Overactive Bladder & Treatment

Overactive bladder, also called OAB, causes a frequent and sudden urge to urinate that may be difficult to control. You may feel like you need to pass urine many times during the day and night, and may also experience involuntary loss of urine (urgency incontinence).

Symptoms

• Feel a sudden urge to urinate that's difficult to control
• Urinate frequently, usually eight or more times in 24 hours
• Wake up more than two times in the night to urinate (nocturia)
• Along with above symptoms pt may have urine leak.

Involuntary bladder contractions

Overactive bladder occurs because the muscles of the bladder start to contract involuntarily even when the volume of urine in the bladder is low. These involuntary contractions create an urgent need to urinate.

Several conditions may contribute to signs and symptoms of overactive bladder, including:

• Diabetes
• Urinary tract infections
• Hormonal changes during menopause in women
• Abnormalities in the bladder, such as tumors or bladder stones
• Factors that obstruct bladder outflow —urethral stenosis, constipation or previous operations to treat other forms of incontinence
• Neurological disorders, such as stroke and multiple sclerosis
• Medications that cause a rapid increase in urine production
• Excess consumption of caffeine or alcohol
• Declining cognitive function due to aging, which may make it more difficult for your bladder to understand the signals it receives from your brain
• Difficulty walking, which can lead to bladder urgency if you're unable to get to the bathroom quickly

• Incomplete bladder emptying, which may lead to symptoms of overactive bladder, as you have little urine storage space left.
• Excessive fluid intake

The specific cause of an overactive bladder may be unknown.

Complications

• Any type of incontinence can affect overall quality of life.
• Emotional distress or depression
• Anxiety
• Sleep disturbances and interrupted sleep cycles
• Problems during intercourse

Mixed Urinary Incontinence

Women who have an overactive bladder may also have mixed incontinence, when both urgency and stress incontinence occur. Stress incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine with physical movement or activity such as coughing, sneezing, laughing or exercising. Treatment of stress incontinence is not likely to help overactive bladder symptoms. Similarly, treatment of overactive bladder is not likely to improve stress incontinence symptoms.

Prevention

These healthy lifestyle choices may reduce risk of overactive bladder:

Maintain a healthy weight.

Daily physical activity and exercise.

Limit consumption of caffeine and alcohol.

Quit smoking.

Manage chronic conditions, such as diabetes, that might contribute to overactive bladder symptoms.

TREATMENT

Anticholinergics: Group of drugs which relax bladder & increase bladder capacity.

B agonist

Intravesical BOTOX injection