6 Steps for Regaining Control of Your Overactive Bladder
40% of women and 30% of men experience symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB), or urge incontinence at some point in their life. Managing the symptoms is possible.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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Our hours are:
Monday-Friday: 7:30am – 5:00pm
please call us at:
Our hours are:
Monday-Friday: 7:30am – 5:00pm