Overactive Bladder (OAB) describes the feeling of a sudden urge to urinate and can happen any time and any place.  This urge may trigger the loss of bladder control or unwanted bladder muscle contraction resulting in urinary incontinence.  Your bladder has pelvic floor muscles which help to prevent urine to come out until you choose to urinate when you find a bathroom.  Urination occurs when you relax the pelvic floor muscles while the bladder muscle contract to push the urine out.  However in OAB, you may have lost your bladder control or have weak pelvic floor muscles

Symptoms

• Frequent urination
• Need to urinate even when the bladder is not full
• Need to urinate at night (also known as nocturia)

Causes of Over-Active Bladder (OAB)

• Spinal cord disorder or injury
• Bladder disorders such as stones or tumour
• Prostate disorders
• Urinary tract infections (UTI)
• Stroke
• Multiple sclerosis
• Diabetic neuropathy
• Dementia
• Parkinson’s disease
• Excessive alcohol or caffeine consumption

Diagnosis for Over-Active Bladder (OAB)

Certain tests need to be done to get a diagnosis and they include;

• Urine testing (to look for blood, infection, glucose or protein)
• Cystoscopy (to look for scarring, tumour or stones)
• Bladder, prostate or kidney ultrasound 
• Urodynamic studies to measure your urine flow

Management of Over-Active Bladder (OAB)

1. Lifestyle modifications 

• Reduce alcohol or coffee consumption and maintain a healthy weight
• Adult diapers to help in minor cases

2. Medication

Anti-Muscarinic medicines bind to specific receptors on the  bladder wall and reduces the sensitivity to muscle contraction.  This results in an increase in bladder capacity and reduces the need to urinate frequently.  Examples include;

• Tolterodine (Detrol)
• Oxybutynin (Ditropan)
• Trospium (Sanctura)
• Solifenacin (Vesicare)

3. Surgery

• Botox injections to the bladder wall muscle
• Bladder nerve stimulation 

See a Urologist if you have any urinary issues

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