Overactive Bladder is a condition in which the muscles of the bladder contract unexpectedly causing a sudden urinary urge, frequent urges to urinate and may even experience urinary incontinence related to the urge. In fact, approximately one-third of patients will experience “wet” overactive bladder meaning that they have urinary incontinence related to urge. Two-thirds of patients have “dry” overactive bladder meaning they do not experience urge urinary incontinence. Overactive Bladder has been shown to affect many aspects of life including social, physical, sexual and psycological. Many patients are unaware of the many available option and do not seek medical attention. Currently, there are many options to improve quality of life in women with overactive bladder.
A list of foods and drinks that are removed from the diet for a few days and then reintroduced to assess if that food or drink could be aggravating bladder symptoms.
Training your bladder to hold urine longer by doing pelvic floor exercises when you have an urge to urinate and allowing that urge to pass prior to urinating. The amount of time holding your urine increases incrementally over time.
Exercises of the vaginal muscles that strengthen the pelvic floor. These exercises have been shown to improve urinary incontinence, urinary frequency/urgency as well as fecal incontinence.
Meeting with a specialist in pelvic floor physical therapy to learn exercises and techniques that are known to improve the pelvic floor muscles. Pelvic floor physical therapy can be used to improve stress urinary incontinence, urge urinary incontinence, urinary frequency, urinary urgency and fecal incontinence.
The use of passive stimulation of the muscles using a device such as Emsella. This treatment can be helpful for identifying and strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor area responsible for stress urinary incontinence, urge urinary incontinence, urinary frequency, urinary urgency and fecal incontinence.
A cream, ring or suppository can be used vaginally to improve the health of the vaginal tissue in postmenopausal women. It has been demonstrated in clinical trials that vaginal estrogen therapy can improve overactive bladder symptoms as well as dry and atrophic vaginal tissues.
Currently there are two types of medications that treat urinary urgency, frequency and urge related urinary incontinence: Anticholinergic drugs and Mirabegron. Depending on which medication is tried, it can take 2-8 weeks to see an effect.
A technology in which a stimulation is sent to the nerves responsible for controlling urinary urgency, urinary frequency, urge related urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence and urinary retention. There are currently two main forms of neuromodulation. These are Sacroneuromodulation and Tibial Nerve Stimulation.
Botulinum toxin is a medication that can be injected into part of the bladder to improve urinary urgency, urinary frequency and urge urinary incontinence. The procedure is only a few minutes long and is usually done in the office using a numbing medication in the bladder. The effects can last 3-12 months, but most patients notice 4 months of efficacy. The procedure is usually repeated every 4-6 months.
