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Bladder control problems affect tens of millions of people every day, and many people are reluctant to talk about it.

  • Do you go more than 8 times per day?
  • Are you urinating often or frequently (i.e., peeing a lot)?
  • Do you feel like you have to pee a lot or have urinary urgency in men or women,
  • Are you asking yourself “why do I have to pee so much?”

Discussing your symptoms with your physician can be the first step to getting help.

What is Overactive Bladder (OAB)?

Overactive bladder (OAB) is the name for a group of urinary symptoms. It is not a disease. The most common symptom is a sudden, uncontrolled need or urge to urinate. Some people will leak urine when they feel this urge. Another symptom is the need to pass urine many times during the day and night. OAB is basically the feeling that you’ve “gotta’ go” to the bathroom urgently and too much.

Symptoms of Overactive bladder (OAB)

Urgency - uncontrollable urge to use the bathroom

Frequency – The need to urinate more than 8 times per day

Urge Incontinence - leakage accidents that occur before you reach the bathroom

Urinary Retention – Holding increasingly large amounts of urine

Stress Incontinence - Leaking when you sneeze, cough, laugh, or exercise

What Causes OAB?

The urinary tract is the important system in our bodies that removes liquid waste (urine). It includes the organs that produce, store and pass urine. These are:

  • Kidneys: two bean-shaped organs that clean waste from the blood and make urine.
  • Ureters: two thin tubes that take urine from the kidney to the bladder.
  • Bladder: a balloon-like muscular sac that holds urine until it’s time to go to the bathroom.
  • Urethra: the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body. The urethra has a muscle called a sphincter that locks in urine.
  • The sphincter muscle opens to release urine when the bladder contracts.

Normally, when your bladder is full of urine waste, your brain signals the bladder. The bladder muscles then squeeze. This forces the urine out through the urethra. The sphincter in the urethra opens and urine flows out. When your bladder is not full, the bladder is relaxed.

With a healthy bladder, signals in your brain let you know that your bladder is getting full or is full, but you can wait to go to the bathroom. With OAB, you can’t wait. You feel a sudden, urgent need to go. This can happen even if your bladder isn’t full.

If the nerve signals between your bladder and brain don’t work properly, OAB can result. The signals might tell your bladder to empty, even when it isn't full. OAB can also be caused when muscles in your bladder are too active. This means that the bladder muscles contract to pass urine before your bladder is full. In turn, this causes a sudden, strong need to urinate. We call this "urgency."

Risk Factors for OAB

  • Neurologic disorders or damage to the signals between your brain and bladder
  • Hormone changes
  • Pelvic muscle weakness or spasms
  • A urinary tract infection
  • Side effects from a medication
  • Diseases that affect the brain or spinal cord, like stroke and multiple sclerosis

If you think you have OAB, talk with your health care provider. It’s important to learn why it’s happening so you can manage your symptoms.

Facts about Overactive bladder (OAB):

Ignoring Overactive bladder (OAB) Poses Risks. People with undiagnosed OAB have reported3:

(graphic with data)

As many as 30 percent of men and 40 percent of women in the United States live with OAB symptoms. Many people living with OAB don't ask for help. They may feel embarrassed. Many people either don't know how to talk with their health care provider about their symptoms, or they think there aren't treatments that can help.

The truth is there are many treatments that can help. Asking your health care provider about it is the first step.

You Are Not Alone – Find Relief for Bladder Control Problems

Overactive bladder (OAB) is a treatable condition. It’s not a normal part of aging. And you shouldn’t have to deal with it on your own. There are many ways to treat incontinence4 and get back to living life.

Lifestyle Changes
Medication
Advanced Therapies
Can include diet, exercise, bladder retraining (biofeedback), or pelvic floor strengthening (Kegels)

Medications can control symptoms and are tried first before proceeding to a permanent solution. If conservative treatments don’t deliver the results you expected, we can proceed straight to an Advanced therapy.

Medtronic InterStim™ systems
Injected medications

Stewart WF, Van Rooyen JB, Cundiff GW, et al. World J Urol. 2003;20(6):327-336.
US Census Bureau 2020. US adult and under-age-18 populations: 2020 census. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/adult-and-under-the-age-of-18-populations-2020-census.html. Accessed June 20, 2022.
Leede Research, “Views on OAB: A Study for the National Association of Continence.” December 16, 2015.
American Urological Association. Diagnosis and treatment of non-neurogenic overactive bladder (OAB) in adults: an AUA/SUFU guideline. Published 2012; amended 2014, 2019; accessed August 5, 2020. https://www.auanet.org/guidelines-and-quality/guidelines/overactive-bladder-(oab)-guideline
Information on this site should not be used as a substitute for talking with your doctor. Always talk with your doctor about diagnosis and treatment information.

It is helpful if you keep a diary for a few days before your doctor’s visit to track time of urination, the amount of urine, leakage, and foods and beverages consumed.

What to know before your visit to UroPartners:

During your visit, your doctor will ask you questions regarding your medical history and will perform an exam with a focus on your abdomen and genitalia.
Other tests that may be performed during or after your visit include:

  • Urinalysis: This evaluates for any blood in the urine or infection.
  • Post-void residual: The physician will often ask you to void and then check to make sure you are emptying your bladder.
  • Urine flow: The physician may have you urinate in a funnel to assess the speed of your urinary stream.
  • Cystoscopy: This is a procedure performed in the office where the physician inserts a small scope into the urethra to check for any abnormalities.
  • Urodynamics: This is a test where a very small catheter is inserted into the urethra and another into the rectum to help measure the pressures in the bladder during filling and urination.

Non-Surgical Treatments

  • Behavioral changes: Decreasing caffeine (i.e., coffee, soda, tea) and alcohol intake, avoiding artificial sweeteners, and stopping fluid intake 2-3 hours before you go to bed may improve your lower urinary tract symptoms.
  • Timed voiding: Urinating at defined intervals to retrain your bladder.
  • Avoiding constipation
  • Healthy weight: If you’re overweight, losing weight may ease symptoms of an overactive bladder.
  • Pelvic floor exercises: Kegel exercises can be effective for both men and women. They strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and your urinary sphincter. These strengthened muscles can help you stop the bladder’s involuntary contractions.
  • Bladder training: You train yourself to delay urination when you feel an urge. You begin with small delays, such as 30 minutes, and gradually work your way up to urinating every three to four hours.
  • Medications: Anticholinergics or Beta-agonists can relax the muscles of the bladder making urination less frequent and urgent. These medications may also improve the number of times you wake up at night to urinate.

Surgical Treatments

  • Botox: A minimally invasive procedure where Botox is injected into the muscles of the bladder to improve relaxation and decrease urgency, frequency, and waking up at night to urinate. Learn more about Botox treatment for OAB.
  • Sacral neuromodulation (InterStim or Axonics): This tiny device is implanted to help your nerves function normally by delivering mild electrical pulses. It works much like a pacemaker. During a two-week trial period, your doctor determines if the device is right for you. If so, the device is implanted in your upper buttock region and sacrum.
  • Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation (PTNS): Similar to InterStim or Axonics, but doesn’t require a procedure to implant a device. PTNS stimulates the nerves to the bladder and decrease urgency, frequency, and waking up at night to urinate.