Treatment for overactive bladder

Overactive bladder is caused by the inability to control it neurologically, so that there is no control over its contraction and, consequently, the affected person has continuous urinary urgencies and can even cause urine leakage.

Only 20% of cases of overactive bladder find a clear neurological diagnosis, due to paralysis, spinal tumors, Parkinson’s disease or diabetes, however, the remaining 80% cannot find a cause , in addition to being within this group they are few who go to a health center, as shame or the fact of thinking that it is normal prevents it.

Although an overactive bladder, by itself, does not pose a danger to physical health, it does affect enormously on an emotional level, disrupting a person’s lifestyle.

Typically, an overactive bladder is diagnosed when these symptoms appear:

• Feeling of imminent loss of urine and the appearance of the urgent and irrepressible need to urinate.
• An excessive increase in the number of times you have to go to the bathroom, these go up to more than 8 times during the day and more than twice during the night.
• The fact that you have to urinate so much at night causes sleep disturbances and daytime fatigue that makes the patient uncomfortable.

In addition to these symptoms, it is quite common for patients with overactive vajiga to experience one or more of the following situations:

• Urgent need to urinate caused by the sound of water falling from the sink or when washing hands.
• When he gets home and puts the key in the lock, he has an overriding need to urinate.

Previously we talked about the psychological problems caused by overactive bladder, it is not something strange because this condition is very disabling since the life of the affected person becomes dominated by their urinary urgencies and the fear of doing it in public. Many patients feel ashamed, they think about whether they will smell like pee, they cannot sit for long periods of time in a place, make long trips, even in the sexual field, especially in women, there is a constant fear of a loss of urine during the act.

There are different treatments to cure or alleviate the symptoms produced by an overactive bladder. Although a long-lasting and immediate treatment that helps all patients has not been achieved, there are increasingly more effective ways to deal with this condition. Below we will explain the different methods currently used to treat overactive bladder:

Control of liquids

Fluid control treatment consists of regulating fluid intake depending on the physical and environmental circumstances of the patient in order to avoid generating too much urine. Among the steps that should be safe during this treatment, the reduction of coffee, tea and other irritants that may be present in your diet while increasing the amount of water stands out, another common step is to finish the intake of liquids at 17 In this way, the need to urinate at night is avoided.

Voiding re-education

Voiding re-education is a series of techniques that seek to instill good urinary habits, this re-education can be carried out in different ways:

• Through retention training, the patient is taught to force the retention of urine for longer and longer periods of time, until it can autonomously and effortlessly reach 3 hours.
• The programmed voiding technique consists of indicating to the patient the times when they should go to the toilet, in this way they can empty the bladder on a regular basis and prevent incontinent episodes from occurring.

Electrostimulation

Electrostimulation is usually done behind the ankle, where the posterior tibial nerve passes. Using a needle that sends electrical impulses that travel through the nerve to the spinal cord, it is possible to create a reflex of inactivity in the bladder. Although the operation of this treatment is very effective, the problem is that once the patient is no longer in treatment, the patient relapses.

Anticholinergics

Anticholinergics are a class of drugs that block a transmitter in the central and peripheral nervous system. Its uses are very varied, ranging from urinary incontinence and overactive bladder to excessive sweating.

Although its effectiveness is around 70%, it has a serious drawback, which is that it produces certain side effects in older people, such as instability or loss of visual acuity, so it greatly limits its application, more taking into account that the Most people with an overactive bladder are over the age of 60.

Botox

Treatment with onabotulinumtoxin, popularly called botox, has represented a huge qualitative leap in the treatment of overactive bladder.

What botox does is inhibit neurons from releasing neurotransmitters, neither motor nor sensory. Applied to the bladder, what causes this treatment is that the involuntary contractions of the muscle causing urinary urgency are paralyzed when it is applied on the motor neurons that control its movements. In turn, it also inhibits the sensory action of neurons that provide information about the filling of the bladder, which causes an increase in its ability to fill.

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 Treatment for overactive bladder , we recommend that you enter our Kidneys and urinary system category .