Wednesday, March 27, 2024

How To Hold Your Bladder For A Long Time

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Is Bladder Training Right For Me

What Happens If You Hold Your Pee In For Too Long

The decision to try bladder training depends on what’s causing the problem. Bladder control training is typically used to treat urinary incontinence, the involuntary loss of urine. Incontinence is most common in women, especially after childbirth and menopause. Different types of urinary incontinence exist, including:

  • Stress incontinence: Sudden pressure on your abdomen causes you to accidentally lose urine.
  • Urge incontinence: You feel a sudden, strong urge to go to the bathroom because your bladder contracts even when it’s not full. You may not always be able to reach the toilet in time.
  • Mixed incontinence: A combination of stress and urge incontinence.
  • Overflow incontinence: A problem emptying the bladder completely that leads to urine leakage.

Bladder retraining may also be used to treat bed-wetting in children.

What Are The Symptoms Of Incontinence

The main symptom of incontinence is a leakage of urine. This could be a constant dripping of urine or an occasional experience of leakage. If you have incontinence, you might have large amounts or small amounts of leaked urine. You might experience leakage for a wide variety of reasons often depending on the type of incontinence you have.

You might leak urine when you:

  • Exercise.
  • Have an urge to urinate, but cant make it to the toilet on time.
  • Have to get up in the middle of night to urinate .

Effects From Other Conditions

Some preexisting medical conditions can lead to urinary retention. This is usually involuntary, and it tends to go unnoticed, but it can cause similar complications.

An enlarged prostate, weakened bladder muscles, or nerve damage in the urinary system may block the flow of urine or cause the body to retain it.

People with kidney disorders may also want to avoid holding in pee, to prevent possible complications.

Recommended Reading: What Antibiotics Treat Bladder And Kidney Infections

Theres Not A Restroom In Sight And You Have To Go Is It Dangerous To Hold It In For An Extended Length Of Time

Should you go every time you feel the twinge? In most cases, the only consequence that arises from holding in your urine is the discomfort you feel.

Depending on how hydrated you are, you should go to the bathroom every three to six hours. This varies based on the actual size of your bladder, your sensitivity, hydration habits and age.

Likewise, if you stay hydrated, which is the best way to flush out your kidneys, your trips to the bathroom will increase. But if you make multiple bathroom trips in a short span of time, or experience pain or unusual discomfort when holding in your urine or after you go to the bathroom, something else might be going on.

Read Also: Treatment Of Overactive Bladder In Females

Alcohol And Caffeine Make You Pee Through Different Mechanisms

DANGERS OF PROLONGED URINE

Not because it basically looks like urine.

Alcohol and caffeine are both diuretics, but they work through entirely different mechanisms.

Alcohol messes with your body’s production of a hormone called vasopressin . Normally your brain’s pituitary gland secretes this chemical, which tells your kidneys to filter less water out of your blood, thereby producing less urine. Alcohol, however, interferes with the secretion of this hormone, so a lot more water ends up in your urine and you need to urinate more often. Drink enough alcohol over time, and you’ll get dehydrated, which may be one of the ways alcohol causes hangovers.

alcohol messes with your body’s production of a hormone called vasopressin

Caffeine acts as a diuretic in a different way. When it enters your bloodstream, it alters activity inside your kidneys ultimately causing them to filter greater levels of sodium out of your blood. This causes more water to flow out of your blood through osmosis, producing more urine.

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Holding Your Urine For A Long Time Isn’t Unhealthy

While it’s generally a good practice to go when you need to, when the occasion calls for you to hold it for a little while, it probably won’t do you any harm.

“Urinating at normal intervals say, every four to five hours is probably healthiest,” Brucker says. “That said, in a normal, healthy patient with no medical issues, would you really do harm to your body by holding it for a while? You probably wouldn’t.”

It’s definitely a myth, meanwhile, that holding it too long can make your bladder burst . There also isn’t evidence that holding it for excessive lengths of time increases the risk of UTIs .

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.

Also Check: Bladder Implant For Interstitial Cystitis

When You Have To Go You Ought To Go

Whether you remember the feeling from grade school, long family road trips or more recently, as you returned to working at an office rather than your kitchen table and realized your restroom is no longer conveniently near you, weve all had to hold it. Its a terrible feeling and even worse idea. Were talking about delaying urination or as your 5-year-old self would call it holding your pee.

This practice, often in response to strict restroom-use policies in schools and sometimes even in the workplace, can lead to urinary tract infections, incontinence and damaged kidneys. It can also cause children of all ages from kindergarten to high school physical and emotional pain if it leads to accidents in the classroom, bed wetting during sleep, or issues related to urinary and bowel incontinence in the aftermath of frequent refusals of bathroom breaks during the school day.

Abnormally holding urine can cause an increase in bacterial load and increased incidence of urinary tract infections, or UTIs, for people of all ages, says Dr. Rebecca Smith, a Sharp Rees-Stealyfamily medicine specialist. Most commonly, if someone isnt able to urinate, the urine backs up and causes swelling of the kidneys and often infection. This can damage the kidneys, and the infection can spread to the bloodstream and become very serious if the urinary obstruction is not relieved.

To learn more about how you can find a doctor at Sharp Rees-Stealy, visit sharp.com/srsdoctor.

How To Control Your Bladder

How to Empty Your Bladder and Overcome Incomplete Bladder Emptying | Complete PHYSIOTHERAPY GUIDE

Bladder training is a preventive method that helps you retrain your bladder to hold more urine. This is a mind-body approach that helps your brain and bladder learn to tolerate the presence of more urine before creating the urge that you have to go right away.

The steps to bladder training include:

  • Keep a diary for three to seven days about when you go to the bathroom. Write down the time, how much urine comes out, and how much fluid you drink throughout the day. You can measure with a urine collector that fits over your toilet bowl.
  • Review your journal and identify how your fluid intake stacks up to your urine output. Count how many times a day you go and how long you go between bathroom visits. If youre peeing less than 1 1/2 to 2 cups every time you go or are going more than every 2 hours, theres room for improvement.
  • Try to get your bladder on a schedule. Commit to going once in the morning when you wake up and giving yourself enough time to fully empty your bladder. After this, try to go every two to three hours.
  • Give yourself time when you go and try to get in a comfortable position. For example, hovering over the toilet seat to avoid touching it can create extra pressure on the bladder that keeps it from emptying fully. As a result, you may feel like you have to go again soon because you didnt get all the urine out the first time.
  • Continue to maintain your bathroom diary so you can chart your progress and identify times in your day that appear to be trouble zones.
  • Read Also: Natural Ways To Control Overactive Bladder

    What Are The Symptoms

    After age 3, your child will urinate about 12 times a day. As they get older and their bladder grows, theyll urinate anywhere from four to six times a day.

    The most telling symptom of pollakiuria is that your child will suddenly feel the urge to urinate during the day a lot more than is considered typical, but will not actually wet themselves. For example, your child may go to the bathroom once every half hour or less. In some cases, they may need to go up to 40 times in a single day. They may find that only a little bit of urine comes out each time they go.

    How Can Nerve Stimulation Help Overactive Bladder

    There are several treatments that involve stimulating your nerves to help improve overactive bladder. Your nerves help communicate the message that your bladder needs to be emptied to your brain. By treating the nerves, your healthcare provider can improve your bladder control. Nerve stimulation is a reversible treatment that is considered when conservative treatments have not worked or have not been tolerated. Conservative treatments include behavioral therapies and medications.

    There are several types of nerve stimulation treatments. These can include:

    Also Check: Chiropractic Treatment For Overactive Bladder

    Causes Urinary Tract Infections

    Although holding your pee doesnt directly cause a urinary tract infection , not emptying your bladder can allow bacteria to multiply within the bladder. This is because passing urine helps to flush out the bladder and the rest of your urinary tract.

    This is also true if you dont drink enough water since you wont have enough liquid in your system to passthis also gives bacteria the opportunity to multiply and cause an infection.

    How Much Urine Can The Bladder Hold

    Can Guys Learn to Hold Their Pee Longer? How to Train Your Bladder

    The capacity of the human bladder may vary slightly among individuals.

    Evidence suggests that a healthy bladder can hold roughly 1.52 cups, or 300400 milliliters , of urine during the day. During the night, the bladder may be able to hold more, up to about 4 cups, or 800 ml.Children have smaller bladders, as their bodies are still developing. People may be able to predict the size of a childs bladder by using the following equation: x 30 ml.

    For instance, according to this formula, a 10-year-old child would have a bladder capacity of roughly 360 ml.

    A healthy bladder may also be

    Many believe that the bladder will burst if a person holds in their pee for too long.

    While it is possible for a spontaneous urinary bladder rupture to occur, often, there is an underlying cause of the rupture, such as a blockage preventing the bladder from voiding. In most cases, the bladder will simply override the muscles holding the urine in, causing the person to have an accident.

    However, trauma to the bladder is more likely to occur due to blows or piercing objects.

    It is important to note that without treatment, a spontaneous urinary bladder rupture can lead to severe complications.

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    Urine Isn’t Sterile And You Should Never Ever Drink It

    Do not drink.

    Under both normal circumstances and dire straits, it’s an absolutely terrible idea to drink your own pee.

    The reason is twofold. One is that contrary to popular belief, urine is not sterile. Drinking it puts you at risk of infection from the bacteria living in it.

    The second reason is that apart from water, everything else in urine is waste that your body is trying to get rid of. Normally, that just constitutes 5 percent of urine, but if you’re dehydrated, it’ll make up a greater percentage. Taking in too much urea and other waste further dehydrates you and puts you at risk of kidney failure, as the organs work to filter out double the usual amount.

    it’s a terrible idea to drink your own pee

    Though there are several different miraculous survival stories that involve someone drinking their own urine, most survival experts along with the US Army’s survival manual do not advise trying it.

    Additionally, from time to time, people have advocated drinking one’s own urine as a way to treat several different diseases, including cancer. The American Cancer Society, however, confirms there is no evidence that drinking urine is an effective way to cure cancer.

    Finally, there’s the somewhat related idea that if you get stung by a jellyfish, urinating on the site of the sting is an effective remedy. As it turns out, this is a myth popularized by an episode of Friends and scientists agree that it probably wouldn’t be effective.

    How To Hold Your Bladder As A Woman

    This article was co-authored by Allison Romero, PT, DPT. Dr. Allison Romero is a Pelvic Health Specialist, Physical Therapist, and the Owner of Reclaim Pelvic Therapy in the San Francisco Bay Area. With over a decade of experience, Allison specializes in comprehensive pelvic physical therapy treatments for pelvic floor dysfunction. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from Sonoma State University and a Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of Southern California. Allison is a board certified Physical Therapist in California and is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association-Section on Womens Health and the International Pelvic Pain Society.There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 248,326 times.

    We all know that the key to a healthy bladder is to go to the bathroom when nature calls. But sometimes, that simply is not an option. Perhaps you are traveling or you are stuck in a long meeting and can’t access the bathroom. What should you do? There are a number of ways you can save yourself from public embarrassment and also improve your bladder’s longterm health.

    Read Also: How To Do Kegel Exercises For Overactive Bladder

    How Is This Condition Diagnosed

    If your child starts urinating frequently, see their pediatrician to rule out any other conditions that might be causing them to do so.

    First, your childs doctor will do a full physical examination to make sure there arent any other symptoms of other conditions. Theyll ask you for a full history of your childs health leading up to the time when they started urinating frequently to see if any major changes indicate a possible health condition. Theyll also ask if your child recently started taking any new medications.

    Your childs doctor will also check their body for signs that may suggest issues with the kidneys, genitals, or bowels, as these can all affect how often your child urinates.

    They will also run tests to rule out any other conditions causing your child to urinate a lot. This includes:

    Urinalysis. Your child will be asked to urinate into a cup or onto a dipstick. The urine may be sent to a lab for testing or checked in the doctors office. This test can make sure your child doesnt have diabetes, kidney conditions like nephrotic syndrome, or a bladder infection.

    Blood tests. These are only occasionally necessary. Your childs doctor will use a small needle to take some of their blood and send it to a lab for testing. This test can also rule out diabetes, kidney, and bladder conditions.

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    Time Your Bathroom Trips

    How Long Can You Hold Your Pee? (Experiment)

    Based on the information from your voiding diary, come up with a comfortable interval between bathroom trips. Then set an interval timer or stopwatch and keep to this schedule during your waking hours.

    This is known as “timed voiding.” If the time is up and you don’t have to go, empty your bladder anyhow. You should also empty your bladder when you wake up in the morning. At night, only go if you wake up and feel the urge.

    Read Also: What Does Carcinoma In Situ Of Bladder Mean

    How Is Incontinence Diagnosed

    Often, the diagnosis process for incontinence will start with a conversation with your healthcare provider about your medical history and bladder control issues. Your provider might ask you questions like:

    • How often do you urinate?
    • Do you leak urine between trips to the toilet, how often does this happen and how much urine do you leak each time?
    • How long have you been experiencing incontinence?

    These questions can help your provider figure out a pattern with your leakage, which often points to a specific type of incontinence. When your provider is asking about your medical history, its important to list all of your medications because some medications can cause incontinence. Your provider will also ask about any past pregnancies and the details around each delivery.

    There are also several specific tests that your provider might do to diagnose incontinence, including:

    While at home, your provider might recommend you keep track of any leakage in a journal for a few days. By writing down how often you experience incontinence issues over the span of a few days, your provider might be able to identify a pattern. This can really help in the diagnosis process. Make sure to write down how often you need to urinate, how much you are able to go each time, if you leak between trips to the bathroom and any activities you might be doing when you leak urine. Youll then bring this journal with you to your appointment and talk about it with your provider.

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