Following research conducted by Oceana Therapeutics (1) which found that incontinence is the problem that Brits are least likely to talk to their GP about.

Ex-champion ballroom dancer Trudi Shepherd is tackling the taboo with a video about her experience of Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI).

According to the Bladder and Bowel Foundation (2), one third of women in the UK will have some form of SUI at some stage in their lives, making Trudi’s video something many women in Britain can relate to.

Following a career as a professional dancer, dance teacher Trudi, 51, started to notice that she was experiencing some urine leakage when she coughed or sneezed and when she started dancing it became even more noticeable, particularly when doing dances like the quick step. She says, “I started to feel really uncomfortable and didn’t want to do certain steps when I was dancing with Keith.  If I forgot to wear a panty liner it was a nightmare because I was worried that it would run down my leg!  I talked to a friend of mine who is a nurse and she assured me that there were things that could be done to sort it out.”

Trudi saw Steve Foley, Consultant Urologist at the Royal Berkshire, who suggested various options including injection therapy with Deflux™.  Injection therapy was new to Trudi as a treatment for bladder weakness, but she chose this option when Steve explained that she could be in and out of hospital in a day with limited time off work.

Deflux™ is a gel used in this urethral bulking procedure, which can help improve the lives of women suffering from SUI.  During the procedure, the gel is injected into the urethra endoscopically to obtain a bulking effect, which helps to prevent urine leakage.  The process can be undertaken under general anaesthetic or local sedation and is proven to have minimal side effects.  Women will return to normal activity, and can even go back to work within 24-48 hours.

Trudi went ahead with the procedure and was back at work in one week.  She says, “the improvements to my quality of life are amazing. When I went back to work and danced again for the first time I didn’t leak and couldn’t believe what a difference it made.”

Trudi advises other women who are suffering in silence to find a solution to the problem rather than trying to ignore it. She says, ‘Get on and do something about it because it’s amazing – you become more confident, more sure of yourself, you can get on and do things and get on with life ’

About Deflux™

Deflux™ gel is a viscous substance consisting of two components: dextranomer (Dx) microspheres and stabilised hyaluronic acid of non-animal origin (NASHA™).  Deflux™ is completely safe and has been successfully used for a decade to treatment more than 200,000 children affected with vesicoureteral reflux.  In the treatment of SUI, the dextranomer beads act as the bulking agent and have been shown to remain at the injection site for up to four years.  The hyaluronic acid is the carrier agent, which disappears from the body.

(1) Survey conducted by Redshift Research with 500 men and 500 women.
(2) http://www.bladderandbowelfoundation.org/