When we cannot control our pee like we used to, we can expect our daily routine and favourite activities to be disrupted — in previously unimaginable ways when we were in control.

Women with this condition often share with me that they needed to visit the toilet shortly after they drink something. 

Some wake up discovering wetting the bed and their pants. And even more seem to leak urine while doing things they enjoy. 

While not life-threatening, it does affect our day-to-day quality of life. 

Especially when Malaysian women tend to live longer than our male counterparts. 

When we first start to leak a bit, even how infrequent or occasional, it can happen at other times as well.

Moments when we may also leak 💦 involuntarily:

a) Pass wind
b) Laugh
c) Sneeze
d) Cough
e) Do prayers
f) Do yoga
g) Dance
h) Have penetrative intercourse

In Pelvic Health Physiotherapy terms – these are ‘stress’ activities.

Stress activities pushes extra intra-abdominal pressure (ℹ️ pressure inside our body) to our inner pelvic floor muscles which are already weakened by the high impact exercise or activities that we do.

Holding in urine may suddenly seem like a luxury for us with a weakened pelvic floor.

And it certainly adds stress to our lives.

A lot of women with urinary incontinence find themselves coping with leaking issues. Because it seems like there’s no real permanent solution.

From reducing water intake to trying all brands of ‘jamu‘, to wearing pads every day, most coping mechanisms do nothing to slow down or reverse the real reason of the problem.

Coping mechanisms are usually ‘problem-shifting’ and not ‘problem-solving’.

They tend to create new problems to other aspects of our health. 

For example:

❌ Reducing water intake to avoid leaking may also dehydrate our body. It’s not great for our skin and cells.

❌ Wearing pads may seem like ‘The Solution’ – but soiled pads and underwear increases the chance of urinary tract infection (UTI) — something highly unpleasant!

We end up spending a lot more on coping than solving the issue.

And the problem rarely stops there.

Leaking urine is often the early-stage symptom of pelvic floor dysfunction.

When we continue to exercise, we risk progressing towards a more serious complication:

Our internal pelvic organs i.e. the bladder, uterus, rectum can fall when our pelvic floor becomes so weak after repeated high impact activities.

This is known as “Pelvic Organ Prolapse”, where our internal organs fall out of our vagina opening.

It leads to many other complications that destroys our quality of life.

Most people have not seen their internal organs hang out of their bodies. When they do, it’s already at a late stage.

Here’s what a prolapse looks like when it reaches a certain stage:

Internal organs visible outside of our body

In serious and situations with complications, an invasive surgery is the only option to either:

a) reconstruct our inner pelvic support, or
b) to remove our fallen uterus entirely that is affecting our health and wellbeing.

The second option also means the end of future pregnancies for us.