Treatment Success for Overactive Bladder

Successful treatment of overactive bladder can relieve annoying urinary symptoms and inject new enthusiasm and confidence into your life. While successful treatment may mean different things, it is typically defined by a reduction or an end to annoying and embarrassing bathroom visits that force you to approach everyday activities with fear and anxiety. It is important to know that an overactive bladder is not a disease but a group of urinary symptoms. Knowing this will help you to assess your disease, the range of symptoms and underlying causes and find the right treatment.

Targeted treatment

Treatment results for overactive bladder vary depending on the state of the condition and underlying causes of the symptoms. At St Pete Urology, the urologist will conduct a comprehensive medical history though an open, warm and private conversation to establish the state of your condition and identify potential causes. A physical examination is followed by relevant medical tests to help find the cause of the disorder in order to tailor treatment. The doctor also will create a record of the symptoms to be used later to monitor the success of the treatment.

Patient-oriented goals

Before choosing a treatment or combination of treatments that is ideal for you, the doctor will discuss all the options with you. The treatment chosen will target both the underlying cause and the symptoms. For example, if the underlying cause is a urinary tract infection, the urologist will offer antibiotics to combat the infection as well as provide the medications or recommend the exercises to alleviate the symptoms. The urologist will help you to identify your treatment goals to enable you to find relief as soon as possible. For example, voiding 6-8 times and getting up just once at night may be normal if you are an older adult. So if you have been voiding 12 times a day and 3 times a night, you may set your goal at 6 times a day and 1-2 times a night. When setting your goals, the doctor will explain what is normal and what is not so you can set goals that boost your treatment success..

In many cases, treatment success may be marked by:

  1. Decreased urinary urgency.
  2. No dribbling.
  3. Remaining dry all night.
  4. Sleeping all night or waking up just once to urinate.
  5. Remaining dry all day.
  6. Passing urine every couple of hours.

For instance, if you have been voiding 16 times a day, going down to 3 times a day means your treatment is successful. Likewise, if you previously woke up 3-4 times a night, going down to 1-2 times a night means your treatment is successful. Similarly, if the treatment can help you to stop dribbling on your way to the bathroom and significantly reduce your urinary urgency, then it can be classified as successful. With goals that are specific to your overactive bladder symptoms, you can easily monitor your treatment and increase success.

Tracking your symptoms

Overactive bladder is usually characterized by a sudden and uncontrollable urge to pass urine and the tendency to visit the bathroom several times (8 or more times) during the day and night. Urine also may leak immediately after you experience the urge. With treatment, the urgency and frequency of passing urine may begin to change, while urine leakage may reduce or stop. In order to monitor any improvements as soon as you begin treatment, it is important to record all your symptoms before treatment. At St Pete Urology, the urologist will help with taking your bladder records before treatment begins. The data then is used as treatment progresses to monitor your improvement and evaluate success.

Success rates vary with type of treatment

Outcomes vary from one treatment to another. For example, Botox can provide 80-90 percent success rate when chosen correctly. Likewise, a combination of bladder training, kegel exercises for pelvic floor muscles and anticholinergic drugs can produce a success rate of 70-90 percent when properly deployed. It is important to work with a urologist who has been treating overactive bladder on a regular basis and is knowledgeable and experienced to customize treatments for your condition. At St Pete Urology, we have a pool of skilled urologists who have been treating overactive bladder symptoms for decades. We will help you overcome embarrassing symptoms and get your life back to normal quickly. For more information, visit the “St Pete Urology” site.

4 Best Treatments for Overactive Bladder

Overactive bladder (OAB) is not just an embarrassing and annoying condition. It can have serious impact on every aspect of your life. For instance, it can compel you to avoid vacations, dinner outings and other social events, miss out on valuable time with friends and family, or lose out on many hours of sleep. Fortunately, there are safe and effective ways to treat the condition and restore your life back to normal. Minor cases of OAB can be effectively treated with pelvic muscle exercises, bladder training and absorbent pads, while severe cases can be successfully treated with medication and surgery.

The 4 best treatments for overactive bladder are:

1. Bladder training

As a non-drug remedy with almost no side effects, bladder training helps to change how you use the bathroom and allows you to gain control over your bladder. Through scheduled voiding (urinating at set times of the day), you can learn to control the urge and gradually overcome embarrassing symptoms. Bladder training should begin with waiting for a few minutes before voiding and progressively increase to one hour or more between your bathroom visits.

2. Pelvic floor exercises

Carefully selected exercises can strengthen muscles that control urination and in turn relieve overactive bladder symptoms. During pelvic exercises, such as biofeedback and kegel exercises, you voluntarily tighten, hold and relax muscles responsible for starting and stopping urine flow and gradually regain control over your bladder.

3. Medications

If a specific cause is identified, overactive bladder can effectively be treated using appropriate drugs. For instance, if a urinary tract infection is the underlying cause, antibiotics can be used to alleviate the symptoms. Likewise, topical application of estrogen vaginal cream can be used to relieve OAB symptoms associated with atrophic urethritis.

Drugs commonly used to treat overactive bladder include:

  • (a) Anticholinergics: This group of drugs relieves symptoms by blocking nerve signals associated with involuntary contraction of bladder muscles. The drugs also reduce the urge to go to the bathroom and increase bladder capacity. Examples of anticholinergics are Darifenacin (Enablex), Tolterodine (Detrol), Fesoterodine (Toviaz), Trospium (Sanctura), Oxybutynin (Oxytrol) and Solifenacin (Vesicare).
  • (b) Antidepressant imipramine hydrochloride (Tofranil), which relaxes the muscles of the bladder and relieves symptoms.
  • (c) Botox: When injected into the bladder muscles, Botox causes them to relax and minimizes involuntary muscle contractions. Botox also boosts bladder capacity. However, Botox is only recommended when oral medications, bladder training and exercises have failed.

4. Surgery

Urologists opt for surgery as a last resort when medications and behavioral therapy have failed. There are many surgical options available for treating overactive bladder, including sacral nerve neuromodulation and percutaneous tibial stimulation, which typically are used for severe overactive bladder symptoms. For successful treatment of OAB, urologists often combine two or more treatments such as combining behavioral interventions with oral medications.

Other measures for alleviating overactive bladder symptoms include:

  1. Limiting the intake of bladder irritants such as caffeine and alcohol.
  2. Cutting down excess weight.
  3. Avoiding spicy foods, citrus fruits, chocolate and tomatoes.
  4. Avoiding artificial sweeteners, which tend to aggravate symptoms.

At St Pete Urology, we have successfully treated overactive bladder for decades. Through open and candid conversations with patients, carefully selected treatments that depend on the underlying cause of symptoms and patient-oriented goals, we can help you to get back to your old routine quickly. Visit us today for evaluation and help with your overactive bladder symptoms. For more information, visit the “St Pete Urology” site.

What is Overactive Bladder?

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition defined by a set of urinary symptoms related to the frequency and control of urination. Most cases of overactive bladder are characterized by a sudden, uncontrollable urge to urinate even when the bladder is not full (urinary urgency), passing urine 8 or more times daily without excessive fluid intake (urinary frequency), and involuntary loss of urine immediately after onset of an urgent need to urinate (urge incontinence). In the United States, the condition affects at least 30 percent of men and 40 percent of women, with about 33 million Americans having bothersome overactive bladder.

Annoying and embarrassing problem

Untreated overactive bladder comes with symptoms that can cause serious embarrassment and get in the way of your social life, work, exercise and sleep. For instance, with lots of bathroom trips associated with the condition, you may begin to shy away from social events or everyday activities for fear of not finding a bathroom when you need one. As you refrain from going out with friends or engaging in everyday activities, you start to feel lonely and isolated and may even experience relationship problems with your spouse and family. Overactive bladder also can rob you of a good night’s sleep and leave you tired and depressed. Likewise, frequent leakage of urine can lead to infections or skin problems.

Causes of overactive bladder

At St Pete Urology, we are keen on identifying the underlying causes of an overactive bladder in order to boost treatment outcomes. We recognize that while an overactive bladder is quite common in older adults, it is not a normal part of aging but a treatable condition with various causes. Generally, OAB occurs when bladder muscles begin to contract involuntarily even when the volume of urine in the bladder is low. It is the involuntary contractions that cause the urgent need to pass urine. The most common causes of an overactive bladder include:
Neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.

  1. Catheter use.
  2. Obstructions to bladder outflow, such as enlarged prostate.
  3. Pelvic organ prolapse.
  4. Weakened or stretched pelvic muscles.
  5. Weakened or stretched bladder muscles.
  6. Incomplete emptying of bladder.
  7. Excess consumption of alcohol or caffeine.
  8. Structural problems with bladder.
  9. Stroke and Parkinson’s disease.
  10. Hip problems or hip surgery.

When to see a doctor

If your symptoms disrupt your life or cause distress, speak to your doctor about available treatments. While discussing such a private issue with your urologist may not be easy, doing so may be the beginning of restoring your life back to normal. Make sure to see a doctor if the symptoms disrupt your social interactions, work, sleep or everyday activities.

Safe, confidential and effective treatment

If you have overactive bladder, you should not allow the symptoms to weigh you down. Instead of feeling embarrassed, isolating yourself or limiting your work and social life, you should see a urologist for a brief evaluation to reveal the specific cause of your symptoms and help you to get relief. At St Pete Urology, we recognize that you may feel discouraged from seeking treatment because of the sensitive nature of the condition. For this reason, we offer confidential and patient-oriented services to suit your needs. Our candid and private conversations will help us explore your condition, identify the underlying cause and provide the right treatment. We help with all urinary incontinence problems in men and women, but evaluate men with urinary incontinence further to rule out prostate problems. For more information, visit the “St Pete Urology: site.

Why is InterStim Therapy Effective against Overactive Bladder?

Overactive Bladder (OAB) is characterized by an uncontrollable urge to urinate, a frequent need to pass urine during the day and night, accidental urine leakage, and inability to get to the bathroom in time due. This condition greatly affects quality of life by having life revolve around uncontrollable urination problems. Those afflicted avoid social functions due to fear of urine leaks, foul smell and embarrassment, wake up too many times at night to urinate, stay home to avoid public shame, or reduce food and liquid consumption to avoid triggering bladder spasms. While there are several treatment options for OAB that include medications and pelvic floor exercises, a number of patients either do not respond to these treatments or find them intolerable. For such patients, InterStim therapy offers the best hope for controlling the bladder, relieving symptoms and improving quality of life.

How Does the InterStim Procedure Relieve Overactive Bladder?

InterStim therapy is a proven, minimally invasive treatment for overactive bladder. It helps to relieve the symptoms of OAB by delivering electrical impulses to the sacral nerves (found in the tailbone area), modifying abnormal reflexes in the pelvic and sacral nerves of the pelvic floor and bladder, and altering abnormal communications between the brain and bladder. The InterStim device is implanted under the skin around the location of the sacral nerves (upper buttock) so that mild electrical impulses are generated for stimulating the sacral nerves, correcting malfunctioning nerves and improving bladder control. In fact, InterStim therapy interrupts the abnormal signals transmitted in people with overactive bladder and reduces episodes of urinary incontinence.

Why is InterStim Therapy Effective against Overactive Bladder?

Unlike other therapies, the effectiveness of InterStim therapy can be assessed by physicians and patients through a test evaluation stage before commitment to long-term therapy. Roughly 80% of patients who undergo test evaluation have a successful response and can proceed to have the InterStim device implanted. According to studies, patients with successful trial stimulation will experience 50%-90% improvement in overactive bladder symptoms after the implant has been placed. In fact, people with overactive bladder have reported significant improvements in the number of incontinence episodes per week, with the majority of patients being completely free of incontinence after InterStim therapy. There is also a major reduction in the number of times patients urinate per day after treatment, while almost all patients report improvement in quality of life after InterStim procedure.

InterStim therapy is minimally invasive in nature and completely safe and reversible. Therefore, the patient can discontinue it any time it fails to meet expectations. It also does not prevent the use of alternative treatments and can easily be combined with any other treatment for a better outcome. If you or your loved one is suffering from overactive bladder and find other treatments ineffective or intolerable, do not hesitate to ask your urologist about InterStim therapy. For more information on treating urological problems, visit St Pete Urology.

Debunking 4 Myths about Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is an embarrassing condition affecting more than 200 million people globally. Characterized by bladder leakage, painful urination, strong urge to urinate and incomplete emptying of the bladder, the condition can negatively impact the quality of life of affected individuals by restricting their ability to participate in various activities. Riddled with several misconceptions and accompanied by considerable stigma, bladder leakage is a highly misunderstood condition that even those affected do not want to talk about. Yet by debunking some of the myths associated with the condition and establishing a clearer understanding of the problem, affected individuals can get on the right track for healthy and happy bladder management. Here are four of the more common myths about urinary incontinence:

Myth 1: Only the elderly experience urinary incontinence.

Even though the risk of urinary incontinence increases with age, virtually any person can experience incontinence at any stage of life. For instance, bladder weakness typically affects 1 in every 3 women above the age of 18 with many young women experiencing sensitive bladder symptoms after pregnancy and labor. Urinary incontinence can also result from an enlarged prostate, nerve damage, weakened pelvic muscles, medical conditions such as obesity, onset of menopause in women due to a drop in estrogen levels, infection, and as a side effect of certain medications.

Myth 2: Reducing fluid intake reduces urinary incontinence.

Limiting fluid intake may sound like a brilliant idea since drinking plenty of water increases the frequency and urgency of urination. However, it has been shown that drinking adequate amounts of fluid in small doses throughout the day helps to prevent leakage. In fact, severe limitation of fluid intake can make urine more concentrated, increasing the risk of bladder irritation and worsening urinary incontinence. Drinking enough water also helps to reduce odors. Doctors recommend that you sip water between meals, avoid fluids for two hours before bed, and reduce or avoid citrus juices, caffeine, carbonated beverages and alcohol.

Myth 3: Surgery is a necessary treatment for urinary incontinence.

While surgery is one effective treatment for incontinence, it comes with more risks than other treatment options. For instance, invasive surgical procedures such as sling surgery and retropubic suspension have associated risks such as difficulty urinating and worsened incontinence. Therefore, affected individuals should always be offered the option of trying nonsurgical treatment first and only opt for surgery when nonsurgical options fail. In fact, for most people, simple lifestyle changes, medications for relaxing the bladder and treating urinary infections, medical devices like pessaries, weight loss, dietary changes, and pelvic floor muscle exercises provide considerable improvement in symptoms. Surgery should only be considered as a last resort.

Myth 4: Delaying urination strengthens the pelvic floor.

While many think that delaying going to the bathroom can help to strengthen the pelvic floor, the truth is that this can overstretch the bladder, resulting in a flaccid and dysfunctional bladder. Therefore, for a person living with urinary incontinence, it is important to avoid actions that may weaken your bladder and instead seek immediate medical treatment. Remember, urinary incontinence may be a symptom of an underlying medical condition that requires a prompt visit to a urologist. So stop living quietly with urinary incontinence and thinking that you can crudely wish it away. Talk to your doctor about what could be causing the problem and what might be the best individual treatment option for you. For more information on managing urinary incontinence, visit the St Pete Urology website or make an appointment for a consultation with a urologist.

What is Overactive Bladder?

It is easy to guess what the term “Overactive Bladder” means. The bladder is generally associated with the containment of urine until it is passed out of the body. An overactive bladder results in the frequent, involuntary or unexpected release of urine and can cause someone to avoid social interactions they would normally have enjoyed.