It’s common for doctors to recommend pharmacological treatments for incontinence, but a recent study indicates that “behavioural therapies are generally more effective than other treatments to achieve cure or improvement,” and the relative effectiveness of other treatments including pharmaceuticals is “less clear.”
“In our opinion, this study supports our own experience. Behavioural interventions for incontinence can be highly effective and we believe DFree is a leader in this area,” said said Ty Takayanagi, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development with Triple W, a company with award-winning solutions for incontinence care.. “People want options that help them regain control over their toileting and they strongly prefer options that don’t involve surgery or prescription drugs.”
DFree is a wearable device that helps people reliably manage incontinence without resorting to invasive procedures or drugs. It’s simple to use and is an option for people seeking homeopathic or natural treatments for incontinence because it can help give people more control over their condition. The only side effect noted with DFree is some people have some skin irritation where the sensor attaches. Takaynagi says the company is working on new models that can address that.
Published by the Journal of General Internal Medicine in May 2019, Adverse Events Associated with Nonsurgical Treatments for Urinary Incontinence: a Systematic Review was written by Ethan Balk, Gaelen Adam, Katherine Corsi, Amanda Mogul, Thomas Trikalinos and Peter Jeppson. Here’s a link to a summary.
The paper looked at the clinical effects and harms of all nonsurgical treatments for typical stress, urgency and mixed urinary incontinence in nonpregnant women. Importantly, the authors note that women frequently put more emphasis on limiting the risk of side effects than on improving symptoms.
The study reported that some pharmacological treatments have high rates of dry mouth. Others can be associated with urinary tract infections and voiding dysfunctions.
Many people who look for natural or homeopathic treatments for urinary incontinence are trying to find options that don’t involve either pharmaceuticals or surgery, precisely because of the risks or adverse effects associated with those treatments.
“Many of our customers are happy to discover DFree because it is a simple non-surgical and non-pharma option to effectively treat incontinence,” said Takayanagi.
In the past, there have typically been three main treatments for urinary incontinence. You can wear diapers, take meds or use implants.
“None of these options are very good,” he said. “And implants, in particular, are invasive and are rightly considered a last resort. There’s a reason why DFree has attracted so much attention: it’s a fresh approach to a very old problem.”
DFree monitors your bladder using a small ultrasound device and sends an alert to an app on your phone to tell you that your bladder is full. You don’t have to guess.
According to the Mayo Clinic most surgical procedures to treat stress incontinence involve either sling procedures or bladder neck suspension procedures. Like any surgery, these procedures come with risks.
For women, risks include temporary difficulty urinating and incomplete bladder emptying, or urinary tract infections. Surgery of this type can also lead to the development of overactive bladder and may cause difficult or painful intercourse.
For men, risks include bleeding and infection, inability to urinate after the procedure or recurrent leakage.
When you look at the possible adverse effects from drugs and risks from surgery, it’s no wonder people are searching for options.
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