What is Overactive Bladder?
What is Overactive Bladder? It is a condition in which one feels the need to urinate frequently. Watch this video to learn about this condition in detail.
Expert: Peter Dabrowski, MD, P.C.
Transcript
If you have to get to the bathroom NOW – and you worry that you might pee in your pants – it’s possible you could have overactive bladder or OAB.
Also known as urge incontinence, overactive bladder may occur when bladder muscles spasm or involuntarily contract, even when there is little urine in your bladder. Sometimes, however, the urge is purely sensory, and you get the feeling of urgency without ANY muscle contractions. In either case, with OAB there’s a short circuit in your nervous system so that signals which NORMALLY tell you when you REALLY have to urinate, mistakenly say, “Get to the bathroom ASAP.”
The bladder can hold up to about 18 ounces of urine and typically signals you have to go when it’s about one third full. But if you have OAB, you may get the message when there are only a few ounces of liquid there – or none at all. This can make getting a good night’s sleep DIFFICULT, and that only contributes to problems during the day.
Although overactive bladder can develop at any age, it is more common in older adults, especially postmenopausal women. However, OAB is not a normal part of aging. It is usually due to medications, infection, obesity, diabetes, or for men, an enlarged prostate, and for women, thinning of the tissue around the urethra.
Fortunately, with the right treatment overactive bladder can be managed, or even cured. For more information on treating OAB, check out other videos on this site.
Last Modified: 2012-10-18
Category: Health and Nutrition, Videos
