Incontinence Blog
Giggle, Mixed and Functional Incontinence
Giggle, Mixed and Functional incontinence are less common…but still important!
We have covered the most customary forms of incontinence in previous blogs–namely, stress incontinence, urge incontinence and overflow incontinence. Today, I will touch upon three less common forms of incontinence, which are Giggle, Mixed and Functional Incontinence. Before I go on, however, I must point out that the content in my blogs does not attempt to discuss or evaluate medical diagnostic procedures or medical treatments for the various types of incontinence, but instead, focuses on the personal management of incontinence through the utilization of freely available incontinence products designed strictly for such personal management.
Now, let’s talk about three other classes of incontinence:
- Giggle Incontinence
- Mixed Incontinence
- Functional Incontinence
Giggle Incontinence:
Giggle incontinence is the involuntary release of urine when one laughs or giggles. This condition is more common in children than in adults, and, in general, it affects mostly young girls who are approaching puberty. On average, giggle incontinence may begin at about age 4 to 8. Children may outgrow or at least improve this incontinence condition by their teenage years; however, in some cases, it may persist into adulthood. I found a very interesting scientific article that was published in the British Journal of Urology about giggle incontinence. The data analyzed for the study, concerning bladder responses to laughing or giggling, came from questionnaires answered by 99 student nurses. The results showed that roughly 25% had experienced involuntary release of urine at some time in their lives and about 10% still had such symptoms in their late twenties. The mechanism of giggle incontinence is not entirely understood, but laughter may trigger a bladder contraction or spasm, which could lead to the urinary leakage or complete emptying of the bladder.
It is not typically necessary to perform extensive testing in youths who have giggle incontinence. Usually it is not associated with any significant underlying medical disorders, nevertheless, the condition can be very distressing and embarrassing for children especially during their school years.
Mixed Incontinence:
Mixed incontinence is a condition that includes two types of incontinence previously covered in this blog series. Those two conditions are stress incontinence and urge incontinence. Therefore, if one has mixed incontinence, one will share the symptoms of both conditions, which, if you recall, are urine leakage when you sneeze, laugh or cough, and, also when you have an urge to urinate. Mixed incontinence is a disorder that is quite common in the elderly female population.
Functional incontinence:
Functional incontinence is when a person is confused and does not recognize the need to go to the toilet or does not recognize where the toilet is. Functional incontinence can also be associated with a physical disorder that results in immobility, which prevents a person from being able to reach the toilet in time. In the case of mental confusion that prevents a person from either getting to the toilet on time or not at all, one finds over time that the incontinence condition worsens. The amount of urine loss in functional incontinence can vary from leakage to the complete emptying of the bladder. Functional incontinence may also be associated with bowel incontinence.
Let’s now talk about the products that are recommended for these less common incontinence conditions. In most instances, incontinence pads are able to take care of the average amount of leakage that accompanies giggle incontinence and mixed incontinence. Fortunately, manufacturers of incontinence pads offer a variety of pads for all degrees of urine leakage and selecting the correct pad is most often understanding what’s best for your own personal condition. Remember, it is important that, if a child has giggle incontinence, the symptoms should be monitored closely since it may result in moderate urinary leakage to complete emptying of the bladder. If the amount of leakage is too great for the pad that has been selected, simply select an alternate pad that has a higher capacity of absorbency. Once again I have to remind you that you are not locked into a specific pad, and that there are options available to manage your or a loved one’s incontinence condition. The images found below are products that are suitable for giggle and mixed incontinence. Click on them and determine which product is best for your present condition. Keep in mind that you can always speak to one of our incontinence specialist for advice.
[ezcol_1half]
[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end]
[/ezcol_1half_end]
[ezcol_1third]
When dealing with functional incontinence, in most cases, you will be selecting from incontinence products that are suitable for complete emptying of the bladder and/or bowel incontinence. Therefore, easy pull-on and pull-down choices of briefs should be explored as well as underpads, both disposable and washable.
[ezcol_1third]
At Careway Wellness Center our best selling incontinence products is the Tena brand. Because of Careway’s robust sales with the Tena brand, they are always on sale when you buy online. Of course, in addition to the Tena brand, we sell several other brands, which can also be shopped online as well as our retail store. The Salk line for men is our best selling men’s product for urge incontinence.
While on the subject of Tena products, we encourage you to join our exclusive TENA CLUB to begin enjoying even more savings on Tena products. Play the video to see how the TENA CLUB works.
In my next blog, I will be discussing Kegel Exercises for Incontinence.