Urinating more than eight times a day can affect your daily habits and performance. If you urinate more than the average person, you might have an overactive bladder characterized by a sudden urge to urinate and urine incontinence. You can manage a Mount Vernon overactive bladder by following lifestyle adjustments like bladder training and scheduled toilet trips.
Although an overactive bladder is more prominent in women, it can also affect men and older adults.
Risk factors for an overactive bladder
You can have an overactive bladder due to aging, diabetes and urinary tract infections, and an enlarged prostate. If your pelvic floor muscles are weak, you might experience urine incontinence.
Tips to help you manage an overactive bladder
The following tips can help you manage your condition:
Pelvic floor exercises
You can easily suffer from incontinence if your pelvic floor muscles are weak. You can manage an overactive bladder by performing specific exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor. Such exercises include kegel exercises and pilates; it is best to perform them when your bladder is empty. However, you should avoid high-impact exercise like jumping or running, which might worsen your condition.
Drinking plenty of water
Drinking plenty of water and hydrating fluids reduces the irritability and symptoms of urine urgency. When you drink a lot of water, your urine becomes diluted, facilitating renal clearance of salts. If you don’t drink enough water, you will have a constant urge to urinate due to irritability in your urinary tract lining.
Scheduled toileting
You should consider going to the toilet at set times to avoid an embarrassing episode. This will help you create a routine that will help you control incontinence. You can set hourly visits or visit the bathroom after every 2 hours. Ensure to go and urinate, whether you feel the urge or not.
Bladder training
Bladder training is a strategy that your urologist can recommend to control urine incontinence. The process works by delaying urination by a few minutes until you don’t get frequent urges to visit the bathroom. If you have scheduled toileting after every hour, you can delay the urge to go by three or five minutes.
You can increase the waiting time to ten minutes when you get accustomed to that timeline. By gradually increasing the time interval, you can urinate after three hours. The strategy aims to decrease leakage and increase the amount of urine your bladder can hold.
Absorbent pads
Absorbent incontinence pads are ideal when you are struggling with nocturia, and you would like to get quality sleep. Since incontinence can have you visiting the bathroom more than twice at night, you might need incontinence pads to avoid that trip. Furthermore, absorbent pads are most useful if you suffer from incontinence and have a condition that limits movement.
If you are experiencing urinary incontinence due to an overactive bladder, visit Bellingham Urology Group for treatment. The highly-qualified urologists will evaluate your condition and offer treatment options for a successful recovery. Call or schedule your appointment online today to improve the quality of your life.