6 Steps for Regaining Control of Your Overactive Bladder

When you can hold your breath longer than you can hold your pee, the world can become a pretty small place.

Suddenly, you’re thinking twice before going on a wilderness hike. The thrill of road trips is replaced by the fear of traffic jams. And a day at the beach can become, well, no day at the beach. 

This is what life is like for the 40% of women and 30% of men who experience symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB), or urge incontinence. These symptoms include the sudden and hard-to control need to pee, leakage (accidents), and waking up more than twice in the night because you have to go.

OAB means not always making it to the bathroom in time. Can you make it stop? 

Meet Your Bladder:  Your Body’s Liquid Storage Tank

To manage OAB , you should get to know your bladder, a hollow but muscular organ that receives and holds your urine until it’s full. In a typically healthy adult, the tank is full once it receives around two cups of urine.

At that point, the brain sends “ready to go” signals to the sacral nerves in your lower spine, which control bladder function. Normally, you can hold it until you’re ready, but if you have OAB, the bladder can start squeezing suddenly.

OAB is not a disease; it’s a sign of an underlying condition, such as a bladder obstruction (stones or an enlarged prostate), urinary tract infection, diabetes, and nerve damage. It also could be a miscommunication between your brain and the sacral nerve at the base of the spine, telling your bladder to empty when it’s not full.

6 Steps for Better Bladder Control 

Most people don’t recognize OAB symptoms until they interfere with their daily lives. If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms, these six steps can help.

1. Be mindful of what’s in your glass – Continue drinking at least eight glasses of fluids a day, but favor water over caffeine, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners – especially at night. Try not to drink anything in the two hours before bedtime. 
2. Avoid OAB-triggering foods – Some foods worsen OAB symptoms because they irritate the bladder. Common irritants include spicy and acidic foods: hot peppers, some spices, tomatoes, and certain fruits and fruits juices, including orange, grapefruit, lemon, and lime.
3. Be a bladder detective – Write down the details of all you eat and drink, the times when you need to go to the bathroom, what you’re doing when the urge strikes, and if a leak occurs. These clues will help you identify and manage causes.
4. Exercise your bladder support system – Your pelvic muscles support the bladder, so strengthening them with Kegel exercise can improve OAB symptoms. It’s similar to holding in pee – squeeze, hold for a few seconds, and release. Perform five sets of 10 squeezes each.
5. Try not to rush to the restroom – Instead of hurrying to the bathroom the moment you get the urge to pee, focus on calming your reaction and waiting a bit. Recite the alphabet or perform Kegels. With practice, you could be able to keep it in longer. 
6. Put your bladder on a schedule – After you practice waiting, start training your bladder by putting it on a schedule. Go only at set times of the day, starting with once an hour (if you can), then slowly extend the intervals.

Don’t Hold Your Breath, Talk to a Doctor

The above steps will ideally improve your OAB symptoms. If not, then it might be time to seek medical treatment from a urologist.

Most likely, your doctor will first prescribe a medication to slow down the bladder muscles. More advanced steps include non-invasive Botox injections, which relax the bladder muscles, and nerve stimulation methods that can suppress the signals to pee. If those still don’t provide relief, there are highly effective long-term treatments. 

Our doctors treat OAB every day, so breath easily. They have the same goal as you: to get you back out doing the things you love with confidence.

If you think you’re experiencing symptoms of OAB, take our “Overactive Bladder Symptom Questionnaire.” You can learn more about OAB causes and treatments on our website, including a video about a sacral nerve stimulation treatment called InterStim.