Your doctor will recommend different options depending on what is causing it. I read that 45% of women have pelvic floor problems some time during their life, and stress incontinence is the most common one.
Mine is more urgency, and related to a prolapse. My options were surgery, HRT, a pessary, or do nothing. I started with the pessary, and it put things in their proper place so kegels could be effective. I have to remove it to do kegels, so I have been using it only on weak muscle days. The kegels are supposed to take as long as a year for improvement. For some types of incontinence, pills help. Surgery can make incontinence worse instead of fixing it, but the doc thinks it's fixable.
If it's only a slight leakage, light days pads give you added security.
My mom's assisted living nurse told me that after 40, women don't completely empty their bladders, which leads to infections and makes urgency worse. I always start with a bathroom trip before exercising or leaving the house, and wait a bit to see if I am completely empty. I really noticed a difference with that second effort, so it's worth the extra time.
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