How To Train A Weak Bladder

What Is In A Bladder Training Program

The aim of bladder training is to improve symptoms of overactive bladder. Bladder training teaches you how to hold more urine in your bladder without feelings of urgency. Visit your doctor, a Nurse Continence Specialist or Continence Physiotherapist if you have problems with bladder control. They could start you on a bladder training program. If you do nothing about your problem, it may get worse.

Strengthening Weak Bladder With Lifestyle Changes Exercises Herbal Remedies Medications And Medical Treatments

There is a long list that tells how to strengthen weak bladder. You need to follow the one that works best for you. You need to choose your treatment options depending on the kind of incontinence you suffer from. But, before getting any treatment you need to know that this condition can be managed in an easy manner and there is nothing to worry about it.

Let us know how to strengthen weak bladder in the following section.

What Are The Causes Of Bladder Weakness

A weak bladder can be caused by many different factors affecting the pelvic floor ranging from life events to health problems. It may be that you have noticed a sudden weakening of the pelvic floor, or perhaps a more gradual worsening of weak bladder symptoms over time.

A weak bladder may make it hard to keep urine in when there is extra pressure placed on your pelvic floor such as when laughing or sneezing. This is known as stress incontinence. Alternatively, you may have a frequent and urgent need to go to the toilet as a result of the detrusor muscles in your pelvic floor contracting too often. This is known as urge incontinence.

There are many causes of a weak bladder. Some of the most common include:

• Pregnancy and childbirth
• Cystocele and pelvic organ prolapse
• Menopause
• Neurological disorders

Being overweight, smoking, or drinking large amounts of alcohol or caffeine can also put you at risk of bladder weakness symptoms.

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Weak Bladder: A Short Note

A weak bladder is a condition where we need to quickly rush to the restroom frequently or that we leak while we require to go to restroom. Over active bladder is the medical term for a weak bladder.

Our bladder is just a bag that is made of muscles and when the bag fills with urine, its lining stretches. Then, nerves send messages to the brain that tell that you require going to the loo. This bladder lining is too sensitive and it can get irritated quite easily or can become overactive very easily. Generally, caffeine, alcohol, fizzy drinks, and fruit juices can result in a weak bladder.

In order to strengthen weak bladder, we need to make the lining of the bladder become less sensitive or it requires being less active.

Setbacks To Regaining Bladder Control

Dont be discouraged if you get setbacks day to day, or even if you have to start over. Think positively and keep trying. It does get easier with practice. Keep in mind that sometimes people doing bladder training find that things get worse before they get better, especially if there are setbacks due to:

• Being tired or run down
• Illness, including colds and flu
• Urinary tract infection

Poise has a range of products that can help while you are trying to improve your bladder control. While you are working on improving the capacity and strength of your bladder, there may be setbacks. To ensure the least amount of fuss, use Poise products to prevent any embarrassing leaks.

Remember to seek medical advice from a doctor if you have any concerns about the symptoms or other issues related to bladder control.

This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek advice from a qualified health care professional with any questions regarding your concerns.

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Lifestyle Changes To Strengthen Weak Bladder:

You need to have some lifestyle changes so as to strengthen weak bladder. Below are some of them:

Maintain A Healthy Body Weight:

It is important for you to make healthy choices of food and remain physically active and fit so as to help you have and manage a healthy body weight. Having a healthy body weight can be helpful in strengthening a weak bladder.

Drink Enough Of Water:

Water is very much essential for all of us. It is most important to drink plenty of water, at least 8- ounce glasses every day to remain healthy. Water is also a great fluid for the health of your bladder. It must be noted that at least half of the fluid that is taken, must be water. So, drinking enough of water is one of the best ways to strengthen weak bladder.

NOTE: Some people, especially those suffering from heart disease or kidney failure, must require drinking less water. So, it is always important for you to ask your healthcare provider before drinking plenty of water and know about the exact amount of water that you need to take each day.

Exercise Regularly:

One of the best ways to ward off bladder issues is to exercise regularly or remain physically active. This not only helps in treating bladder issues, constipation but also help in maintaining a healthy body weight.

Use Washroom Often And Whenever Needed:

Empty The Bladder When You Are Urinating:

Remain In A Relaxed Position While Urinating:

Urinate Properly After Having Sex:

After Using Toilet, Wipe From The Front And Back:

Eating To Reduce Constipation

Sometimes constipation can place extra pressure on your bladder. You can prevent constipation by exercising regularly and including more fiber in your diet. Foods high in fiber include beans, whole-wheat breads, fruits, and vegetables.

The Cleveland Clinic recommends eating 2 tablespoons of a mixture of 1 cup of applesauce, 1 cup unprocessed wheat bran, and 3/4 cup of prune juice every morning to promote bowel regularity.

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What Causes A Weak Bladder

Do you ever ask yourself why do I have a weak bladder? or wonder why you experience more bladder weakness symptoms during the seasonal allergy periods if you are a hay fever sufferer.

During hay fever season you might notice that your urinary incontinence symptoms become less manageable due to the onset of sneezing. Hay fever is unpleasant enough without the added embarrassment that can come with bladder weakness.

Here at INNOVO, we believe that bladder weakness is not something that anyone should have to live with and are passionate about giving people back their confidence and control of their lives by alleviating the symptoms of bladder weakness.

What Are The Specific Symptoms Of Overactive Bladder

Overactive bladder represents a collection of symptoms that can include:

• Urinary urgency: This is a failure to be able to postpone the need to urinate. When you feel you need to urinate, you have a limited amount of time to get to a bathroom.
• Frequency of urination: People who experience this symptom need to urinate very often. Typically its an increase in the number of times you urinate compared to what you previously experienced.
• Urge incontinence: In this case, there can be a leakage of urine when you get the urge to urinate.
• Nocturia: This symptom is characterized by the need to get up and urinate at least two times each night.

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Treat Bladder Weakness Painlessly And Quickly With Innovo

INNOVO is a clinically proven, truly non-invasive and long-lasting solution to bladder weakness and urinary incontinence. Easy to use and comfortable to wear, INNOVO helps you safely and effortlessly strengthen and re-educate the entire network of pelvic floor muscles through gentle muscle stimulation.

Using INNOVO for just 30 minutes a day/five days a week over 12 weeks has been proven to treat bladder weakness delivering results in as little as four weeks2.

INNOVO treats stress, urge, and mixed incontinence in both women and men of all ages, and is the only non-invasive pelvic floor exerciser that targets the root cause of bladder weakness. Use INNOVO’s Stress Incontinence programme which will focus on delivering muscle strengthening stimulations to the entire network of pelvic floor muscles.

A clinical study found that:

• 80% of users saw a significant reduction in leaks after just 4 weeks1
• 87% of users were defined as either dry or almost dry after 12 weeks2
• 90% of users would recommend the therapy to others3

What Is Overactive Bladder Syndrome

Overactive bladder syndrome means that the bladder, which is a bag made of muscle, squeezes suddenly without you having control and when the bladder is not full. OAB syndrome is a common condition where no cause can be found for the repeated and uncontrolled bladder contractions.

Overactive bladder syndrome is more common in women than in men, so is included in our women’s health information. However, this problem can affect men as well as women.

OAB syndrome is sometimes called detrusor instability or overactivity or an irritable bladder.

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What If This Does Not Work

You should not think about failure for a start. Be positive and determine in your mind that you are going to succeed. Be reassured that there are other measures that can be tried if bladder training does not work, but for now focus on trying to get your bladder under control. There are special leaflets for the next steps and you can ask the doctor or the nurse to provide them.

Do Regular Kegel Exercises

Once you find your pelvic floor muscles, you can complete regular Kegel exercises to strengthen them. Simply contract your pelvic floor muscles, hold them for five to ten seconds, and relax them. The Urology Care Foundation suggests that you complete at least two sessions of Kegel exercises per day. Up to 30 contractions per session.

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Path To Improved Health

Ask your doctor about starting a bladder training program. He or she may ask you to keep a diary. You can use the diary to record how much and how often you urinate. This information will help your doctor create a plan thats right for you.

Three bladder training methods are listed below. Your doctor may recommend 1 or more of these methods to help control your incontinence.

Keep in mind it may take 3 to 12 weeks of bladder training to see results. During your training program, your doctor may have you keep track of the number of urine leaks you have each day. This will help you and your doctor see if bladder training is helping. Dont be discouraged if you dont see immediate results or if you still experience some incontinence.

How Do I Measure Urgency

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What Are Normal Bladder Habits

It is normal to:

• empty your bladder about four to six times through the day
• empty your bladder before you go to bed at night
• empty your bladder once overnight
• empty your bladder when you get out of bed in the morning

A healthy bladder holds about one and a half to two cups of urine. This is equal to 300400mls. Your bladder holds this much during the day. It holds more during the night, before you feel the need to pass urine.

This pattern may change in older people. Older people may make more urine at night. This means they may have to pass more urine through the night than they do in the day.

Control Your Urge To Urinate

You may be able to control, or suppress, the strong urge to urinate, which is called urge or urgency suppression. With this type of bladder training, you can worry less about finding a bathroom in a hurry. Some people distract themselves to take their minds off needing to urinate. Other people find that long, relaxing breaths or holding still can help. Doing pelvic floor exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor also can help control the urge to urinate. Quick, strong squeezes of the pelvic floor muscles can help suppress urgency when it occurs, which may help you get to the toilet before you leak.

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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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If you are trying not to go to the bathroom as soon as you feel the urge, and want to wait longer between emptying your bladder, several techniques might help to distract you:

• Whenever you feel like you have to go, you could try to relax and distract yourself with positive thoughts. For example, you could tell yourself: I will go to the bathroom in 5 minutes, and think about something else until then.
• It can also be helpful to sit on a chair and bend your hips to lean the upper part of your body forward as is you were leaning down to tie your shoelace. You can hold this position until the urge passes. Leaning forward changes the pressure in your abdomen and the position of your urethra, so you have less of an urge to urinate.
• You could also sit upright and tense your pelvic floor muscles, pulling up and in.

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What Are The Distraction Techniques

When you get the urge to go to the toilet, sit down, tighten your pelvic floor muscles as firm as you can. Try to distract your mind, for example by counting down from 50 or 100, reciting the alphabet, finishing a job, reading to the end of the page or waiting for the next break on television.Some try holding on to something, like a rolled up towel on a chair, sitting on the edge of a bath, hopping from one foot to another, crossing their legs or standing on tiptoes. More likely than not, the urge will have passed before you finish these distractions.

Bladder Training And Scheduled Voiding Regimens

Scheduled voiding regimens, also known as toileting programs, have for decades been a mainstay of treatment for urgency UI and OAB. Scheduled voiding regimens include BT, timed voiding , habit training , and PV . Although these regimens share the common feature of being based on a toileting schedule, they differ on the role of the patient , how adjustments are made to the voiding schedule, the nature of patient education, the use of reinforcement techniques, and the nature of the patient-provider interaction . BT is self-administered and requires the patient to resist urgency and delay voiding. TV, HT, and PV most often rely on caregiver involvement.

eTABLE 121.4. Understanding Toileting Programs

Modified from Flanagan L, Roe B, Jack B, etal.: Systematic review of care intervention studies for the management of incontinence and promotion of continence in older people in care homes with urinary incontinence as the primary focus .Geriatr Gerontol Int 12:600611, 2012 Newman DK, Burgio KL, Markland A D, Goode PS: Urinary incontinence: nonsurgical treatments. In Griebling TL, editor:Geriatric urology, London, 2014, Springer-Verlag, Ltd, p 142 Newman DK, Wein AJ:Managing and treating urinary incontinence, ed 2, Baltimore, 2009, Health Professions Press, pp 245263.

Kris R. Brown, … ), in, 2019

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Try To Prevent Constipation

Constipation causes the colon to swell and strain because of increased abdominal muscle pressure. This can adversely affect the bladder muscles and may also increase the frequency and severity of OAB symptoms.

Eating more fiber, getting regular exercise, and staying hydrated can help prevent constipation. In addition, there are certain yoga poses including the Crescent Lunge, Cobra, and Legs up the Wall that can help relieve constipation and promote healthy bowel movements.

Those who experience chronic constipation should talk with a doctor to learn more about other ways to help manage their constipation more effectively, such as by taking medications or trying physical therapy.

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• Keep up your diary. That is the only way to record positive results and gives you an overview of possible setbacks.
• It is also good to know that setbacks are completely normal, particularly during times when you are feeling exhausted or stressed.
• Setbacks can be caused by other things too, like common colds, urinary tract infections or wet, windy weather.

Bladder training is not always a suitable treatment for weak bladder. It is a good idea to talk to your doctor about whether this might be a good approach for you.

Andreae. Lexikon der Krankheiten und Untersuchungen. Stuttgart: Thieme. 2008.

Jarvis GJ, Millar DR. Controlled trial of bladder drill for detrusor instability. British medical Journal 1980 281: 1322-1323.

Longo DL, Fauci AS, Kasper DL, Hauser SL, Jameson JL, Loscalzo J. Harrisons Principles of internal medicine. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies. 18th ed 2011.

Pschyrembel W. Klinisches Wörterbuch. Berlin: De Gruyter 2014.

Wyman JF, Burgio KL, Newman DK. Practical aspects of lifestyle modifications and behavioural interventions in the treatment of overactive bladder and urgency urinary incontinence. International Journal of Clinical Practice 2009 63: 1177-1191.

Wyman JF, Fantl JA, McClish DK, Bump RC et al. Comparative efficacy of behavioural interventions in the management of female urinary incontinence. Continence Program for Women Research Group. General obstetrics and Gynecology 1998 179: 999-1007.

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