Overactive bladder
Overactive bladder causes sudden, strong urges to urinate, often with frequent trips to the bathroom and sometimes leakage.
Common symptoms
- Sudden urges to urinate that are hard to delay
- Urinating more than about eight times a day
- Getting up at night to urinate
- Leaking urine with an urge (urge incontinence)
How we assess it
- A review of your symptoms and medications
- A bladder diary, recording what you drink and when you urinate for a few days
- A urine test to rule out infection or blood
- A bladder scan to check how well your bladder empties
- Sometimes urodynamic testing, which measures bladder pressure and function, or a cystoscopy
Treatment options
Treatment usually starts with simple measures and moves to other options if needed. Your urologist will discuss which options suit you.
Lifestyle and bladder training
Spacing out fluids, limiting caffeine and alcohol, and gradually lengthening the time between bathroom visits can retrain the bladder. Pelvic floor muscle exercises, often with a pelvic floor physiotherapist, help control urges.
Medications
Two main types of medication calm the bladder muscle: antimuscarinics and beta-3 agonists.
Nerve stimulation
Tibial nerve stimulation uses gentle electrical pulses through a nerve near the ankle to change bladder signals.
Bladder injections
Botulinum toxin can be injected into the bladder muscle through a thin telescope to reduce urgency and leakage. The effect usually lasts several months and can be repeated.
See a doctor promptly if
- You see blood in your urine
- You have fever, or pain when urinating
- You cannot empty your bladder
Appointments are by referral
Ask your family doctor or nurse practitioner to send a referral to the office of one of our urologists.