If you urinate often and cravings are urgent and difficult to delay, you may have an overactive bladder (or overactive bladder). Learn more about the subject in 5 quick points.

What is the overactive bladder?

This is a chronic medical condition that results in decreased bladder control (not to be confused with urinary incontinence which is defined as involuntary urine loss), in the absence of urinary tract infection or other Pathologies. An overactive bladder contracts unintentionally, before being completely full, and causes sudden and uncomfortable urges to urinate, which can occur day or night.

Symptoms

Overactive bladder causes symptoms that can be uncomfortable:

The urge to urinate
Need to urinate more than eight times in a 24-hour period
need to urinate at night (twice or more)
accidental loss of urine, also known as “emergency urinary incontinence”;
urinary leakage which, although a different medical condition, may be a symptom of the overactive bladder.

Risk factors

Among the most common risk factors associated with overactive bladder are:

• urinary tract infections
• Side effects of certain medications
• Pregnancy
• Menopause
• Obesity
• smoking.

Note that there are other less common risk factors such as spinal cord injury, neurological diseases (such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis), stroke or prostate surgery ( humans).

Lifestyle modification treatment

Changing daily lifestyles is the first step in treatment, as it carries little risk of side effects and is often an effective way to relieve symptoms of overactive bladder:

drink enough, but in small amounts at a time, so as not to overload the bladder;
Reduce your fluid intake after 6 p.m., if you tend to urinate at night
Limit caffeinated products, alcohol and citrus juices that tend to irritate the bladder and increase the frequency of urges to urinate;
practice bladder rehabilitation, including keeping a diary of urination (urinating) and setting a timetable for urinating;
Incorporate muscle rehabilitation exercises such as Kegel exercises (pelvic floor muscle strengthening exercises).

Medication treatments

These treatments usually consist of a class of medications called antimuscarinic agents. They prevent the bladder muscle from contracting too early. Thus, the bladder can fill up completely and the frequency of urgent urges to urinate decreases.

The beneficial effects of this treatment can be felt more or less quickly (a few days… a few weeks after taking), so be patient!

Also, these medications can cause side effects, such as dry mouth, constipation, and dizziness. If this is your case and you are bothered by these effects, it is important to discuss this with your pharmacist or doctor. Solutions may be considered.

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About eight percent of Dutch people from the age of 20 suffer from pee problems due to an overactive bladder. A bladder is ‘overactive’ when it often sends a signal of urge. If you have to pee more than eight times a day and sometimes suffer from unwanted bladder leak, you can say that your bladder is overactive.

An overactive bladder is a condition that is also called incontinence. The muscles in the wall of the bladder may quickly pull together and trigger an unwanted emptying of the bladder. But it can also prevent, despite a constant sense of insistence, peeing is hardly possible or hardly succeeds.

Uncertainty

The feeling of loss over bladder control gives a lot of uncertainty. It can even lead to social isolation because people who suffer a lot from it for fear of urine loss are avoiding meetings, parties and days out. Another common consequence is that people are going to drink less, so they don’t have to go to the bathroom very often. In the long run, however, dehydration is lurking, moreover, the complaints do not decrease. An overactive bladder can occur in both men and women. If you suffer from it, it is best to consult with the general practitioner. It provides a treatment plan and can possibly prescribe medicines.

Causes of an overactive bladder

The bladder can become overactive due to various causes. It can be caused by bladder inflammation or a thickening in the bladder wall that prevents muscles and receptors from working properly. Sometimes there are abnormalities to the nerve pathways of the bladder or disorders in the brain, making control of the bladder more difficult. In men, a setup prostate can be the reason for overactivity, in women it is often common for the pelvic floor muscles to play a role. If they are unknowingly spat on, the bladder may arise. But pelvic floor muscles can also be sagging, for example by childbirth. Then they provide a less effective closure of the bladder. An overactive bladder can sometimes also be the result of the side effects of certain medications.

6 tips to control your bladder:

Tip 1: Keep a diary
First, make sure you get an overview of your bladder problems. Keep a diary and put what you drink, when and how much you drink, when you go to the toilet and how much you pee, when you have sudden insistence and when you may have to deal with unintentional urine loss. The diary gives you insight into the seriousness of your problems and is useful if you want to provide the GP with some data.

Tip 2: Keep drinking enough
People who suffer from pee problems tend to drink less. This is not only unhealthy for the whole body, but the condition of the bladder also gets worse and it can cause more pee problems. Research by the University of Maastricht shows that drinking a little more water spread throughout the day is good for an overactive bladder. It increases the capacity of the bladder, improves the reactions of the bladder wall and the pee problems decrease slightly in the long run.

Tip 3: Train your bladder
By training your bladder, you learn the muscles of your bladder so as not to immediately follow the urge to urinate. In bladder training, you learn to postpone your puddle a little further. As a result, the bladder becomes accustomed to containing more urine without leading to control problems immediately. A pee journal helps because you can keep track of whether you are able to postpone the urination a little more and more. Your doctor can give you information about bladder training and may give medicines.

Tip 4: Train your pelvic floor muscles
You don’t have much to say about the muscles in your bladder, but you can control the pelvic floor muscles on which your bladder rests. Learn how to tighten and relax the pelvic floor muscles. Sit on a chair and tighten the muscles with which you have to stop an imaginary puddle. These are your pelvic floor muscles. Release the muscles and tighten them again. Try to get clear to yourself what muscles it’s about. Try to tighten the muscles a hundred times throughout the day. A physiotherapist can teach you more about this during pelvic physiotherapy.

Tip 5: Pay attention to coffee and alcohol
Without you perhaps realizing that tantalizing substances can force your bladder into overactivity. Caffeine and alcohol can irritate the bladder wall and incite overactivity.

Tip 6: Weight loss
Overweight can cause an overactive bladder, or worsen existing bladder problems. A thick belly can press the bladder. According to a scientific study, losing weight can have a pretty beneficial effect on problems with incontinence. Although the study did not clarify exactly what caused it, a combination of healthy eating and more exercise worked best.

When you suffer from an overactive bladder you often have to urinate small bits and you have trouble stopping the urine when insistence (urge or urge incontinence). It is a condition that occurs in both men and women. An overactive bladder can also occur in children. More than 1 million Dutch people suffer from an overactive bladder.

Cause of an overactive bladder

The urinary bladder regularly gives the signal that the bladder is full in an overactive bladder. These signalings are given while the bladder is not yet full. You also call an overactive bladder a stimulated bladder.

Causes of an overactive bladder are:

Abnormalities to the bladder, such as bladder stones, bladder infection or a thick bladder wall due to obstruction of the prostate. This increases the pressure in the urinary bladder quickly, which can cause the urge to urinate.

Problems in the pelvic floor, such as a subsidence of the bladder soil, Mandelbaum or uterus.

Abnormalities in the nerve orbit, which prevents you from feeling insistence on time.
Addictive drugs such as alcohol, caffeine, and drugs can cause your bladder to be extra stimulated. Plastic pills – resulting in highly concentrated urine or high urine production – can also provide this.

Psychological factors, such as potty training or negative sexual experiences that make the pelvic floor too often.

Symptoms of an overactive bladder

Normally, you go to the toilet for about 6 to 8 times every 24 hours. If you have to go to the toilet more often, this could indicate an overactive bladder. In addition, you may experience the following symptoms:

• Peeing at night (nycturie).
• Sudden urge to pee.
• You often pee small bits.

A big problem with an overactive bladder is the fact that you don’t always get a warning on time. You don’t have enough time between the signal that your bladder is full and the time to go to the toilet. It happens that your puddle can no longer stop or save the toilet. The result may be clear: wet pants, shame and a sense of impotence because you have lost control of your bladder.

Bladder leak is a very common problem in women, especially from the postmenopausal stage.

In many cases, it is an embarrassing situation for patients who feel some shame when it comes to admitting the problem. In others, it is considered as physiological and within normal in the transition to the menopausal stage. Therefore it is a pathology, underdiagnosed, undervalued and undertreated and that can very importantly alter the quality of life of the person affects.

It is defined as the patient’s manifestation of involuntary urine loss.

The most common types of UI in gynecological consultation are:

Bladder leak: Involuntary loss of urine that coincides with increased abdominal pressure triggered by physical activity
Urgent-overactive bladder urinary incontinence: involuntary loss of urine associated with a strong desire to urinate (urgency). It is usually accompanied by an increase in day and night time
Mixed urinary incontinence: association of symptoms of exertion and urinary urgency
The prevalence of this often underdiagnosed pathology is 30-40% between the ages of 50 and 70. Under the age of 50, it is much less common, around 10%.

There are a number of well-established risk factors for the UI:

Vaginal delivery. The number of births. Duration thereof. Weight of newborns
Age, by wear and tear of the tissues.
Obesity or overweight
Occupational factors (jobs involving large physical efforts, impact sports)
Chronic respiratory diseases
Taking certain medications: antihypertensives, diuretics, antidepressants
Pelvic organ prolapse
Family history, genetic factors
The diagnosis is based on anamnesis or cynical history and a detailed physical examination. With these two tools we must achieve the following objectives:

Objectizing and quantifying urine loss
Check for predisposing factors
Assess the impact on the quality of life
Rule out gynecological or urological pathology associated
Decide on complementary studies
Consider the most timely treatment
Measures or treatments to minimize or correct symptomatology include:

Promote balanced diets as overweight has been shown to be an independent risk factor for incontinence.

Avoid drinking and enriching bladder irritating foods and beverages that contain gas, caffeine, theine, chocolate, and spicy foods
There are foods that increase urine production such as watermelon, melon, salads, espárragos….De equally alcohol also has a diuretic effect
Reeducation or bladder training. Avoiding poor urinary habits
Physiotherapy. Pelvic floor exercises, Kegel exercises, can improve IU by up to 60%.
Pharmacological treatment for emergency IU. They are chronic treatments, usually one tablet per day, with an efficiency between 40-60%.
Treatment of urogenital atrophy with vaginal gels with estrogen.
Surgical treatment of stress IU with tension-free suburethral meshes with one very high quality of life improvement and healing rates, 85-90%.
The final conclusion is that this is a very common pathology and that although it may be uncomfortable to expose we should consult with our gynecologist at the onset of symptoms since in a high percentage of patients we can improve quality of life.