Traveling With Overactive Bladder
If you have overactive bladder, travel may sound enticing, but the thought of searching frantically for a bathroom in an unfamiliar city fills you with dread. Why bother? Since the urge to urinate strikes so suddenly -- or frequently -- maybe it’s better just to stay at home.
But with proper management and trip preparations, you can travel with less fear of toileting accidents, experts say.
Staff meetings, client lunches, customer calls. In your workday, incontinence can be unsettling. You're taking lots of breaks -- even during big client meetings. You're away from your desk every time your boss comes by. You reach the office flustered one morning -- the dark stain on your clothes all too obvious. If your boss asks, is it anyone's business? Do you need to confide? And certainly, how can you prevent these incontinence accidents from happening? "It's a very private, personal problem...
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Don’t assume that nothing can be done. "Control your bladder. Don’t let your bladder control you," says Nancy Muller, executive director of the National Association for Continence in Charleston, S.C. Too often, overactive bladder causes people to drop activities they once enjoyed and become isolated, she says.
Overactive bladder is characterized by symptoms such as urgent or frequent urination and the need to urinate two or more times each night. In most cases, involuntary spasms of the bladder muscles cause a strong need to urinate, even if the bladder isn’t full.
At least 30 million Americans have overactive bladder. About 1 out of 6 people past age 40 has symptoms of the disorder.
If you’re planning to travel with overactive bladder, here are some tips to help make your trip more successful.
Bladder training
If possible, try training your bladder several weeks before you travel. Bladder training encompasses multiple techniques, but here are a few useful ones:
Timed voiding
This means urinating on a set schedule, "by the clock, rather than by what your bladder tells you," says Tomas L. Griebling, MD, MPH, professor and vice chair of the department of urology at the University of Kansas and a faculty associate in the Landon Center of Aging. "That can be helpful because for some people, they really only have problems when their bladder gets quite full," he says.
Travelers should use a restroom whenever they have the chance, whether or not their bladder feels full, Muller says.
Kegels or pelvic floor exercises
Strengthening your pelvic muscles can help prevent urine leakage. To find the right muscles, try to slow or stop your urine flow. Once you’ve found these muscles, you can do Kegel exercises at your desk, in your car, or in front of the TV. But don’t do them while you’re urinating; doing so could lead to a bladder infection.
To do Kegels, simply squeeze your pelvic muscles tight for about 3 seconds, then relax for 3 seconds. Repeat 10 times for one set of Kegels. Don’t overdo it, but try to gradually work up to 3 sets of Kegels per day.
"They work in both men and women," Griebling says.
Freeze and squeeze
"One of the symptoms of overactive bladder is that sudden sensation that you have to urinate very quickly. The natural tendency is for people to get up and rush to the toilet," Griebling says. During such an episode, the bladder may be contracting involuntarily, causing urine to leak.
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