Incontinence is the inability to control the passage of urine and is most common in females and the elderly.

Female incontinence is a symptom of overactive bladder. This can range from an occasional leakage to a complete inability to hold any urine. Urologist Harry Tsai explains that if a woman has to urinate more than 6-8 times a day we consider them to have an overactive bladder.

Doctor Tsai tells us there are two types of urinary incontinence. One has to do with physical activity, and the other is an incontrollable urge. "Sometimes because of this overactive bladder, they have this urgency to go and because of this urgency they can't make it to the bathroom. They're the people always looking for the bathroom and that's what we call urging incontinence," says Dr. Tsai.

Simple surgery corrections and medications are now available to assist in controlling incontinence. Doctors understand it can be an uncomfortable issue for some to discuss.  Dr. Tsai also says, "It's a problem they don't like to come too it's kind of embarrassing and they've thought we just always have had to deal with it."

Dealing with it can be as easy as knowing the cause which can be traced to obesity, previous surgery in the lower abdomen area or aging are also possibilities.

The average person can hold approximately 550 milliliters or over 2 cups of liquid before the healthy nervous system will respond.