Running Marathons Again

Forty-eight year old Barbara first noticed her leakage problem when she was pregnant with her second child. At first she thought it was something that would just go away, so she just ignored it until it got worse.

For Barbara her stress incontinence occurred during exercise. She loved to run and race in marathons, so the leakage was a major problem. As soon as Barbara hit the pavement, she would leak urine. Even going to the bathroom as many as 12 times before running didn't help.

Barbara always carried a change of clothes and she hung back from the other runners to hide her leakage problem. Barbara says exercise became anxiety-ridden, instead of something that was supposed to be enjoyable.

After putting up with her stress incontinence for three or four years, Barbara finally spoke to a doctor about her options. She saw several physicians and tried many treatments including biofeedback, Kegel exercises, medication and a urethral plug, but nothing worked. One doctor even recommended that Barbara use two super Tampax while she ran.

After all of the failed treatments, Barbara was very discouraged and she simply accepted the fact that she was going to be wet while running and that she would always have to bring a change of clothes. She says she was running six days a week, and was leaking seven days a week and that was how it was going to be.

It wasn't until a physician friend recommended Barbara meet with Dr. Jill Peters-Gee who was offering a relatively new treatment for stress incontinence-GYNECARE TVT.

Barbara had the TVT surgery and was back home and on her feet the same day. In the two years since her TVT treatment, Barbara hasn't experienced any problems with leakage. The first time she went running after the TVT treatment, she was expecting to leak and kept testing, but she never leaked.

Barbara tells all of her friends about the TVT treatment and how easy it was. She says that if it had been an option that was presented to her first, she would have taken it immediately. Since her TVT treatment, Barbara has run three marathons and is training for her next one, which will be in October.

As with any surgical procedure, surgery for Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) may present risks. Individual patient results may vary and are not indicative of all outcomes. Patients should consult their physicians to find out if this procedure is appropriate for their condition.

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