Do you know where all the bathrooms in your town are? If you know where all the stores in the mall that have the bathroom are, you know the best gas stations to stop at, or you never leave the house without going to the bathroom then you might be dealing with bladder urgency and/or frequency.
Another sign that you have bladder frequency is that you are urinating more than once every 2 hours. If you are going every hour on the hour, or waking up several times per night to pee you may be dealing with bladder frequency or overactive bladder. We should be urinating 5 to 7 times a day in a 24-hour period that’s considered the norm if your consuming a normal usual amount of fluid. That means that you should be urinating every 2 to 5 hours and not feeling like that’s the difficult thing to do. So if you’re going more often than every 2 hours, you might be dealing with some urinary frequency issues.
Bladder urgency and frequency can progress to urge incontinence. This is where you getting those urges to pee, you can’t get there in time and you get some bladder leakage. It can be a few drops on the way, or it can be a complete loss of bladder. Sometimes people say that they’re fine until they get to the restroom and then once they’re in the bathroom and see the toilet, they can’t hold it any longer and that’s when they have some leakage.
Many people deal with bladder urgency and frequency and/or leakage. If you are one of these people, here are 3 tips to help you regain control of your bladder.
3 Tips to Help Bladder Urgency & Frequency
1.Stop going to the bathroom just in case (JIC). “JICing” is bad We don’t want to go to the bathroom just in case. If you don’t have the urge to go, don’t go. Women especially get into a bad habit of going to the bathroom just in case. We want to wait until we actually have the urge to go, to go to the bathroom.
2.Take big, slow deep breaths when you feel the urge to urinate. The deep breathing has a calming effect in our bladder and can quiet down the urges. When you get the urge stop where you are and take 5 to 10 deep breathe and see if you can get that urge to go away.
3.Reduce bladder irritants. What are some common bladder irritants? Caffeine is the big one. Get rid of or reduced your coffee intake, your caffeinated soda intake. Soda, in general as the bladder irritant, whether it’s caffeinated or not with the artificial flavorings and carbonation. Another bladder irritant for people is potentially more acidic or citrusy fruits or foods
If after doing those things, you are still dealing dealing with URGENCY, FREQUENCY or BLADDER LEAKAGE, then you might want to partner up with the PELVIC PHYSICAL THERAPIST to get evaluated because your pelvic floor muscles may be playing a role on what’s going on and we can work individualized strategies to help get rid of your urgency and frequency. Do not let your bladder rule you life. There are things you can do about your bladder symptoms.
