Check in with your health care provider if: There's no obvious reason for your frequent urination, such as drinking more total fluids, alcohol or caffeine. The problem disrupts your sleep or everyday activities. You have other urinary problems or symptoms that worry you.
Feel a sudden urge to urinate that's difficult to control. Experience unintentional loss of urine immediately after an urgent need to urinate (urgency incontinence) Urinate frequently, usually eight or more times in 24 hours. Wake up more than two times in the night to urinate (nocturia)
Medications that relax the bladder can be helpful for relieving symptoms of overactive bladder and reducing episodes of urge incontinence. These drugs include: Tolterodine (Detrol) Oxybutynin, which can be taken as a pill (Ditropan XL) or used as a skin patch (Oxytrol) or gel (Gelnique)
Overactive bladder is a condition in which the bladder squeezes urine out at the wrong time. You may have overactive bladder if you have two or more of these symptoms: You urinate eight or more times a day or two or more times at night. You have the sudden, strong need to urinate immediately.
An overactive bladder can interfere with daily activities, diminishing the quality of your life. Penn urologists effectively treat OAB so that you can get back to enjoying your life. Emptying the bladder requires a coordinated effort between the kidneys, nerve signals, and muscle contractions.
Overactive bladder affects performance of daily activities and social function such as work, traveling, physical exercise, sleep and sexual function. If this condition is left untreated, it leads to impaired quality of life accompanied by emotional distress and depression.
Overactive bladder is caused by a malfunction of the detrusor muscle, which in turn can be cased by: Nerve damage caused by abdominal trauma, pelvic trauma or surgery. Bladder stones. Drug side effects.
Signs and Symptoms of Overactive Bladder
Difficulty holding in urine. Frequent urination (often eight times or more within 24 hours) Unintentional loss of urine with urgent need to urinate (urgency incontinence) Waking up more than once or twice at night to urinate (nocturia)
What's normal and how many times is too frequent to urinate? Most people pee about seven to eight times per day, on average. If you feel the need to pee much more than that, or if you're getting up every hour or 30 minutes to go, you might be frequently urinating.
If you have overactive bladder (OAB), more fluid intake typically equals more trips to the bathroom. If those fluids are carbonated, they may aggravate your symptoms even more. Keep in mind that too little fluid intake also isn't ideal.
How is overactive bladder diagnosed? In most cases OAB can be diagnosed by history and physical exam and a urine analysis to rule out infection or blood in the urine. An abnormal urine analysis may prompt treatment (if infection is found) or further testing (if blood is found).
First-Line Treatments: Behavioral Therapies
Clinicians should offer behavioral therapies (e.g., bladder training, bladder control strategies, pelvic floor muscle training, fluid management) as first line therapy to all patients with OAB.
Cystoscopy. This test uses a thin, lighted instrument called a cystoscope to visualize the inside of the urethra and bladder. Urodynamic testing. This series of tests measures how well your bladder holds and empties urine.
Stress, anxiety, and depression may actually contribute to OAB and urinary incontinence. In a study involving more than 16,000 women in Norway, having anxiety or depression symptoms at baseline was associated with a 1.5- to two-fold increase in the risk of developing urinary incontinence.
Most people need to pass urine about six to seven times in a 24-hour period. Peeing more than seven times a day when drinking about 2 liters of fluid is considered urinary frequency. Needing to pee 20 times a day would be considered frequent urination.
Sudden stress (pressure) on your bladder causes stress incontinence. Common causes include coughing, sneezing, laughing, lifting and physical activity. Younger and middle-aged women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB) near or experiencing menopause are most likely to have stress incontinence.
You have an overactive bladder.
This allows your bladder to contract and push urine out. If you have overactive bladder, the muscles in the bladder involuntarily contract, even when it's not full. “Some women even leak urine after this sudden urge,” Dr. Dune says.
Red-flag symptoms/signs
Urethral/bladder pain. Recurrent urinary tract infection. Difficulty with bladder emptying. Constant leak suspicious for a urogenital fistula.
Your doctor may recommend mirabegron if other medicines for overactive bladder have not helped. You will usually take this medicine long-term to help keep your symptoms under control. Mirabegron starts to work within a few hours but it can take several weeks to reach its full effect.
See a health care professional if you have symptoms of a bladder problem, such as trouble urinating, a loss of bladder control, waking to use the bathroom, pelvic pain, or leaking urine. Bladder problems can affect your quality of life and cause other health problems.
The most common symptom is a sudden, uncontrolled need or urge to urinate. Some people will leak urine when they feel this urge. Another symptom is the need to pass urine many times during the day and night. OAB is basically the feeling that you've “gotta' go” to the bathroom urgently and too much.