Frequent Urination: Causes and Treatments

 

Source: https://www.webmd.com/urinary-incontinence-oab/frequent-urination-causes-and-treatments

Gotta go all the time? The technical name for your problem is frequent urination. In most people the bladder is able to store urine until it is convenient to go to the toilet, typically four to eight times a day. Needing to go more than eight times a day or waking up in the night to go to the bathroom could mean you're drinking too much and/or too close to bedtime. Or it could signal a health problem.

Causes of Frequent Urination

Frequent urination can be a symptom of many different problems from kidney disease to simply drinking too much fluid. When frequent urination is accompanied by fever, an urgent need to urinate, and pain or discomfort in the abdomen, you may have a urinary tract infection. Other possible causes of frequent urination include:

Diabetes . Frequent urination with an abnormally large amount of urine is often an early symptom of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes as the body tries to rid itself of unused glucose through the urine.

Pregnancy . From the early weeks of pregnancy the growing uterus places pressure on the bladder, causing frequent urination.

Prostate problems . An enlarged prostate can press against the urethra (the tube that carries urine out the body) and block the flow of urine. This causes the bladder wall to become irritable. The bladder begins to contract even when it contains small amounts of urine, causing more frequent urination.

Interstitial cystitis . This condition of unknown cause is characterized by pain in the bladder and pelvic region. Often, symptoms include an urgent and/or frequent need to urinate.

Diuretic use. These medications that are used to treat high blood pressure or fluid buildup work in the kidney and flush excess fluid from the body, causing frequent urination.

Stroke or other neurological diseases. Damage to nerves that supply the bladder can lead to problems with bladder function, including frequent and sudden urges to urinate.

Less common causes include bladder cancer, bladder dysfunction, and radiation therapy.

Often, frequent urination is not a symptom of a problem, but is the problem. In people with overactive bladder syndrome, involuntary bladder contractions lead to frequent and often urgent urination, meaning you have to get to a bathroom right now -- even if your bladder is not full. It may also lead you to wake up once or more during the night to use the bathroom.

 

Diagnosing the Cause of Frequent Urination

If urinary frequency interferes with your lifestyle or is accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, back or side pain, vomiting, chills, increased appetite or thirst, fatigue, bloody or cloudy urine, or a discharge from the penis or vagina, it's important to see your doctor.

 

To diagnose the cause of frequent urination, your doctor will perform a physical exam and take a medical history, asking questions such as the following:

 

Are you taking any medications?

Are you experiencing other symptoms?

Do you have the problem only during the day or also at night?

Are you drinking more than usual?

Is your urine darker or lighter than usual?

Do you drink alcohol or caffeinated beverages?

Click to read more: https://www.webmd.com/urinary-incontinence-oab/frequent-urination-causes-and-treatments

 

Treatment for Frequent Urination

Treatment for frequent urination will address the underlying problem that is causing it. For example, if diabetes is the cause, treatment will involve keeping blood sugar levels under control.

The treatment for overactive bladder should begin with behavioral therapies, such as:

Bladder retraining. This involves increasing the intervals between using the bathroom over the course of about 12 weeks. This helps retrain your bladder to hold urine longer and to urinate less frequently.

Diet modification. You should avoid any food that appears to irritate your bladder or acts as a diuretic. These may include caffeine, alcohol, carbonated drinks, tomato-based products, chocolate, artificial sweeteners, and spicy foods. It's also important to eat high-fiber foods, because constipation may worsen the symptoms of overactive bladder syndrome.

Monitoring fluid food intake. You should drink enough to prevent constipation and over-concentration of urine. Avoid drinking just before bedtime, which can lead to nighttime urination.

Kegel exercises. These exercises help strengthen the muscles around the bladder and urethra to improve bladder control and reduce urinary urgency and frequency. Exercising pelvic muscles for five minutes three times a day can make a difference in bladder control.

Biofeedback. This technique can help you learn how your pelvic muscles work to help you better control them.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amplodipine: Uses and Side Effects

  Why is this medication prescribed? Amlodipine is used alone or in combination with other medications to treat high blood pressure in adults and children 6 years and older. It is also used to treat certain types of angina (chest pain) and coronary artery disease (narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart). Amlodipine is in a class of medications called calcium channel blockers. It lowers blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels so the heart does not have to pump as hard. It controls chest pain by increasing the supply of blood to the heart. If taken regularly, amlodipine controls chest pain, but it does not stop chest pain once it starts. Your doctor may prescribe a different medication to take when you have chest pain. High blood pressure is a common condition and when not treated, can cause damage to the brain, heart, blood vessels, kidneys and other parts of the body. Damage to these organs may cause heart disease, a heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidn
Read more

Chronic Cough: Causes and Treatments

A cough that lasts eight weeks or more is called a chronic cough. Even chronic coughs often have a treatable cause. They can result from conditions like postnasal drip or allergies. Only rarely are they a symptom of cancer or other potentially life-threatening lung conditions. A chronic cough can have a big impact on your life, though. It can keep you awake at night and distract you from work and your social life. That’s why you should have your doctor check out any cough that lasts for more than three weeks. Causes of chronic cough The most common causes of a chronic cough are: postnasal drip asthma , especially cough-variant asthma, which causes a cough as the main symptom acid reflux or  gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) chronic bronchitis  or other forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) infections, such as  pneumonia  or  acute bronchitis ACE inhibitors , which are medications used to treat high blood pressure smoking Less common causes
Read more

Pneumonia: Causes and Symptoms

Image
Pneumonia  is an  inflammatory  condition of the  lung  affecting primarily the small air sacs known as  alveoli . [4] [13]  Typically symptoms include some combination of  productive  or dry  cough ,  chest pain ,  fever , and  trouble breathing . [2]  Severity is variable. [2] Pneumonia is usually caused by infection with  viruses  or  bacteria  and less commonly by other  microorganisms , certain  medications  and conditions such as  autoimmune diseases . [4] [5]  Risk factors include  cystic fibrosis ,  chronic obstructive pulmonary disease  (COPD),  asthma ,  diabetes ,  heart failure , a history of  smoking , a poor ability to cough such as following a  stroke , and a  weak immune system . [6]  Diagnosis is often based on the symptoms and  physical examination . [7]   Chest X-ray , blood tests, and  culture  of the  sputum  may help confirm the diagnosis. [7]   Link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonia Symptoms of pneumonia Pneumonia symptoms can be mild to
Read more