Coleen Nolan opens up on ‘taboo’ health battle she’s been struggling with for three decades – and affects one in 5 Brits
COLEEN Nolan is on a mission to banish the taboo that lingers around a common health issue.
The straight-talking TV presenter has lifted the lid on her own experience with bladder leakage to help other sufferers.
Coleen, who has been on the panel of Loose Women on and off since 2000, said: “We have talked about it among ourselves.”
“We’ll say, ‘Oh my God, I wet myself at that yesterday’ or ‘I nearly wet myself today laughing at that topic’
“After the show when we are back in our dressing rooms, we talk about it, doing our debrief. I love the fact that you don’t have to feel alone with it,” she added.
Coleen became a mum when she was 23, and it was then that her bladder weakness started.
Over the years it has worsened and she found that she would sometimes wet herself when she sneezed, coughed or laughed.
“My bladder issues were from having my first child really,” she adds.
“When you are younger, and they are going on at you about doing your pelvic floor exercises, you say ‘yeah, whatever’. I’d do them, but not regularly, and then three children later you think ‘Maybe I should have done them when I was told’.”
Coleen is now an ambassador for Always Discreet, who create products for those with sensitive bladders.
The brand discovered that 94 per cent of women admitted to not doing pelvic floor exercises as regularly as they should.
The mum-of-three said she’s been making sure to squeeze pelvic floor exercises into her daily routine.
She explained: “You don’t have to give up any time of your day to do them. I can do them while I’m mucking the horses out, feeding the animals, or making a cup of tea. And no one knows you are doing them. It’s just getting into the habit.”
Since partnering with the brand she said she’s realised how widespread the problem is.
“One in three women experience bladder leaks,” says Coleen. “And it’s 100 per cent not associated with old age.
“I’ve met women from their early 20s to my age and above who have all experienced it at some time. Bladder leaks are very common. It’s something that we need to stop being embarrassed about. They just happen.
“It’s not an everyday occurrence with me, it’s if you sneeze, cough, or laugh. Laughing is a big one. I go out with my friends and we all say ‘Don’t make me laugh or I’ll wee’.”
What is urinary incontinence?
There are several types of urinary incontinence:
Stress incontinence: when urine leaks out at times when your bladder is under pressure; for example, when you cough or laugh. Causes include weakening or damage to the muscles used to prevent urination, such as pelvic floor muscles and the urethral sphincter.
Urge (urgency) incontinence: when urine leaks as you feel a sudden, intense urge to pee, or soon afterwards. This is usually the result of overactivity of the detrusor muscles, which control the bladder.
Overflow incontinence (chronic urinary retention) – when you’re unable to fully empty your bladder, which causes frequent leaking. This could be caused by a blockage in your bladder, preventing it from emptying fully.
Total incontinence – when your bladder cannot store any urine at all, which causes you to pass urine constantly or have frequent leaking. This could be caused by a problem with the bladder from birth, a spinal injury or a small hole that can form between the bladder and nearby area (fistula).
Pregnancy, childbirth, obesity, increasing age (although incontinence is not an inevitable part of aging) and a family history of incontinence.
According to research conducted by Always Discreet, 87 per cent of women surveyed in the UK said bladder leaks got in the way of daily life.
And 50 percent said it created embarrassment and anxiety, while 48 per cent said it was a taboo subject.
Coleen has had frank conversations with her daughter Ciara, 23, about how bladder leakage is a normal condition.
Despite it affecting women more than men, she has also openly talked about it with her sons Shane, 36 and Jake, 32.
“My mum didn’t talk about anything. She had eight children and I didn’t even know about periods. I found out about them because of my older sisters. She was of that era when private stuff stayed private,” she said.