Neurogenic bladder: treatment

When neurological damage occurs to the nervous system , it can affect the bladder. There are several muscles and nerves that work together so that we can hold urine until we go to urinate and empty it. The brain sends messages to the nerves and muscles that contract to hold urine, but when the nerves are damaged by some injury or disease, it affects the muscles in the area that cannot be tensioned or relaxed at the necessary moment and occurs the neurogenic bladder.

We can find several types of neurogenic bladder:

• Flaccid: Flaccid neurogenic bladder does not have spasms or contractions, but there is also no tension of the muscles to hold the urine. Therefore, the bladder fills completely until it overflows and the urine begins to come out like a dropper. In this type of condition, bladder function may improve after a few days, weeks or months.
• Spastic : in a spastic bladder there are spasms or contractions, which makes you want to urinate all the time , even when there is no urine accumulated. In healthy conditions, the contraction of the bladder and the relaxation of the sphincter are carried out in rhythm, they are coordinated to hold the urine and urinate at the precise moment. However, in this type of neurogenic bladder they are not coordinated.
• Mixed: you can also have a mixed bladder that is flaccid and at the same time spastic.

The symptoms of a neurogenic bladder will depend on whether it is an overactive bladder that does not stop contracting or, on the contrary, an underactive bladder, which has no movement at all.

The symptoms of a person who has an overactive bladder are:

• The need to urinate frequently, as we have said, even when there are small amounts accumulated or not at all.
• Problems emptying all the urine from the bladder.
• Gallbladder control is lost.

On the other hand, a person with an underactive bladder will present the following symptoms:

• The bladder becomes overfilled to the limit and urine leaks out in the form of drops.
• They also have trouble emptying their entire bladder.
• Trouble starting to urinate.
• Retention of a lot of urine, which can cause heaviness or other symptoms or conditions such as a urinary tract infection that causes painful urination.

The causes of neurogenic bladder are disorders in the nervous system or injuries to it, either in the brain or in the spinal cord. Some of the disorders and injuries that can cause this condition are:

• Injury or trauma to the spinal cord.
• Accidente cerebrovascular (ACV).
• Parkinson’s disease .
• Alzheimer.
• Multiple sclerosis.
• A tumor in the brain or spinal cord.
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

An injury or damage to the nerves in the area can also occur during pelvic surgery, due to alcoholic neuropathy, that is, due to excessive and habitual alcohol consumption, due to a herniated disc or prolonged diabetes (diabetic neuropathy), which can cause neurogenic bladder.

The medical treatment for neurogenic bladder does not solve the problem but tries to improve symptoms. However, early treatment can prevent kidney damage.

There are drugs to help with symptoms such as drugs that help relax the bladder or, on the contrary, those that help certain nerves to be more active. It has also been treated in some cases with botulinum toxin (Botox)

In some cases, medications do not solve the symptoms and a catheter is needed , which is an artificial tube placed in the bladder. This occurs in cases of multiple sclerosis, for example. The catheter can be permanent or intermittent so it doesn’t get too full. In the latter case, it is placed about 4 or 6 times a day depending on the person.

And for some people, surgery is needed . It can be an artificial sphincter, which is an electrical device that is placed near the nerves of the bladder to stimulate the muscles. Or so-called sling surgery, which is very common and involves creating an opening (stoma) through which urine moves into a bag. This is called a urinary diversion.

Your doctor may ask you to do certain things like exercises to strengthen your pelvic muscles or keep a urine diary to know when you are going to urinate and thus avoid overflowing. They are good natural remedies. We are going to tell you how these and other natural remedies for neurogenic bladder work.

Kegel exercises

Usually, it is said that they are exercises that help in the preparation of childbirth, but these exercises are not exclusive to women and neither serve only as preparation for childbirth, it is more can help a lot when suffering from neurogenic bladder, both in men and women.

These are movements that strengthen the pelvic floor , specifically the muscle called the pubococcygeus is contracted and they will help you relieve urinary incontinence. What you have to do is squeeze the muscle as if you were holding urine. This is the main exercise. Now you have to follow a series of repetitions contracting the muscle and relaxing it. Do a series of ten repetitions in which you contract the muscle, hold a few seconds and relax.

If you can’t find the muscle, you have to pretend to avoid urination or flatulence. This can work well for those with an overactive bladder .

Urine diary

Knowing when your bladder fills up can help you go to the bathroom at the right times before your bladder starts to overflow. Take note of each time your bladder fills and calculate how often and this way you will know when to go to the bathroom before this happens and how often to urinate.

Make a note of when to go to the bathroom or set some times or schedules to train your bladder. In this way, you will avoid overdoing it.

Track fluid intake

Another guideline to follow is to monitor your fluid intake. It is similar to when you diet and keep track of food, but in this case of drinks. In this way, you will know if your bladder is more or less full and which drinks can affect you the most. You can combine it with the urine diary to know exactly what drinks make you go to the bathroom constantly.

Plants to treat neurogenic bladder

There are some medicinal plants that help treat the condition. For example the Gosha-jinki-gan, from Japan, which reduces urinary frequency and bladder contractions. It comes in handy to avoid going to the bathroom at night.

The Buchu plant can help you treat bladder and kidney infections due to its anti-inflammatory and bacterial properties. In addition, it has diuretic properties.

Wild palmetto can reduce urinary urgency and also has anti-inflammatory properties.

This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any type of diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Neurogenic bladder: treatment , we recommend that you enter our Kidneys and urinary system category .