I am 50 years old, have had 3 children. I had an hysterectomy at 40 for cystocele and rectocele, at that time I also had a bladder repair. I was OK for a while. A few years ago I developed urge incontinence. I went to a urologist who told me the vaginal sling (gynecort) would help me. I clearly told him that stress incontinence was not a big problem for me like it had been in the past. I had the sling surgery, and almost immediately my incontinence came back. It has gradually gotten worse. That was 3 years ago. I have since found out that the sling is for stress incontinence. Needless to say I changed Drs. I now am taking Sanctura after trying almost all the drugs for incontinence. I take it twice a day. I usually get up during the night once and many times don't even make it to the bathroom even after taking the Sanctura at bedtime. Usually what happens is, I am OK one minute and suddenly have pain/spasm and there is no holding back. It is extremely distressing. A lot of times I don't even have the urge to urinate when it hits. It seems to be the worst when I go from standing to sitting or vice versa. Also, I have been on different hormone therapies since my hysterectomy including oral and patch estrogens, testosterone, bioidentical hormones, etc. I am now only on progesterone cream. I have occasional hot flashes but just mostly stay hot a lot and generally don't feel that great. I have gained quite a bit of weight over the past few years. That probably puts pressure on the bladder I am sure, but I would like to go about my daily routine without worrying about accidents happening. I now have an appt. with another Dr. who is well known for urogynecology. Do you have any thoughts on my situation?
One Dr. told me the sling often makes urge incontinence worse. Is this true? Thank you very much.