Warning: You Might Be Causing Overactive Bladder Accidentally

Health

Overactive bladder (OAB) has several causes. Medical conditions may cause some symptoms. Plus, your actions can control some of these uncomfortable symptoms. In the case of overactive bladder, the muscles of the bladder contract involuntarily. Overactive bladder symptoms may include:

  • Experiencing a sudden urge to urinate that is hard to control.
  • Having urge incontinence. Urge incontinence occurs when a person loses urine right after he or she feels an immediate need to urinate.
  • Feeling a strong need to urinate eight times or more in a 24 hour period.
  • Waking up two or more times during the night to urinate.

If you are experiencing frequent urination, check with your doctor. Medical conditions may cause your symptoms. Once these conditions are treated, your urinary symptoms may lessen. But if you and your doctor can’t find a medical reason for your OAB, it’s time to take a look at your behaviors and see if you are causing your OAB symptoms. You don’t have to be incontinent to have OAB. But if you feel like frequent urination is disrupting your life, you should take a good look at some of your behaviors that are increasing the number of times you urinate per day.

What Behaviors Intensify Overactive Bladder Symptoms?

Some basic behaviors may contribute to the feelings associated with an overactive bladder. Correcting these behaviors or eliminating them will help keep your bladder muscles from being stressed and reduce the symptoms of urgency in OAB. These behaviors are:

  • Obesity. Too much weight puts additional pressure on your bladder and its muscles. This extra pressure causes the muscles of the bladder to be stressed out and for you to feel the urge to urinate suddenly and frequently. Being overweight can also cause issues with blood flow and the activity of the nerves in the bladder, which in turn make you feel like you need to urinate more often.
  • Eating acidic foods may cause you to feel like you need to urinate more often. Some acidic foods to eat sparingly are tomatoes and citrus fruits.
  • Drinking an excess of caffeinated drinks or alcohol.
  • Not drinking enough water or other beneficial fluids.
  • Being constipated, which puts pressure on your bladder?
  • Not getting enough fiber in the food you consume daily.

Questions and Answers about Overactive Bladder

There are many misconceptions about overactive bladder. Listed below are some misconceptions about OAB, along with the truth behind these misconceptions.

Q: Does having babies cause OAB?

A: Pregnancy and childbirth can make the pelvic floor muscles weaker. But having a baby doesn’t cause OAB. Using Kegel exercises can keep your pelvic floor muscles strong. These exercises keep the muscles around the bladder contracting correctly and prevent you from leaking urine.

Q: Is OAB a chronic, untreatable disorder?

A. You can train your bladder to hold more fluid for a longer time. If you reduce the amount of caffeine and alcohol you drink, lose some weight, and do Kegel exercises, your overactive bladder symptoms should significantly improve.

Q: Is frequent urination is normal when aging?

A: Frequent urination problems occur at any time during a person’s life. It remains treatable. For this reason, having to go to the bathroom frequently is not a guaranteed part of getting older.

Q: If you leak when you cough or laugh, does it  mean you have OAB?

A: People can leak urine during physical stress for many medical reasons. See your doctor if you frequently leak urine when you cough or laugh.

Q: Do only women get OAB?

A: While women do get OAB more frequently than do men at a younger age, men over 60 experience more problems than do women over 60.

Q: Do small bladders cause OAB?

A: OAB is caused by the bladder wall contracting too frequently. Faulty signals cause these unfortunate, untimely contractions from the bladder to the brain. Most people can hold about two cups of water. If you can’t hold that much liquid, use bladder training techniques to assist you in carrying fluids in your bladder for a longer time.

Q: Should people who have OAB drink fewer fluids?

A: Having fewer fluids in your bladder will make your urine more concentrated. Highly concentrated urine irritates your bladder, causing you to what to urinate more often. Urine that is too concentrated is dark yellow and smells bad. Drinking from six and eight glasses of water a day will assist you in keeping your urine concentration at the appropriate levels.