How Is Enuresis Treated
In many cases, enuresis goes away over time and does not need to be treated. If treatment is needed, many methods can help. These include:
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Changes in fluid intake. You may be told to give your child less fluids to drink at certain times of day, or in the evening.
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Keeping caffeine out of your childs diet. Caffeine can be found in cola and many sodas. It is also found in black teas, coffee drinks, and chocolate.
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Night waking on a schedule. This means waking your child in the night to go urinate.
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Bladder training. This includes exercises and urinating on a schedule.
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Using a moisture alarm. This uses a sensor that detects wetness and sounds an alarm. Your child then gets up to use the bathroom.
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Medications. Medicines can boost ADH levels or calm bladder muscles.
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Counseling. Working with a counselor can help your child cope with life changes or other stress.
Work with your childs health care provider to find out the best choices that may help your child.
You Have To Go But Little Comes Out
In addition to tracking how frequently you urinate, consider noting how much comes out and also how much fluid youre drinking. Thats because while frequency is an initial sign of OAB, Dr. Linehan says, its actually more important to note how much comes out when you do go. If youre only urinating half a coffee cup but youre going every 30 minutes, youre not holding a lot. Your bladder is telling your brain you have to gobut you dont, really. That may point to OAB.
What Causes Overactive Bladder
An overactive bladder can be caused by several things, or even a combination of causes. Some possible causes can include:
- Weak pelvic muscles: Pregnancy and childbirth can cause your pelvic muscles to stretch and weaken. This can cause the bladder to sag out of its normal position. All of these factors can cause leakage.
- Nerve damage: Sometimes signals are sent to the brain and bladder to empty at the wrong time. Trauma and diseases can cause this to happen. These can include:
- Pelvic or back surgery.
- Stroke.
Often, there may be no specific explanation for why this is occurring.
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What To Expect From Your Doctor
In terms of an assessment, your nurse or doctor will ask you about your general health and in particular, about your OAB problem. You may be examined orally and internally, and you might be asked to give a urine sample to see if you have any obvious problems.
As part of your treatment programme, you may be asked to keep a bladder diary for roughly 3 days, which typically involves making a record of the time of each time you pass urine and how much urine was passed.
You may also be asked to take a flow test, and in some cases a post-flow ultrasound test. This involves using a special machine which checks whether you completely empty your bladder and also measures how strong your flow is.
Here is a short list of possible questions your doctor may ask and the tests they may ask you to complete:
- An overview of your medical history.
- A physical examination, which could include a rectal exam and a pelvic exam in women.
Losing Weight May Help To Improve Your Bladder Control
Excess weight puts extra stress on your pelvic floor muscles and contributes to an overactive bladder and loss of bladder control. If you can lose even a small amount of weight, it will help with bladder control.
The best weight loss plans are always those that set realistic goals combined with healthy eating habits and physical activity. Fad diets, although often successful short-term, rarely achieve sustainable weight loss, because once you tire of the diet, you often revert to ingrained unhealthy eating habits.
Check out our Obesity and Weight Loss guide for more information.
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How Is Urinary Incontinence Treated
You and your doctor or nurse will work together to create a treatment plan. You may start with steps you can take at home. If these steps do not improve your symptoms, your doctor or nurse may recommend other treatments depending on whether you have stress incontinence or urge incontinence or both.
Be patient as you work with your doctor or nurse on a treatment plan. It may take a month or longer for different treatments to begin working.
How Soon After Starting Kegel Exercises Will Urinary Incontinence Get Better
It may take 4 to 6 weeks before you notice any improvement in your symptoms.10
Kegel exercises work differently for each person. Your symptoms may go away totally, you may notice an improvement in your symptoms but still have some leakage, or you may not see any improvement at all. But even if your symptoms dont get better, Kegel exercises can help prevent your incontinence from getting worse.
You may need to continue doing Kegel exercises for the rest of your life. Even if your symptoms improve, urinary incontinence can come back if you stop doing the exercises.
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Changing Behaviors To Improve Overactive Bladder Symptoms
The first step I take for any patient with overactive bladder is to recommend behavioral changes. One of the most effective behavioral changes involves fluid intake. Theres no magic number of glasses of water to drink per day. Just drink when youre thirsty.
Stop all fluid intake within three hours of bedtime to reduce or eliminate the need to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
For women who have an urgent need to rush to the bathroom, I recommend a method called timed urination. This just means scheduling six to eight breaks per day to go to the bathroom. Timed urination can reduce the need to run to the bathroom in an emergency.
Pelvic floor squeezing exercises, also known as Kegels, are another good option to reduce sudden urges to urinate and urine leakage. By squeezing the pelvic floor muscles several times a day, women can build up the muscles in this area and hold urine back longer. Squeezing these muscles when they feel the urge to urinate also can help women get to the bathroom calmly, rather than having to rush or worry about leakages.
Why Can The Bladder Hold More At Night
Those with nocturnal polyuria experience a high urine volume only at night. Their urine volume during the day is normal or reduced. This is usually due to fluid retention during the day that often accumulated in the feet or legs. Once you lie down to sleep, gravity no longer holds the fluid in your legs.
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Medical Treatments For An Overactive Bladder
Depending on how successful they were and the strength of your condition, your doctor may recommend that you continue with the above treatments and return for another check-up after a specific period of time.
However, if they decide, usually in consultation with the patient, that medical treatment may be beneficial or necessary, they may choose to prescribe one or multiple medical treatments, some of which are detailed below.
Treatment Options When Behavioral Changes Arent Enough
Behavioral changes are the first step, but they may not be enough for some women. In these cases, we have a number of possible treatments for overactive bladder. I often recommend pelvic floor physical therapy for patients who dont find success with behavioral changes alone. We have a network of physical therapists throughout the greater Washington region who help patients train the muscles of the pelvic floor, so they have more time to get to the bathroom when the urge strikes.
If physical therapy isnt enough on its own, medications are the next step in the treatment process. We use a class of medications called anticholinergics to treat the symptoms of overactive bladder. These medications block involuntary nerve signals, like the ones that control the processes of the urinary tract. Some anticholinergics can cause unpleasant side effects, such as constipation, dry eyes and dry mouth. However, newer medications may make it possible for women to avoid these effects.
Anticholinergics used to be the last tier of treatments available for overactive bladder, but we now have access to a range of newer treatments that can relieve these symptoms. Acupuncture with electrical stimulation near the ankle is one such example, as its been shown to be as effective as medication therapy for treating overactive bladder.
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Overactive Bladder In Children
When we hear about overactive bladder , we typically associate it with something that happens to adults a condition that occurs as we age, perhaps, or as a consequence of childbirth. Rarely do we consider overactive bladder in children.
Oh no, you may think. That cant be right. OAB and children that must just mean they arent potty trained or are acting out.
While this may be true for some children, OAB can and does happen to children.
In fact, Cedars-Sinai notes that in children, OAB belongs under the umbrella term dysfunctional voiding, which also includes urinary urgency/frequency syndrome, voiding postponement, and enuresis . Without proper treatment, these conditions can lead to damage to the bladder and kidneys.
Bladder Problem Top 10 Myths About Overactive Bladder
Nature is calling way too much. You may even leak occasionally. It cant be overactive bladder. Thats for old people, right? Wrong. Learn the symptoms and discover 10 myths about this condition that affects millions of women. Plus, get doctor-recommended tips for overactive bladder treatment…
Will drinking more liquid help manage overactive bladder? Can you get OAB from sex? Youve probably heard tons of theories about why you have OAB and how to relieve it. Guess what? Many arent true. We asked OAB specialists to identify the top myths about this misunderstood and misdiagnosed condition. First, the basics: Overactive bladder is the frequent, sudden urge to pee and difficulty holding it in. Now, get the truth about OAB and how to manage your urge to pee.1. Myth or Fact? Only older women get OAB.Myth: Thats the biggest misconception in women that Im too young for this, says Ariana Smith, MD, urologist and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. While OAB is more common in post-menopausal women, about 17% of women over age 18 have OAB, according to the National Association for Continence . After 40, that number increases to 20% for both men and women.
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What If I Forget To Take It
If you forget to take your medicine, take it as soon as you remember unless the next dose is due in less than 6 hours. In this case skip the missed dose and take your next one at the usual time.
Do not take a double dose to make up for a missed dose.
If you forget doses often, it may help to set an alarm to remind you. You could also ask your pharmacist for advice on other ways to help you remember to take your medicine.
Should I Drink Less Water Or Other Fluids If I Have Urinary Incontinence
No. Many people with urinary incontinence think they need to drink less to reduce how much urine leaks out. But you need fluids, especially water, for good health.
Women need 91 ounces of fluids a day from food and drinks.11 Getting enough fluids helps keep your kidneys and bladder healthy, prevents urinary tract infections, and prevents constipation, which may make urinary incontinence worse.
After age 60, people are less likely to get enough water, putting them at risk for dehydration and conditions that make urinary incontinence worse.12
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Reducing The Symptoms Of Oab
Because coffee, nicotine, and alcohol all aggravate the bladder, avoiding them can considerably minimize the symptoms of urge incontinence. Caffeine is also a stimulant, which means it leads you to urinate more. It can be difficult to eliminate the big three. Try the following approaches:
- Speak with your doctor regarding smoking cessation organizations.
- Wean yourself off for about a week or two until youre caffeine-free.
- Restrict yourself to one alcoholic drink each day.
Bladder Has Two Distinct Roles
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Most Of The Time Its Not Going To Go Away On Its Own
OAB is not usually a condition that reverses itself with time. There may be a number of reasons that cause you to have an overactive bladder, and there are a number of ways to treat it, but if you do absolutely nothing to fix it, youre probably going to be stuck with OAB for a while. Its a chronic condition, but the symptoms can be managed.
Carefully Manage Your Fluid Intake
Drinking too much fluid puts pressure on your bladder, and makes you need to urinate. Drinking too little means your urine becomes concentrated, which irritates your bladder, and leads to urinary urgency.
However, it’s important to maintain your fluid intake to avoid dehydration. You can drink slowly and throughout the day to maintain adequate hydration.
- Aim to drink four to eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day.
- Look at your urine and aim for a light yellow color. Dark urine is a sign that you are not drinking enough. Colorless urine is a sign of drinking too much.
- Try to drink only during the day and stop a couple of hours before you go to bed.
- Drink mainly water avoid caffeine and carbonated drinks night.
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What To Do About Overactive Bladder In Children
Talk to your doctor if you suspect your child has an overactive bladder. In many cases, the condition goes away on its own. If not, treatments and at-home measures can help your child overcome or manage this condition.
Overactive bladder symptoms do not have to limit your activities or negatively impact your quality of life, says pediatric urologist Lynn Woo, MD, Chief of Pediatric Urology at UH Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital.
It is important to rule out any underlying problems with the bowels or bladder first, but overactive bladder can be a very treatable condition, she says.
Treatment options for overactive bladder include behavioral strategies as well as medications that regulate bladder function.
Often, children with overactive bladder have underlying or unrecognized constipation and may need further evaluation by a gastroenterologist, who specializes in digestive health issues.
Pediatric psychological support also can help children and adolescents cope with challenges of overactive bladder.
How The Urinary Tract Works And What Happens With Oab Your Browser Does Not Support Html5 Audio Playback You May Download The Audio File Directly Here
The urinary tract is the important system that removes liquid waste from our bodies:
- kidneys: two bean-shaped organs that clean waste from the blood and make urine
- ureters: two thin tubes that take urine from the kidney to the bladder
- bladder: a balloon-like sac that holds urine until it’s time to go to the bathroom
- urethra: the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body. The urethra has muscles called sphincters that lock in urine. The sphincters open to release urine when the bladder contracts.
When your bladder is full, your brain signals the bladder. The bladder muscles then squeeze. This forces the urine out through the urethra. The sphincters in the urethra open and urine flows out. When your bladder is not full, the bladder is relaxed.
With a healthy bladder, signals in your brain let you know that your bladder is getting full or is full, but you can wait to go to the bathroom. With OAB, you can’t wait. You feel a sudden, urgent need to go. This can happen even if your bladder isn’t full.
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Why Do I Pee Right After Drinking Water
You may leak urine when you sleep or feel the need to pee after drinking a little water, even though you know your bladder isnt full. This sensation can be a result of nerve damage or abnormal signals from the nerves to the brain. Medical conditions and certain medications such as diuretics can aggravate it.
Don’t: Drink Too Much Alcohol
Alcohol causes your body to make more urine, which means you’ll have to go to the bathroom more often. Alcohol also stimulates your bladder, which means you’ll feel it more urgently, too. Drinking in the evening can make overnight control especially hard.
You may not want to give up alcohol completely, but it’s a good place to start. If that helps, you can have a drink every now and then, as long as your symptoms don’t get worse.
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