Bladder leakage or urinary incontinence (UI) – literally peeing when you don’t want to, is the most common pelvic floor issue affecting women across their lifespan and its prevalence increases with age. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is predominant in young women. This is when there is extra pressure on the bladder and your pelvic floor muscles can’t deal with that extra pressure, so things can get a little damp. It is known that urinary incontinence in young people is both under-diagnosed and under-reported. Some of us may not address the problem or seek specialist help due to embarrassment and not even knowing it’s a legit issue! Well, no more!
Bladder leakage isn’t just a ‘seniors’ problem
When 24-year-old Christin Young walked into the urology clinic at a major Sydney hospital, she was struck by the fact that she was the only person under 30 in the room. “There was nothing to validate me as a young person experiencing incontinence,”(bladder leakage) she says. “There was no information at all about urinary problems in young people and I felt it reinforced that incontinence is an older person’s issue and it was not okay for me to be experiencing it.”Check out more of Christin’s story