How To Expand Your Bladder Capacity

Urinary Bladder Facts: 6

6. When empty, the inner lining of the Urinary Bladder makes folds and tucks in. When urine fills in, the lining and hence the bladder expands to accommodate urine flowing in through the Ureters.

7. When empty the muscle walls of the bladder becomes thick and the whole organ becomes firm. However, this is only temporary.

8. The moment the Kidneys process urine and send the liquid through the Ureters all the way down to the bladder, the muscle walls of the Urinary Bladder start thinning and the bladder starts expanding. One thing of note here is that the urine runs down the Ureters because of:

• Peristalsis a wave-like movement of the Ureters.

9. As the bladder keeps expanding, it needs space. The growing bladder gradually moves upwards and fills in the space in the abdominal cavity.

10. There are two question that need to be asked. They are:

Why Is The Bladder Important

Your urinary system or bladder is essential because it filters extra fluid and wastes from your bloodstream, removing them from your body. When your kidneys are functioning normally, they:

Your bladder, urethra and ureters move your urine from your kidneys and then store it until its time to release it from your body.

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What Is Bladder Training

Bladder training is a way of learning to manage urinary incontinence. It helps you change your urination habits. Its generally used for stress incontinence or urge incontinence. Stress incontinence is when urine leaks because of sudden pressure on your lower stomach muscles. This could be when you cough, laugh, lift something, or exercise. Urge incontinence is when the need to urinate comes on so fast that you cant get to a toilet in time. Bladder training can also be used for a combination of the 2 types .

Bladder training can help by:

• Lengthening the amount of time between bathroom trips.
• Increasing the amount of urine your bladder can hold.
• Improving your control over the urge to urinate.

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How Is Overactive Bladder Diagnosed

Your doctor will take into consideration all of the symptoms associated with an overactive bladder. In fact, it may be a good idea to keep a bladder diary to help assess the extent of your condition.

They will also conduct a pelvic exam for women or a prostate exam for men to check for any physical signs that could be the cause.

Additionally, further tests may be ordered so that the right treatment options can be considered and pursued. These tests may include:

• Neurological Exam This test checks your reflexes and sensory responses.
• Cough Stress Test This test involves drinking fluids, relaxing and then coughing to see if stress or physical exertion causes urinary incontinence.
• Urinalysis This tests a sample of your urine for abnormalities like blood, glucose and any bacteria.
• Urodynamic Test These tests measure the bladders ability to empty properly and if the bladder is contracting involuntarily or not.
• Uroflowmetry This device measures the volume and speed of urination and checks for obstructions like bladder stones

What Is Bladder Augmentation

The bladders job is to store urine and release it when its full. It is one of the many organs located in the lower part of your abdomen. Sometimes the bladder isnt large enough to hold the usual amount of urine made by the kidneys, so a bladder enlargement or augmentation may help.

What Happens under Normal Conditions?

The urinary tract is like a plumbing system with special pipes for water and wastes to flow through. The urinary tract is made of the kidneys, 2 ureters, the bladder, and the urethra.

The kidneys act as a filter system for the blood. They remove toxins and keep the useful sugar, salts, and minerals. Urine is the waste product made by the kidneys. It flows from the kidneys down two, 10 to 12-inch-long tubes called ureters into the bladder.

The bladder is a balloon-shaped organ that stores urine. Its held in place by pelvic muscles in the lower part of your belly. When it isnt full, the bladder is relaxed. Nerve signals in your brain let you know that your bladder is getting full. When full, you feel the need to urinate. The brain tells the bladder muscles to squeeze . This forces the urine out of your body through your urethra.

Your urethra has muscles called sphincters. They help keep the urethra closed so urine doesnt leak out before youre ready to go to the bathroom. These sphincters open up when the bladder contracts.

What is Bladder Augmentation?

Either of these conditions can cause wetting , urinary tract infections, or kidney damage.

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What Are The Symptoms Of Overactive Bladder Syndrome

The symptoms of OAB syndrome include:

• This means that you have a sudden urgent desire to pass urine. You are not able to put off going to the toilet.
• Latch key urgency is the name given to the urgent need you might feel to pass urine as soon as you get home and put your key in the door.
• This means going to the toilet more often than normal – usually more than eight times a day. In many cases it is a lot more than eight times a day.

You can read more about other urinary symptoms and their causes in the two separate leaflets called Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Women .

Filling out a bladder diary will help your doctor work out which treatments would be best for you. Ideally, this should include details of your symptoms, what you ate and drank and your activities. It is best to complete the diary for at least three days and cover variations in your usual activities, such as both working and leisure days.

How Do I Increase My Bladder Capacity

Problems with bladder capacity can come about due to several situations. A serious illness may negatively impact the normal function of the bladder, rendering the organ unable to hold the same amount of urine as in times past. Recent surgical procedures may temporarily lower the capacity of the bladder. There is even some evidence that emotional issues can impact the natural ability of the body to control bladder functions in what is considered a normal manner. Fortunately, there are ways to address each of these issues and restore a healthy bladder capacity.

One sign of a problem with bladder capacity is the need for frequent urination. For some reason, the bladder begins to sense the need to urinate long before it is full. When a doctor cannot identify any specific medical condition that is causing the decrease in capacity and control, the use of conditioning exercises can sometimes be helpful.

It should be noted that any exercises designed for use with bladders should only be undertaken under the advice and care of a trained medical professional. Further, the exercises should only be employed when the doctor is sure that there is no organic reason for the bladder capacity problem.

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A Bladder Training Program

We recommend working with a continence nurse specialist or men’s women’s and pelvic health physotherapist to design a bladder training program to suit your individual needs. Bladder training programs may take up to three months, with weekly or fortnighly appointments to monitor your progress and measure your improvement.

At the start of a bladder training program, you will be asked to keep a bladder diary. Every time you pass urine, you record the date, time and how much urine you pass. You will also need to record the amount of fluid that you consume each day. This will need to be done for a few days to see how much your bladder holds and how often you need to empty it. You should also include comments about leaking or other symptoms such as burning or pain.

Behavioral Intervention: Bladder Training

Bladder training is a behavioral intervention developed originally for urge incontinence. In its earliest form, known as bladder drill, it was an intensive intervention often conducted in an inpatient setting. Patients were placed on a strict voiding schedule for 7 to 10 days to lengthen the interval between voids and to establish a normal voiding interval. Cure rates in women ranged from 82% to 86% . Bladder training is a modification that is conducted more gradually in the outpatient setting.

The premise of bladder training is that the habit of frequent urination can lead to reduced bladder capacity and detrusor overactivity, which, in turn, causes urge incontinence. The goal of the intervention is to break this cycle by encouraging patients to resist the sensation of urgency and postpone urination. Using consistent voiding schedules, the patient voids at predetermined intervals and, over time, gradually increases the voiding interval, which is believed to increase capacity and decrease overactivity, resulting in improved bladder control.

Cynthia E. Neville, in, 2020

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How To Reverse Reduced Bladder Capacity From Wearing Too Much

Joules said:I used to have what I’d call above average bladder capacity, but I’ve noticed since I started wearing I have to go much more frequently.It’s not just that I wear a lot, , but moreso that even when I’m not wearing I’ve started to dislike the feeling of having to go and so I just go pretty frequently, which is retraining my bladder to spasm sooner, which is making me go more frequently, which is starting a vicious cycle that I’d like to end nowWill intentionally doing long holds help move that “full” baseline back up?

Joules said:I never said it shrinks, I specifically said that frequently emptying it sooner causes it to spasm sooner… which I learned from a pelvic floor physical therapist

What Is A Normal Bladder Habit

The volume of urine passed each time by a normal adult will vary from around 250400ml. This is the same as about two cupfuls. Most people with normal bladder habits can hold on for 34 hours between visits to the toilet. Most younger adults can also go right through the night without the need to pass urine.

With ageing, the bladder capacity may get smaller, so the frequency of passing urine may increase, both by day and night.

Also see: Overactive bladder

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Reclining Bound Angle Posev

Also referred to as Supta Baddha Konasana, it is a classic restorative Yoga pose that can work the entire pelvic floor muscles.

What Are Normal Bladder Habits

A healthy bladder can hold one and a half to two cups of urine during the day and about four cups at night. It is normal to pass urine five or six times a day if you drink between 6-8 glasses of fluid. It is usual to empty your bladder when you get out of bed in the morning, three times during the day, and before you go to bed at night. As we age this pattern may change, as older people tend to make more urine at night.

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Do Kegel Exercises Help People With Ic

Some bladder retraining programs recommend practicing Kegel exercises as part of bladder retraining. Kegel exercises are very frequently used to treat incontinence but can actually make IC symptoms worse. This is because Kegel exercises are designed to tighten the pelvic floor muscles. But people with IC often have pelvic floor dysfunction , and their pelvic muscles are too tight. For these patients, Kegels can cause further muscle tension and muscle spasms. There are, however, other exercises and stretches that you can do to ease muscle tension and reduce spasms. Ask your healthcare provider for a referral to a physical therapist who treats people with IC and pelvic floor dysfuction.

Surgical Treatment Of Neurogenic Bladder Dysfunction

To increase bladder capacity, options include bladder augmentation and an ileal conduit. Bladder augmentation is used for patients with detrusor hyperactivity, reduced compliance, and decreased functional storage capacity that do not respond to medical therapy. An ileal conduit used as a urinary diversion strategy is recommended for conditions in which the bladder cannot be preserved. To increase bladder contractility, electrical stimulation with electrodes implanted on the bladder wall, pelvic nerves, sacral roots, and conus is used to elicit detrusor contraction. To increase bladder outlet resistance, options include injection therapy into the bladder neck and urethra to increase tissue bulk under and around the bladder neck, a fascial sling, or an artificial sphincter. To decrease bladder outlet resistance, sphincterotomy is usually indicated in patients with SCI who are unable or unwilling to perform self-catheterization, with bladder neck obstruction resulting from primary hyperactivity or bladder wall hypertrophy that occurs because of chronic striated sphincter dyssynergia. After the procedure, obstruction from recurrence of the stricture or dyssynergia may occur. A urethral stent is used after failed sphincterotomy or as a substitute for sphincterotomy.

Mitesh Parekh MD, in, 2006

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What Are Some Types Of Bladder Management

There are many types bladder management following SCI, each with various advantages and disadvantages. Several of the more common types of bladder management are listed below. It is important to speak with your health care provider to determine which option is best for you.

If you continue to have significant problems affecting your kidneys or bladder or your lifestyle despite non-surgical bladder management options, your doctor might in rare cases suggest a surgical option such as a urinary diversion. For more information on surgical management, see MSKTC factsheet entitled Surgical Alternatives for Bladder Management Following SCI. This factsheet will focus on some of the more common non-surgical options of bladder management.

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How Long Does It Take To Work

If urinary urgency and frequency are your only symptoms, you may see improvement in a few weeks. If you have more severe urgency and frequency, bladder retraining may take longer. On average, it takes about three months to retrain the bladder. By using this technique, you can take more control of your urinary urgency and frequency symptoms.

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How Do You Get Started

Ask your healthcare provider to help you develop a bladder retraining program that suits your needs. If your symptoms are mild, you can even attempt bladder retraining on your own. Working with your healthcare team will encourage your success with bladder retraining methods and can help you stay with the program. Or, ask your healthcare provider for written instructions to explain the best approach for you and schedule regular follow-up visits to monitor your progress and encourage you. Keeping a bladder retraining diary can also help you monitor your progress and stay on track.

Blood And Lymph Supply

The bladder receives blood by the vesical arteries and drained into a network of vesical veins. The superior vesical artery supplies blood to the upper part of the bladder. The lower part of the bladder is supplied by the inferior vesical artery, both of which are branches of the internal iliac arteries. In females, the uterine and vaginal arteries provide additional blood supply. Venous drainage begins in a network of small vessels on the lower lateral surfaces of the bladder, which coalesce and travel with the lateral ligaments of the bladder into the internal iliac veins.

The lymph drained from the bladder begins in a series of networks throughout the mucosal, muscular and serosal layers. These then form three sets of vessels: one set near the trigone draining the bottom of the bladder one set draining the top of the bladder and another set draining the outer undersurface of the bladder. The majority of these vessels drain into the external iliac lymph nodes.

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What Should I Avoid

There are number of drinks that can irritate the bladder:

• Caffeinated drinks such as tea, coffee and coke.
• Carbonated or fizzy drinks.
• Artificially sweetened drinks such as diet drinks.
• Green tea and mint tea
• Blackcurrant juice

Try avoiding these or drink in moderation.

Drinks that do not irritate bladder are:

• Diluted fruit juices.

Aim to drink 6 8 cups of fluid a day or 1.5 to 2 litres. If you drink less then your urine can become concentrated which can irritate the bladder even further. Have your last drink 2 hours before you go to bed.