the.com/incontinence
A loss of bladder or bowel control, common and treatable, not something to feel ashamed of.
means The loss of ability to control the release of urine or feces.
from From Latin incontinentia, meaning a lack of self-restraint — built from in- ('not') and continere ('to hold together, restrain'), the same root that gives us 'contain.' Originally the word applied broadly to any failure of self-control, especially over appetites and desires; its narrowing to the physical, bladder-and-bowel sense came later, as medicine borrowed the term for the body's own failure to 'hold it together.'
- not just elderly
- affects young athletes and postpartum women constantly
- pelvic floor
- weak muscles, not weak willpower, cause most cases
- treatable
- most cases improve with exercises, not surgery
- underreported
- people wait years before mentioning it to doctors