Urinary incontinence is the unintentional passing of urine. It's a common problem thought to affect millions of people.
There are several types of urinary incontinence, including:
- Stress incontinence – when urine leaks out at times when your bladder is under pressure; for example, when you cough or laugh
- Urge incontinence – when urine leaks as you feel a sudden, intense urge to pee, or soon afterwards
- Overflow incontinence (chronic urinary retention) – when you're unable to fully empty your bladder, which causes frequent leaking
- Total incontinence – when your bladder cannot store any urine at all, which causes you to pass urine constantly or have frequent leaking
- It's also possible to have a mixture of both stress and urge urinary incontinence.
Find out more about the symptoms of urinary incontinence in the useful links section.
Useful links: