“You Need to Calm Down” – Urinary Urge Incontinence
A few weeks ago, we talked about one type of incontinence called Stress Urinary Incontinence.
This week, we will be talking about Urge Urinary Incontinence. This is defined as urinary leakage (leaking of pee) related to the urge to urinate. Basically, you feel the urge to pee and can’t make it to the potty in time. It can be a few drops of leakage or a full emptying of the bladder!
Sometimes with Urinary Urge Incontinence comes Urinary Frequency, which is that “got to pee all the time” person. Think of those commercials with the jingle “gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now.” These are my folks who know where all the bathrooms are and plan their day around their urinary habits.
What is normal for our bladder?
Our blader should empty 5 – 8 times a day. We should get the urge to go when our bladder starts to get full. We should be able to easily hold our urine to find a bathroom, undress our bottom half and sit down to relax our pelvic floor. We should have up to 30 minutes to make it after that first “urge” to go. It is never NORMAL to leak urine. No one under 75 years of age should get up to urinate at night unless you are pregnant. A full bladder should empty for “8 mississippis” or more.
What is bladder urge?
I like to talk about hunger when I talk about urge to give it some perspective. Think about when you’re hungry. There is…”I could eat”….”I’d really like some food”…AND…”I will eat your face!” Same with bladder urgency. There is “I could pee.” Then there is “I really need to find a bathroom soon.” And then there is the “I will push small children and old ladies out of my way to get to the bathroom.”
Why does Urge Incontinence happen?
Our bladder is a sensory organ made to fill up to a certain amount, send a signal to the brain to find a bathroom and then release when appropriate. There is a lot of coordination between the brain, muscles, bladder and nerves. To put it very simply, urge incontinence happens when something interrupts with those signals and the bladder stops listening to the brain and releases urine “willy nilly.” It usually goes hand in hand with certain triggers, like cold weather, running water, walking in the door at the end of the day, waking in the am, etc.
Does PT help Urge Incontinence?
HECK YES! We can work on calming that cranky bladder down and retraining it to be a well behaved litter organ instead of a leaky monster. This can be done by identifying bladder irritants, creating a good voiding schedule, learning some coordination exercises and some ways to suppress urgency.
Reach out if you need help taking some steps to calm your bladder and urgency issues down!
Perfectly Yours,
Dr. Mo
practicallyperfectPT@gmail.com
