Has anyone been to a women's pelvic floor therapist for urge incontinence?

[JacknDiane]

Can I ask what your experience was like?
How many sessions did you have?
Did you get an examination on the first appointment?

Im interested in private appointments and if you managed to see someone on the NHS.

Thanks

I don’t know what urge incontinence is but I had a woman’s pelvic floor appt last Friday and it was remarkably useful, imformative and reassuring. Yes, there was an internal examination but I was put at my ease and don’t usually find such things easy. I was given lots of advice in a clear to follow way and told I shouldn’t need to return if I follow advice. Would completely recommend the experience.

Urge incontinence is tue sudden feeling of needing to pee, luke going from feeling you need to pee to being desperate and needing to actually sit down to stop wetting yourself, all within 30 seconds.
You must not be the same as me .

I have urge incontinence to some degree, though it manifests itself when I'm leaving the car to get into the house, never when I'm out shopping, for instance, where the urge can be withstood better. Also when I go out gardening in the back yard for some fecking reason. Plainly it's massively psychological in my case.

A decent pelvic floor therapist will ask detailed questions about all aspects of incontinence, do a physical examination, possibly set a fluid intake diary. The tech has moved on and the private one I go to (Melbourne) now has an ultrasound device so you can see if you're doing the exercises correctly, something I find intermittently hard to "feel".

I'm sorry I can't give you relevant UK advice. @JacknDiane.
Good luck.

Im asking as I went to one in England and basically it was a chat for an hour, no examination or similar. I was told to try exercises to relax me more, which im doing, which dont help my bladder so far. This cost me over £100 for this. I just expected to be examined and have more of an understanding why I leak urine. Im no further forward. I understand the benefits of being more relaxed but surely a leaky bladder is more of a physical thing rather than just you need to relax more?

I saw one on the NHS following a referral from a gynae appointment for a prolapse. She was really good. Full exam, tested on pelvic floor exercises and learned I hadn't been doing them properly. She explained how to do it, and checked I was pulling all the correct muscles. I had a couple of follow ups and she was able to tell me that I was improving. There was no relaxation/idle chatting at all!

She also does a private clinic as well as her NHS work.

That’s disappointing, @JacknDiane!

Every NHS appointment I’ve been offered has been online, completely useless. Have paid privately for physio and used a pelvic floor trainer (which has been brilliant). GP has been supportive with consultant referral (as I still leak) and medication (various tried). I know carry a radar key. I really wish women’s health wasn’t as readily dismissed. I love my kids but hate the impact on my body. (And I work, in the NHS!)

Yes, on NHS. Yes to an exam. She gave me some exercises. Nothing I didn’t already know or wasn’t doing, but I wasn’t doing them nearly often enough. Drink water a mug full at a time, not little sips throughout the day. Lots of water is better than no water. I don’t think I had more than 1 or 2 appointments because I felt it was something I could easily manage on my own. No issues now so obviously worked.

I saw one years ago but I was disappointed and didn’t go back. In hindsight, I wish I had.

In think I have stress incontimece though, as opposed to urge incontinence. I feel like I am absolutely bursting but then when I go it’s just a small dribble.

i was examined, but then was told to record all the liquids I drank and to record every time I peed and the volume (was told to pee into a measuring jug).

Because of my job at the time there was just no way I was going to be able to do that so I just didn’t go back.

That was before I had kids. Now that I’ve had kids I suspect an internal examination might show issues like prolapse etc.

it’s on my list to look into….but I never get the time to look after myself properly.

I had this urge stuff going on for a while and was prescribed Vaginal Estrogen cream. It took a good few weeks to see any improvement but it's much better. I didn't have pelvic floor therapy etc., but I do kegels myself when I think of it.

Maybe you have tried the estrogen cream already. It is miracle stuff for urinary issues and dryness etc. Ask your GP about it.

I think knowing who to see for urge incontinence is really difficult. As I said im on many waiting lists for nhs but willing to pay privately for help, but just dont know who to access.

If you are over 30, vagunal estrogen is definitely worth a shot. It’s for perimenopause and menopause but I suspect some of us need it earlier than others. For me it helps with a constant nagging feeling that I need to go, no matter how frequently I have been. That feeling of ‘about to get a UTI’, and general irritation in the area, as well.

I’m waiting for a telephone appointment with my local continence service, later this week. Hopefully I’ll get a better idea of what’s available then. And advice.

By the way, there’s a woman called Elaine something who does a series of videos called ‘dry by’ …something or other. Or dry in 6 weeks? I’ll try and search it out. She’s awesome. Women’s physio or similar, specialises in this.

Elaine Miller, Dry by Christmas. Do have a look.

Yep, had vagifem for years. And medication, various things.

Anyone else?

Me. Urge incontinence (alongside a lot of other kinds) for many years, it got dramatically worse about ten years ago. I googled ‘gynae physio’ and saw a woman privately who was only still doing one day a month in the area or something, she was about to retire. A lot of talking to take a history, which I expected, but also a physical exam and showed me how to do the exercises - and crucially, what it felt like to actually relax the muscles: they were in spasm at times - and gave me personalised advice. Nothing ground breaking but it was really good. The single most effective piece of advice for me was the impact of caffeine - you’d get that on any leaflet or website though I suppose.

I drink decaf tea and coffee now and I very rarely drink fizzy pop.

I can't understand why I didn't have a physical examination.

I will say that as a specialist in my own field I sometimes feel I don’t need to examine because I can hear or see the issue without it or from the history. I remember that my husband was once angry at having waited a long time to see the orthopaedic surgeon, the appointment was ten minutes long with no, or not much, physical element. But that man had seen more knees than I’ve had hot dinners - he probably diagnosed correctly and made a plan just from watching my husband walk into the room. That’s why it took a long time to get to him.

have you tried these two things:
1- Tens pelvic floor toner - buy on amazon. Has a bulb like thing you pop in your last bits. 20 mins each night. Has an urge setting
2- psychologically, when you suddenly need to go (this happens to me at home) I tell myself I’m in the middle of the high street so need to hold and somehow my body calms. Obs less helpful if you are in the middle of a high street

I hope its that @PermanentTemporary