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.
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.
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)
If you don't treat OAB, your symptoms can get worse, the muscles in your bladder that help control when you pee can become weak and your pelvic floor tissues can get thinner.
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)
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.
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)
Treatment for Overactive Bladder
Our urologists treat patients with OAB with combinations of behavioral therapy, medication, and in severe cases, a therapy called Interstim, to treat overactive bladder. Another option is the injection of Botox into the bladder to relax and paralyze the overactive muscle.
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.
Overactive bladder and urinary incontinence worsen with age.
Purpose: Overactive bladder imposes a significant socioeconomic burden on the health care system. It is a commonly held belief that increased fluid intake (8 glasses of water per day) is beneficial for health. However, increased fluid intake exacerbates overactive bladder symptoms.
Left untreated, OAB can negatively impact an individual's life by causing embarrassment, depression, stress, and anxiety. But the good news is that with proper treatment, you can take control of OAB and live a healthy, active life without worrying about OAB symptoms.
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.
Sacral nerve stimulation devices
The SNS device is implanted above the buttocks. A lead sends electrical impulses to the sacral nerves to calm the bladder (Figure 1). Sacral nerve stimulation for OAB. Only one SNS device is FDA-approved and on the market — Medtronic's InterstimTM.
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.
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. Leaking urine is called "incontinence”. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), is another common bladder problem.
Urinalysis. Taking a urine sample allows your doctor to check for conditions that can cause overactive bladder. A urinalysis looks for the presence of these substances in the urine: Bacteria or white blood cells, which could indicate a urinary tract infection or inflammation.
Unfortunately, overactive bladder is linked to mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Women with this condition may therefore want to seek out professional help for both their physical and emotional symptoms related to OAB.
Red-flag symptoms/signs
Urethral/bladder pain. Recurrent urinary tract infection. Difficulty with bladder emptying. Constant leak suspicious for a urogenital fistula.
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.
Water is the best drink of choice to keep your bladder pain under control. It will also provide other benefits such as healthy skin, increased energy, reduced toxin levels, and a boosted metabolism. You'll want to stay away from acidic, caffeinated, or alcoholic beverages such as fruit juice, coffee, beer, and soda.