Do you have the urge to use the bathroom every time you pull into your driveway? What about every time you turn on the faucet? Are you going to the bathroom every time you leave the house – even if you went 20 minutes ago? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are most likely dealing with urge incontinence – even if you are not leaking.
When treating urge incontinence, the first thing I usually have a patient do is fill out a bladder log for 1-3 days. For more on bladder logs, check out this blog post. The bladder log is a great way to make sure fluid intake amount and type are not causing bladder irritation by making the urine too acidic. Low fluid intake and high intake of caffeine, carbonated beverages, and alcohol are all known bladder irritants that can result in increased frequency and urgency. In general, it is recommended:
- To drink at least 1/2 your body weight in oz of fluid every day (more if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, active, or spending time in the heat). For example, if you weight 120 lbs, you should be drinking a minimum of 60oz of fluid.
- That 2/3 of your fluid intake should be from water. Caffeinated, carbonated, or alcoholic beverages all result in more acidic urine and could be contributing to bladder irritation. Using our previous example of a 120lb person, they should be drinking a minimum of 40oz of water if they are drinking their goal of 60oz of fluid.
Another way we can use the bladder log is to determine known activities that are trigger an urge to use the restroom, such as getting ready to leave the house, pulling into the driveway, or turning on the faucet. Your bladder is very easily trainable. This means the more often you void, the more your bladder will cue you to go to the bathroom before it is actually full. On average, you should be having 5-8 medium to large voids per day. If you are having smaller, more frequent voids try one or more of the following ideas to disrupt the urge
- Sit in your car or on your porch for 30s before going inside to use the bathroom – increase the length of time you sit in your car by 10-15 seconds each time
- Perform 5 kegels and wait to see if the urge passes. If you still have an urge after 5 minutes, your bladder likely needs to be emptied
- Stop the “just in case” pee – don’t go just because you are leaving the house – especially if you have already gone to the bathroom in the last hour.
Your bladder is very easily trainable. Using these techniques you should start to notice improvements in your urgency and frequency within 3 days.
If you found this blog post helpful, share with a friend who is struggling with urinary urgency and/or frequency.
Interested in working one-on-one with a pelvic floor physical therapist on getting to the root cause of your problems? Schedule a complementary phone consultation to learn more about how Strength & Dignity Wellness can help you.