What is overactive bladder?
Overactive bladder (OAB) involves a frequent and rapid uncontrollable urge to urinate, often due to your brain mistakenly telling your bladder to empty when it isn’t full or due to overactive bladder muscles.
You might have mixed incontinence — a problematic combination of both SUI and OAB. SUI is stress urinary incontinence — the unintentional loss of urine during physical activity or movement, such as coughing, running, or heavy lifting. SUI usually occurs due to weakened and stretched pelvic muscles.
An overactive bladder might lead to the involuntary loss of urine (urge incontinence). If you have an overactive bladder, you might also feel embarrassed, limit your work or social life, or isolate yourself.
What causes overactive bladder?
Your kidneys produce urine that drains into your bladder. When you urinate, urine flows from your bladder through an opening at the bottom and passes out of a tube called your urethra.
Overactive bladder might be caused or exacerbated by a multitude of factors, such as:
- Involuntary bladder contractions
- Neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis
- Diabetes
- Hormone fluctuations
- Medications that result in a rapid increase in urine production
- Acute urinary tract infection
- Abnormalities in the bladder, such as bladder stones or tumors
- Factors obstructing the bladder outflow, such as an enlarged prostate or constipation
- Previous surgical procedures to treat other forms of incontinence
- Excess alcohol or caffeine consumption
Your NUWA WORLD provider helps you determine what’s causing your overactive bladder and the best ways to treat it.
How is overactive bladder treated?
Your NUWA WORLD provider might suggest certain testing, such as urine testing, blood work, or cystometry — a test to measure pressure in your bladder and the surrounding region when your bladder is filling.
To treat your overactive bladder, your provider might suggest:
- Maintaining a healthy weight.
- Limiting coffee and alcohol consumption
- Quitting smoking
- Managing chronic conditions like diabetes that could contribute to overactive bladder
- Exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor
Your provider might suggest certain medications, such as anti-inflammatories. Intermittent catheterization is an option in some cases — where you use a catheter periodically to empty your bladder.
With surgical procedures for overactive bladder, the objective is usually to improve your bladder’s ability to store urine and reduce pressure on your bladder. In more severe cases, your provider might suggest a procedure to remove your bladder or to increase bladder capacity by using pieces of your bowel to replace a portion of your bladder.
The days of you just dealing with overactive bladder are over. For exceptional medical care, call NUWA WORLD or schedule an appointment online today.
