Topic: Urinary incontinence and Hijama

Urinary incontinence is loss of bladder control. Symptoms can range from mild leaking to uncontrollable wetting. It can happen to anyone, but it becomes more common with age.

Most bladder control problems happen when muscles are: too weak or too active.

*If the muscles that keep your bladder closed are weak, you may have accidents when you sneeze, laugh or lift a heavy object. This is stress incontinence.

*If bladder muscles become too active, you may feel a strong urge to go to the bathroom when you have little urine in your bladder. This is urge incontinence or overactive bladder.

* Causes of temporary urinary incontinence:

Certain foods, drinks and medications can cause temporary urinary incontinence. A simple change in habits can bring relief.

• Alcohol: Alcohol acts as a bladder stimulant and a diuretic, which can cause an urgent need to urinate.

• Overhydration: Drinking a lot of fluids, especially in a short period of time, increases the amount of urine your bladder has to deal with.

• Caffeine: Caffeine is a diuretic and a bladder stimulant that can cause a sudden need to urinate.

• Bladder irritation: Carbonated drinks, tea and coffee — with or without caffeine — artificial sweeteners, corn syrup, and foods and beverages that are high in spice, sugar and acid, such as citrus and tomatoes, can aggravate your bladder.

• Medications: Heart medications, blood pressure drugs, sedatives, muscle relaxants and other medications may contribute to bladder control problems.

* Easily treatable medical conditions also may be responsible for urinary incontinence such as:

• Urinary tract infection: Infections can irritate your bladder, causing you to have strong urges to urinate. These urges may result in episodes of incontinence, which may be your only warning sign of a urinary tract infection. Other possible signs and symptoms include a burning sensation when you urinate and foul-smelling urine.

• Constipation: The rectum is located near the bladder and shares many of the same nerves. Hard, compacted stool in your rectum causes these nerves to be overactive and increase urinary frequency. In addition, compacted stool can sometimes interfere with the emptying of the bladder, which may cause overflow incontinence.

* Causes of persistent urinary incontinence

Urinary incontinence can also be a persistent condition caused by underlying physical problems or changes, including:

• Pregnancy and childbirth: Pregnant women may experience stress incontinence because of hormonal changes and the increased weight of an enlarging uterus. In addition, the stress of a vaginal delivery can weaken muscles needed for bladder control. The changes that occur during childbirth can also damage bladder nerves and supportive tissue, leading to a dropped (prolapsed) pelvic floor. With prolapse, your bladder, uterus, rectum or small bowel can get pushed down from the usual position and protrude into your vagina. Such protrusions can be associated with incontinence.

• Changes with aging: Aging of the bladder muscle leads to a decrease in the bladder's capacity to store urine and an increase in overactive bladder symptoms. Risk of overactive bladder increases if you have blood vessel disease, so maintaining good overall health — including stopping smoking, treating high blood pressure and keeping your weight within a healthy range — can help curb symptoms of overactive bladder.

After menopause women produce less estrogen, a hormone that helps keep the lining of the bladder and urethra healthy. With less estrogen, these tissues may deteriorate, which can aggravate incontinence.

• Hysterectomy: In women, the bladder and uterus lie close to one another and are supported by many of the same muscles and ligaments. Any surgery that involves a woman's reproductive system — for example, removal of the uterus (hysterectomy) — may damage the supporting pelvic floor muscles, which can lead to incontinence.

• Prostatitis: Loss of bladder control isn't a typical sign of prostatitis, which is inflammation of the prostate gland — a walnut-sized organ located just below the male bladder. Even so, urinary incontinence sometimes occurs with this common condition.

• Enlarged prostate: In older men, incontinence often stems from enlargement of the prostate gland, a condition also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

• Prostate cancer: In men, stress incontinence or urge incontinence can be associated with untreated prostate cancer. However, more often, incontinence is a side effect of treatments — surgery or radiation — for prostate cancer.

• Bladder cancer or bladder stones: Incontinence, urinary urgency and burning with urination can be signs and symptoms of bladder cancer or bladder stones. Other signs and symptoms include blood in the urine and pelvic pain.

• Neurological disorders: Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, stroke, a brain tumor or a spinal injury can interfere with nerve signals involved in bladder control, causing urinary incontinence.

• Obstruction: A tumor anywhere along your urinary tract can block the normal flow of urine and cause incontinence, usually overflow incontinence. Urinary stones — hard, stone-like masses that can form in the bladder — may be to blame for urine leakage. Stones can be present in your kidneys, bladder or ureters.

So how is it that Hijama can come in handy in this situation?

Well first of all, most of the causes mentioned above are due to an external factor for example alcohol, caffeine, medications and so on. What Hijama does is that it negates the side effects of these external factors. So the damage that is being caused by these elements are extradited from the body through the detox process of Hijama.

Once that is done, fresh oxygenated blood arrives at the treated site which inturn brings with it all the anti-inflammatory elements that the human body naturally produces and thus healing starts of that organ, in this case the male or female bladder area.

However, as for the other naturally occurring causes of Urinary incontinence, such as Child-birth or ageing factor, then I can confirm that Hijama is not a direct answer. Or for example, there is a tumor growth causing an obstruction, then Hijama will not directly help. These are things which people have to go through such as ageing or pregnancy and by applying Hijama Therpay will not solve your issues though it will make its symptoms better.

As for my personal experience treating Urinary incontinence with Hijama, then I can however, confirm that I had a few cases of males and females who were suffering from this embarrassing illness and they all felt a difference in that they stopped leaking urine.

Some patients felt better in a couple of days, others it took a few good months, but there was for sure a significant difference.

The treatment plan through Hijama should be such that it should be diagnosed first. Once that is done and depending no doubt on the factors causing it, cups are/can be applied to the pubic region, right on top of the pubic bone and 2 cups to the sides in the medial (adductor) compartment of the thigh or also known as the inguinal canal which are the two creases at the junction of the torso with the legs.

For this, it is best to have shaven off the pubic hair ( seriously, going to the doctors with pubic hair the length of a football field and then asking him to shave it off for you, is one good way of getting yourself kicked out of the clinic with your pants still half way down).

Its sometimes a bit stingy in this region, but I apply some anaesthetic to numb everything up.

After a month, I then advise patients to have it done on the opposite side, from the back area. This region where the cups are applied is called the Lumbar Region. Infact, I try to place it with accuracy where the Lumbar Vertebrate ends and the Sacrum starts.

In some patients I have even managed to place it on the coccyx itself which was a pleasant surprise. Again, 3-4 cups are more than enough.

This should be repeated initially every 4 weeks for 3 months. After which it should go back to having it done every 3 months. That’s when the miracles start Insha’Allah.

I hope I have done justice to this topic and I hope that no one suffers from this unpleasant illness but if they do, than Thank Allah swt for he has made a way for a treatment and a cure Insha’Allah.

PS: Like i tell everyone, dont wait till you start to have a leak program! Why not do it when you are healthy and young without an illness then to wait till you are 59 years of age, dripping every where you go and then everyone starts to look for alternative treatments such as Hijama.

Dr.Sohail. Islamabad Hijama Health Clinic

www.hijamacups.com

www.cuppingtherapy.co.in