My Bladder Is Always Full

What Behavioral Changes Can I Make To Help With Overactive Bladder

There are many techniques and changes to your typical behavior that you can try to help with an overactive bladder. These can include:

Keeping a log: During a typical day, write down your fluid intake, the number of times you urinate, the number of accidents and when they occur. Make a note about what happened when the accident happened, like when you:

• Cough.
• Laugh.
• Were unable to reach the bathroom in time.

Monitoring your diet: Eliminate or decrease foods or beverages that may worsen your bladder symptoms. These could include:

• Tea.
• Spicy and acidic foods and drinks.
• Foods and drinks that contain artificial sweeteners.

Maintaining bowel regularity: Constipation can place added pressure on the bladder and have a negative effect on your bladder function. By keeping healthy bowel habits, you may be able to avoid constipation and help to lessen bladder symptoms. The following are some suggestions for maintaining bowel regularity:

• Increase your fiber intake by eating foods like beans, pasta, oatmeal, bran cereal, whole wheat bread, and fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Every morning, take 2 tablespoons of this mixture: 1 cup apple sauce, 1 cup unprocessed wheat bran, and ¾ cup prune juice.
• Exercise regularly to maintain regular bowel movements.

Maintaining a healthy weight: Being overweight can add pressure on your bladder, which may contribute to bladder control problems. If you are overweight, weight loss can reduce the pressure on your bladder.

It’s A Medication Side Effect

Certain drugs can cause urinary retention. If you noticed that the problem began after starting a new prescription or over-the-counter medication, it could be to blame.

These types of meds all have the potential to affect bladder function, according to the Cleveland Clinic:

• Antihistamines
• Antispasmodics
• Opiates
• Antipsychotics
• Hormonal agents
• Muscle relaxants

What Its Like To Constantly Feel Like Your Bladder Is Full

This article was published more than 6 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Nicole Abi-Najem suffers from interstitial cystitis, a bladder syndrome that causes a feeling of always needing to urinate.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

Imagine for a moment that you really, really have to pee. You run to the bathroom, then comes the unmistakable relief. It’s a feeling so gratifying that the same part of the brain that is activated when we feel love is activated when we go the washroom. Now, imagine for a moment that you never get that relief, only discomfort. That’s what happened to me.

I’ve weaved in and out of clinics and have had countless cystoscopies a rather uncomfortable medical procedure where a thin tube with a camera at the tip is inserted through the urethra to examine the bladder. Every time yielded a different result: nothing blotches of yellow hardening of the wall. As well, every time the urine results came back the same: no bacterium which is indicative of a UTI. I’ve had instillations, where I lie on beds and nurses tell me time and again, “You’re too young for this,” before they pump me full of a medical cocktail to give me temporary relief.

That was in 2012. I was 24. What at first was believed to a UTI, has progressed into a very different diagnosis: interstitial cystitis .

Little is known about IC, including what causes it. Of the four to 12 million people believed to be IC sufferers around the world, 90 per cent are women.

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You Have An Enlarged Prostate

The urethra connects the bladder to the outside world. In women, its that simple. But in men, the tube goes through the prostate, which expands with age. As it expands, it can put undue pressure on the bladder and urethra. The bladder responds by becoming overactive and sensitive to even small amounts of urine, making you feel like you have to go even when your tank is relatively empty, explains Brahmbhatt.

Read More: What All Men Should Know About Taking Care Of Their Prostate

This is typically an issue in men over the age of 50, Brahmbhatt says. Still, strictures and chronic prostatitis can have similar side effects in younger guys.

Preventing Pressure On Bladder

The best way to treat bladder pressure is to avoid experiencing it in the first place. Below are some tips to help prevent infections, and in turn, pressure on the bladder.

Underwear: Wearing loose, comfortable, cotton underwear prevents bacteria from being trapped near the urethra and causing an infection.

Shower: Showering rather than bathing reduces your risk of getting an infection, as the warm water of the tub is great for bacteria and the soap can wash away any protective mucous membranes.

Dont hold it: If you have the urge to urinate, do so as soon as you can. Holding urine in your bladder can create a breeding ground for bacteria, which leads to infection.

Water: Drinking plenty of water helps to flush your system and can reduce the risk of getting a bacterial infection.

While pressure on the bladder has a variety of causes that can vary by sex, most are not very serious and can be treated easily. However, it is important to seek the advice of a healthcare professional if you are experiencing bladder pressure so that its cause can be accurately diagnosed and appropriately treated before your condition worsens.

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Introduction Your Browser Does Not Support Html5 Audio Playback You May Download The Audio File Directly Here

Millions of people in the United States struggle with Overactive Bladder symptoms. The most common symptom is the ongoing urgent need to go to the bathroom. Now.

OAB can interfere with work, going out with friends, exercise and sleep. It can lead you to the bathroom many times during the day or night. Some people leak urine after this urgent “gotta go” feeling. Others feel afraid they’ll leak.

Fortunately, there is help and there are treatments.

It took me nearly 5 years to talk with my doctor about this. I’m glad I finally did.

How Is Interstitial Cystitis Diagnosed

No single test can diagnose IC. And symptoms of IC are a lot like those of other urinary disorders. For these reasons, a variety of tests may be needed to rule out other problems. Your healthcare provider will start by reviewing your medical history and doing a physical exam. Other tests may include:

• Urinalysis. Lab testing of urine to look for certain cells and chemicals. This includes red and white blood cells, germs, or too much protein.

• Urine culture and cytology. Collecting and checking urine for white blood cells and bacteria. Also, if present, what kind of bacteria there are in the urine.

• Cystoscopy. A thin, flexible tube and viewing device, is put in through the urethra to examine the bladder and other parts of the urinary tract. This checks for structural changes or blockages.

• Bladder wall biopsy. A test in which tissue samples are removed from the bladder and checked under a microscope to see if cancer or other abnormal cells are present.

• Lab exam of prostate secretions . This is done to look for inflammation and/or infection of the prostate.

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Diabetes And Frequent Urination

There are other conditions like diabetes where you have a lot of sugar in your blood. Those people actually become dehydrated because when you have to get rid of the sugar, you have to get water out with it so those people pee a lot.

So there are a couple of things that are medical that caused frequent urination but those people are peeing in buckets and when you have to get up in the night and you get out of bed and you just pee a little bit, so thats urge incontinence or urgency we call it. There are ways to treat it.

Now, theres medicine to treat it but the medicines make a little difference. So they did some randomized studies where they looked at medicines that are actually, you see them advertised on the TV. They may decrease the number of urge episodes a day by one or two so youre still left with a moderate amount.

Interviewer:

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Symptoms Of Interstitial Cystitis

• sudden strong urges to pee
• needing to pee more often than normal
• waking up several times during the night to go to the toilet

The pain may be worse when your bladder is full and may be temporarily relieved when you go to the toilet.

You might also find the pain is worse during periods or after having certain foods or drinks.

The symptoms will often come and go in phases. You may have episodes lasting days, weeks or months where your symptoms improve, followed by times when theyre worse.

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What Are The Treatments For An Overactive Bladder

Once tests have been done to determine the cause your overactive bladder, your doctor will suggest a solution that will alleviate your symptoms and minimise any side effects. And while the goal is obviously to find a simple, effective solution, it could be one or a combination of treatments including lifestyle changes, medications and/or surgery.

Lifestyle changes

• Bladder Training and Scheduled Voiding This method teaches the bladder to steadily hold urine over time, which can help build a tolerance to the urgency that comes with an overactive bladder.
• Double Voiding This involves urinating twice within a few minutes in between to void any residual urine in the bladder.
• Kegel exercises These are pelvic exercises to help manage urge incontinence in an overactive bladder by helping strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor and urinary sphincter.
• Fluid and Diet Management including:
• maintaining a schedule of the timing and amount of daily fluid intake
• limiting caffeine and acidic drinks such as coffee, cranberry and citrus juices
• limiting alcohol
• eating foods high in fibre, such as flaxseed, or taking fibre supplements.

Medications

Causes Of Frequent Urination

Sometimes frequent urination and painful urination go together. In women, painful urination is most often a symptom of a urinary tract infection . UTIs often include an urgent need to urinate, uncomfortable, painful or burning sense when urinating, fever, and a painful or uncomfortable abdomen.

A variety of other problems can cause frequent urination, including:

Rarely, bladder cancer, bladder dysfunction and radiation therapy or other cancer treatment can cause issues with frequent urination.

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Did You Know That Kegel Exercises Are Also Helpful For Men

Its true. Men with certain health and sexual health issues can also benefit from doing Kegel exercises. In men, these exercises can:

• Help improve incontinence .
• Help manage prostate pain and swelling that occurs with prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia .
• Increase mens sexual pleasure through greater control of ejaculation and improved orgasm sensation.

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Kegel Exercises. Accessed 9/15/2020.
• American Urological Association. What are Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises? Accessed 9/15/2020.

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Things You Can Do To Help Bps

Things that may help improve your symptoms include:

• reducing stress try exercise, warm baths and mindfulness-based meditation techniques
• making sure you are hydrated regularly throughout the day
• keeping a food diary if you notice certain foods or drinks make symptoms worse, avoid them, but ask for medical advice first
• stopping smoking the chemicals in cigarettes can irritate your bladder

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What You Need To Know

• Interstitial cystitis is a chronic pain condition. Diagnosis and treatment can be difficult, as the exact cause is unknown.
• No specific test exists to diagnose interstitial cystitis it is often diagnosed after other conditions have been ruled out.
• Genetic and immune disorders, recurrent bacterial infections, and pelvic floor dysfunction are possible factors that can lead to this condition.
• Excessive frequency of urination, urinary urgency, and urethra, bladder or pelvic pain are common symptoms.
• Treatment is divided into five phases, ranging from lifestyle changes to injections to surgery.

You Have Interstitial Cystitis

This condition is nicknamed painful bladder syndrome for a reason, Garrett Matsunaga, M.D., chief of urology at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, tells SELF. Interstitial cystitis essentially happens when your bodys wires get crossedinstead of your pelvic nerves telling your brain you need to pee when your bladder is full, your brain receives that message more often than it should, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Along with a persistent need to pee even if youre releasing only small amounts, this condition can cause discomfort while your bladder fills up, pain in your pelvis or between your vagina and anus, and pain during sex. While interstitial cystitis isnt curable, there are ways to try to treat it, like with physical therapy to relieve pelvic pain, bladder training , medications to relax the bladder and reduce discomfort, and more.

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Who Experiences Frequent Urination

The need to urinate is something that everyone feels. This shared experience isnt always consistent though. Sometimes you may need to urinate much more often than what is typical for you. This can happen to anyone. Men, women, and children can all have this symptom. However, its more common at certain times in your life or when you have other conditions. Youre more likely to frequently urinate if youre:

• A middle-age or old adult.
• Pregnant.

Mistake : Going Too Often

One more trip to the bathroom before rushing out the door may seem like smart planning, but it can backfire. The danger is that you can end up training the bladder to respond to small volumes, which can lead to overactive bladder symptomsthe sensation of needing to urinate more frequently than is normal, explains Dr. Rickey.

Going too often at night can also be a problem for men who then cant fall back to sleep, says Stanton Honig, MD, director of Male Urology, adding that this condition, called nocturia, can affect quality of life. If this is bothersome to patients, there are treatment for it, says Dr. Honig.

Other problems can also cause increased urinary frequency, such as an infection along the urinary tract. Therefore, if you find that you need to visit the bathroom far more often than you used to, talk to your primary care physician or urologist. You may need a urinalysis to rule out a UTI, as well as to check for blood in the urine , which can happen to a small number of people with an overactive bladder who have a bladder tumor, Dr. Brito says. Blood in the urine is never normal and usually requires further testing to determine its cause, Dr. Brito says.

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Why Am I Feeling Bladder Fullness After Urination

The feeling of fullness even after urination can arise from several causes. There are three fundamental reasons for it:

• If the bladder is not able to completely empty urine.
• Irritation in the bladder wall.
• Pressure from organs such as uterus, intestine, etc that surround the bladder.

Below are some of the common ailments that may lead to incomplete sensation of passage of urine.

• Prostate enlargement and prostate cancer in men.
• Infection and inflammation of bladder.
• Infection in urethra.
• Damage of the nerve innervating urinary bladder. It controls bladder function.
• Injury in bladder or urethra due to instrumentation.

Bladder fullness after urination may also arise in woman due to problems in surrounding structures. It may cause pressure or irritation on the bladder.

• Malignant or benign tumor of ovary, uterus.
• Enlarged uterus in pregnancy can cause pressure on bladder.
• Prolapse of bladder, which in medical parlance is called cystocele.

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Bloating Frequent Urination And Pressure Or Fullness

• Medical Author: Sabrina Felson, MD

Reviewed on 6/15/2020

Bloating, urinary frequency, and pressure is consistent with urinary obstruction from benign prostastic hypertrophy, prostate cancer, cystitis , and bladder or rectal or uterine prolapse. Call your doctor if it persists.

While the list below can be considered as a guide to educate yourself about these conditions, this is not a substitute for a diagnosis from a health care provider. There are many other medical conditions that also can be associated with your symptoms and signs. Here are a number of those from MedicineNet:

By Amory Urgent Care

The pain can be so intense you almost cant walktrip after trip to the bathroom with no relief in sight. You might be experiencing the painful side effects of a bladder infection.

Urinary tract infections or UTIs can manifest as bladder infections. They affect more than 150 million people each year, and when left untreated, they can pose serious health risks.

But what are the bladder infection signs, and how do you spot them?

We have put together a comprehensive list of signs to help you identify a bladder infection so you can get the medical treatment you need as soon as possible.

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Other Signs And Symptoms

An abnormal bladder fullness sensation is a symptom of a disease and not a disease on its own. Other symptoms that may also be present includes :

• Painful urination
• Blood in the urine
• Cloudy urine
• Abnormally offensive odor of the urine
• Urinary frequency

The most common causes of an abnormal bladder fullness sensation are :

• Cystitis is inflammation of the urinary bladder. An infection of the bladder as a consequences of an ascending urinary tract infection is the most common cause.
• Urethritis is inflammation of the urethra which is mainly due to an infection. It also occurs frequently with sexually transmitted infections and trauma.
• Sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea or chlamydia which are contracted through sexual contact.

Other causes that are due to problems with urinary tract may include :

• Bladder cancer malignant tumor of the bladder.
• Bladder stones stones within the bladder that either forms here or passes down from the kidney .
• Urethral strictures narrowing of the urethra.
• Overactive bladder syndrome involuntary contraction of the bladder muscles.
• Neurogenic bladder damage of the bladder nerves affecting sensation or control.
• Trauma injury to the bladder or urethra especially following catheter insertion.

A bladder fullness sensation may also arise in an otherwise healthy bladder with certain diseases affecting the surrounding organs or related structures :

• Rectal tumors