What Are the Treatment Options for Bladder Leakage?

Have you ever laughed, sneezed, worked out, or simply waited a little too long to get to the bathroom and experienced bladder leakage?

Maybe you've started planning your activities around the nearest restroom. Maybe you're avoiding certain workouts or feeling less confident during everyday activities.

If you're experiencing bladder leakage, I want you to know something: there are options.

I'm a medical provider who loves options. I love being able to offer different treatments to my patients because no two women are exactly alike. What works for one woman may not be enough for another.

When we're talking about bladder leakage, pelvic floor strength, and vaginal health, I want to look at the woman in front of me and determine which treatments make the most sense for her.

Let's talk about some of the options available.

What are the treatment options for bladder leakage?

There are several treatments I use to address pelvic floor strength and vaginal tissue health. Three of the technologies I work with are VTone, FormaV and Morpheus8V.

Each serves a different purpose, and sometimes the best approach is a combination.

VTone: Strengthening the pelvic floor

VTone is an EMS device that is inserted much like a tampon. It uses electrical muscle stimulation to help your body perform pelvic floor contractions.

What I appreciate about this little device is that a 30-minute treatment is equivalent to 10,000 Kegels.

I was a labor and delivery nurse, and I had no idea what a Kegel was until I had done a VTone treatment on myself!

One of the things I love about VTone is that you learn how to contract your body and engage your entire pelvic bowl during treatment.

VTone can be a great option for younger women who haven't completely lost their hormones, as well as postpartum women who aren't too far removed from their hormonal changes.

But VTone alone may not be enough for every woman.

FormaV: Bringing heat and blood flow back to vaginal tissue

When a woman is in menopause or postmenopause, and has been there for some time, I may need to look beyond VTone alone.

That's where FormaV comes in.

With FormaV, we're using heat to treat the tissues throughout the vaginal canal.

Think of a clock. I'm working around the clock, heating the vaginal tissue and bringing blood flow back to that tissue.

This is one part of a more comprehensive approach to addressing changes in vaginal tissue.

Morpheus8V: Supporting collagen and elastin production

After heating the tissue, I may incorporate Morpheus8V.

Once the tissues are heated, I go in with microneedles.

When tissue is treated with microneedles, your body's healing response helps stimulate collagen and elastin production.

We typically do three treatments, once a month for three months.

The improvements don't stop when the treatments are finished. Collagen and elastin production continue over the following months.

That's why I recommend annual follow-up so we can evaluate how you're doing and determine whether additional treatment is appropriate.

Why might I combine these treatments?

Sometimes we're doing multiple things because we're addressing different parts of the problem.

With FormaV and Morpheus8V, we're working with the vaginal tissue, heat, microneedling, and your body's natural healing response.

In the meantime, we can incorporate VTone to strengthen the vaginal walls and help retrain the communication between your brain and bladder.

We're working on helping your body recognize when it's time to hold it, rather than having an accident, and recognizing when you need to use the bathroom in enough time to actually get there.

We're not just looking at one thing. We're looking at multiple ways to support pelvic health.

Do hormones affect bladder leakage treatments?

I will say that my patients who are on hormones and undergo these treatments do phenomenally.

That doesn't mean you can't have these treatments if you're not on hormones. They are still amazing treatments.

However, without hormones, you may need to follow up sooner. Instead of waiting a full year, perhaps we look at a nine- or ten-month follow-up.

This is something I consider when developing an individualized treatment approach.

What does pelvic health and bladder control mean to you?

Here's something I always come back to: quality of life.

When we're talking about rebuilding vaginal tissue and improving pelvic health, what does quality of life look like for you?

How important is the quality of your sex life? How strong do you want your pelvic muscles to be? How much improvement are you hoping to experience with bladder control?

Those are individual questions, and the answers are going to be different for every woman.

I truly try to tailor treatments to the woman I'm talking to.

These are some of the available options, but the sky is the limit on what you choose.

You have options when it comes to bladder leakage.

If you're experiencing bladder leakage, pelvic floor weakness, or changes in vaginal health, I don't want you to assume that you have to plan your life around those symptoms.

There are different treatment options, including VTone, FormaV and Morpheus8V. The right approach depends on your individual needs, your hormones, your tissue health, and the outcomes you're looking for.

At Anderson Integrative Medicine, my goal is to understand what you're experiencing and help you explore an approach that makes sense for you.

Because ultimately, this is about more than bladder control. It's about your confidence, your comfort, your relationships, and your quality of life.

If bladder leakage is affecting your everyday life, let's talk about your options.

Visit Anderson Integrative Medicine to learn more about our pelvic health treatments and schedule a consultation.