Medical App & Medical Advice with Hello Doctor

Do you wee often? It could be an overactive bladder.

Losing a bit of urine is common when you laugh too hard or have been fighting the urge to urinate for a long time. But if urinating all the time has started to interfere with your daily routine, there may be an underlying issue.

Urine is produced by your kidneys, and from there is travels to your bladder. When your bladder is full, your brain sends signals that tell your body to urinate. Your pelvic floor muscles relax which allows urine to exit your body.

With an overactive bladder, however, your bladder muscles contract involuntarily, making you want to urinate even though your bladder isn’t full.

Having an overactive bladder can make you want to limit your work and social life. A brief evaluation with your doctor can help identify the cause of your bladder problems, and help to manage them.

What makes you wee often?

  • Drinking too much liquid
  • Taking medications that increase urine production.
  • Urinary tract infections.
  • Drinking caffeine, alcohol, or other bladder irritants.
  • Not completely emptying your bladder.
  • Bladder abnormalities, including bladder stones.

Symptoms

Although symptoms of an overactive bladder differ from person to person, common ones include:

  • An urgent and uncontrollable need to urinate.
  • Frequent uncontrollable loss of urine (wetting yourself).
  • Frequent urination (more than eight times in a 24-hour period).
  • Waking up more than once a night to use the bathroom.

Prevention

You can reduce your risk of developing an overactive bladder by:

  • Exercising daily.
  • Maintaining a healthy weight.
  • Limiting alcohol and caffeine.
  • Quitting smoking.
  • Managing chronic conditions, like diabetes, that can contribute to symptoms.
  • Learning where your pelvic floor muscles are and strengthening them by doing these Kegel exercises:
  1. Make sure your bladder is empty, then sit or lie down.
  2. Tighten your pelvic floor muscles. Hold tight and count 3 to 5 seconds.
  3. Relax the muscles and count 3 to 5 seconds.
  4. Repeat 10 times, 3 times a day (morning, afternoon, and night).

Treatment

Although an overactive bladder can develop at any age, it becomes more common in women after menopause due to oestrogen deficiency. Treatments and lifestyle changes prescribed by your doctor can help you reduce the frequency and urge to urinate.

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