DIURNAL INCONTINENCE IN WOMEN

There is a type of urinary incontinence in women, termed diurnal incontinence, which usually follows the trauma of childbirth, but which presents no visible injury or infection of the bladder, and has no relation to vesical fistulas. The onset is slow and insidious, the patient rarely being able to determine a definite beginning. The first symptom is the escape of a few drops of urine when the patient coughs, sneezes or makes any sudden movement which increases abdominal pressure. The condition may progress slowly until a continuous leak is present, although occasionally it remains constant; in fact, its limits vary between a slight dribbling on exertion to continuous loss, even when the patient is recumbent. Few infirmities are productive of so much inconvenience, discomfort and mental depression, nor does any other physical disability interfere so completely with the present comfort or future prospects of its victims.

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