Bladder Training

The sudden, uncontrollable urge to urinate can sometimes be one of the most uncomforting and humiliating experiences for you. The fear of leaking when away from home or in an urgent meeting can cause you great deal of embarrassment. An overactive bladder can cause an intense, uncontrollable urge to pee. It is important to learn bladder training tips to reduce your trips to the bathroom and avoid embarrassing situations.
The most bladder control problems include

• Frequency – going to the bathroom more than seven times a day
• Urge leakage – sudden leakage when you feel like peeing
• Urgency – sudden, intense urge to pee

What is Bladder Training

Urinary incontinence is the involuntary leakage at the wrong time and place. As a behavioral therapy, bladder training is focused on learning to increase the time between bathroom visits. It involves learning good habits to urinate on a set schedule, quitting bad habits, and getting back in control to reduce urgency, frequency, and urge leakage.
Bladder training exercises are designed to help

• increase the time for your bladder to control the feelings of urgency
• increase the amount of urine your bladder can hold
• regain bladder control
• recognize when your bladder is full
• improve your symptoms

So with bladder retaining, you will learn to hold more urine in your bladder, without experiencing any sense of urgency to urinate.
Urine is produced in the kidneys, from where it travels to the bladder, where it is stored. When the bladder fills with urine, it stretches and a message goes to the brain, which transmits the message to the bladder muscle to tighten. It also sends a message to the sphincter muscle at the bladder opening to relax. As a result, you start to feel the urge to urinate.
When we talk about bladder training, our focus is on learning bladder control so that bladder empting can be delayed by following a urinating schedule.
 

Bladder Control Tips

With bladder retraining, you learn to pass urine on a schedule. With practice, you can gradually increase the time gap between bathroom visits to a normal pattern, which should be primarily 3 – 4 hours. So with training, you can learn to reestablish your control of urination.

• Drink moderates amounts of liquid if you are troubled by urinary incontinence. Reduce your intake of water after evening to reduce the number of visits to the bathroom in the night, which disturbs your sleep pattern. However, this does not mean reducing the amount of liquids excessively. Drink at least 6-7 glasses of non-caffeinated liquids every day to avoid other health problems.
• Empty your bladder completely before going to bed. This will help reduce the frequency of bathroom visits during the night.
• Reduce your caffeine intake. Caffeine is known to make you feel dehydrated and thirsty, which means you tend to drink more liquids. It may also irritate the bladder and have a diuretic effect, increasing the production of urine.
• Practice some urge suppression techniques, such as Kegel’s exercises, which help in the contraction of pelvic floor muscles. These techniques help send a message to your bladder muscle to relax, reducing the urge to urinate.