.” The most common types are urge incontinence and stress incontinence. The usual causes of urge incontinence in men are involuntary contractions of the bladder muscles (overactive bladder). This is sometimes related to long-term blockage from an enlarged prostate. “You feel the urge to go but you start leaking before you make it,” Dr. Das says. “It could be a few drips, or it could be a larger amount if you can’t find the bathroom in time.” Many men notice that certain triggers set off their urge incontinence, such as hearing running water, entering a cold room, rising after sitting, or even just inserting the key in your home’s door lock.
Stress incontinence refers to urine leakage that occurs when coughing, sneezing, lifting a heavy object, or other activity. In men, this is usually caused by problems in the rings of muscle, or sphincters, that squeeze closed to seal off the bladder.
“If they are weak or damaged, then coughing, sneezing, running, or jumping can cause leakage,” Dr. Das says. In men, the most common cause of stress incontinence is sphincter damage after prostate surgery. Radiation treatment for prostate cancer can also cause it. The doctor will ask questions to figure out what may be causing the problem and how severe it is. You may be asked to go home and keep a voiding diary, which is a careful record of how often you need to urinate and the circumstances or triggers that lead to leakage.