Part 1 - Postpartum Complications: 3 Ways to Address Stress Incontinence

Do you pee your pants or lose urine when you cough, sneeze, run or jump?

If so, you may be experiencing urinary incontinence. And you are NOT alone. Especially, if you recently gave birth within the last 2 to 3 or even 6 months?

Urinary Incontinence or Stress Incontinence is directly correlated to pelvic floor weakness and is a common issue for many postpartum women.

Have you noticed that you are having some complications that your doctor said would go away but they are still causing problems for you.  What I am referring to: are two very common complications of pregnancy. The first one is varicose veins  and the other one is urinary incontinence. I am going to talk to you about urinary incontinence first and what you need to do about it within the first year of having your baby. And the way that you can get your insurance company to cover the treatment that you need whether it is pelvic floor physical therapy or even surgery.

If you have urinary incontinence, a lot of times your doctor is going to say "don't worry about that" "it will get better over time". The first line of defense is to start doing  Kegel Exercises. Don't really take that as your only option if your stress incontinence persists. I would be a little more assertive about the treatment options. Talk to your doctor and request a referral to a pelvic floor specialist or pelvic floor physical therapist (PT) so they can start working with you to strengthen your pelvic floor to mitigate further complications. Also, you can ask for a referral to a Urogynecologist. A Urogynecologist is a medical doctor that is a board certified OB/GYN and Urology which makes them a bladder specialist as well. They can complete urodynamic testing to evaluate this issue and determine whether or not this is going to be a persistent problem for you. Urinary incontinence or peeing your pants is NOT normal whether you have had a baby or not.  This is something that you want to get treatment for and it is medically necessary and the treatment options are covered by insurance.  If you are a breastfeeding mom, they will try to delay treatment and even surgery until you are done breastfeeding but you can advocate for yourself in this regard especially if you have already paid a very large deductible when you gave birth.   If that is the case, you will want to make sure that your consult with the Urogynecologist and work with the pelvic floor physical therapist happens during the say calendar year that your deductible has been met. These issues can persist for a lifetime and usually get worse with each subsequent pregnancy if not addressed properly.

In summary, the 3 things that you can do to address postpartum stress incontinence is (1) Kegel exercises; (2) Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy and (3) referral and treatment by a doctor that specializes in female stress incontinence e.g., Urogynecologist.

Part two of the postpartum complications covered by insurance is going to be on varicose veins. So, stay tuned.