Does Drinking Water Help Bladder Spasms?
A bladder spasm occurs when there is an involuntary contraction of the bladder muscle. This often leads to urgent needing of urinating and can even result in urine leakage – this condition is known as urge incontinence.
Lifestyle changes can help prevent bladder spasms. Avoiding bladder irritants such as sugary drinks, caffeine and alcohol may help decrease the number of bladder spasms you experience. Keep a food diary to identify any foods which might be bladder irritants for you.
Too Much or Too Little?
Bladder spasms often feel like painful cramps and may even cause burning sensations. Women who have experienced these symptoms compare them to menstrual cramps or labor pains. Bladder spasms may prevent people from doing the things they want or need to due to fear that they won’t make it to the bathroom on time; spasms may even lead to bladder leakage – commonly referred to as incontinence.
Drinking enough fluids each day, whether in the form of coffee, tea, juice, sodas, smoothies, soup, iced tea milk or water-rich fruits and vegetables can help prevent or alleviate bladder spasms. Aim to drink at least 1.5-2 litres daily as a minimum goal. This may include anything from coffee and tea through to juice sodas smoothies soup iced tea milk or water-rich fruits and vegetables.
If you don’t consume enough water, your urine can become more concentrated and cause bladder irritation – leading to urinary frequency, urgency, or leaks. This is especially true after rigorous exercise or when temperatures are very hot outside.
Your doctor may suggest pelvic floor exercises as part of a treatment plan to strengthen the muscles that control bladder emptying and manage urge incontinence or prevent bladder spasms from happening. These exercises could even be enough to manage urge incontinence and stop spasms altogether!
Other treatments, such as medication, will vary depending on what is triggering your bladder spasms. Antimuscarinic medications like tolterodine (Detrol) or oxybutynin chloride (Ditropan) may help decrease spasms by blocking nerve signals to your bladder muscle and blocking nerve signals to its nerve endings. Another possible option for treatment includes botulinum toxin which blocks nerves within your bladder preventing them from releasing chemicals that contract muscles in response to signals sent from nerve endings inside it which prevent them releasing chemicals which cause muscles contraction in response to stimulation of nerve endings blocking nerve endings within its nerve endings preventing release of chemicals which cause muscles contract in response.
Bladder spasms can affect anyone, though they become more frequent as we age and as side effects of medications. While frustrating and uncomfortable, bladder spasms may lead to bladder leakage which is potentially embarrassing. To decrease their likelihood, it’s wise to be mindful about fluid consumption, avoid excessive caffeine or alcohol consumption and stay active – three key measures that may reduce spasm risk.
Bladder Irritation
The bladder is a balloon-like organ located behind your pelvic bone that collects urine as your kidneys filter waste from the blood through ureters into your bladder, before passing out through your urethra into the outside world. Most people urinate between six and eight times each day; however, an irritated bladder may lead to bladder spasms or frequent need to go which necessitate frequent trips to the restroom (frequency).
At times, bladder irritations may not be clearly identifiable, though this could be caused by nerve damage in your bladder sending signals back and forth between your brain and bladder. This condition is known as neurogenic bladder. Bladder spasms may also result from infections, inflammation of the bladder wall lining or certain medications used to treat condition that alter how muscle contracts in the bladder.
Doctors suggest making lifestyle adjustments to manage bladder spasms, such as drinking enough hydrating fluids and eating a nutritious diet, as well as avoiding foods that irritate your bladder and performing pelvic floor exercises such as Kegels to reduce spasms. Smoking increases your risk of incontinence.
If lifestyle or medical changes fail to relieve your symptoms, your doctor may suggest something else – for example “bladder training”, which involves biofeedback to teach the bladder how to empty more completely and thus decrease urgency and frequency of needing to pee frequently. You can do it either in clinic settings or from home using a special monitor.
Other treatments for bladder spasms include surgery to cut away nerves that stimulate your bladder muscles or Botox treatment to stop nerves from secreting chemicals that tell muscles to contract. Antispasmodic medications may also provide relief for bladder spasms. By blocking histamine release and soothing bladder wall irritation, antispasmodics can prevent spasms. They can either be taken orally as tablets or by injection. Your doctor may prescribe an oral antihistamine such as hydroxyzine (brand names Vistaril and Atarax) to reduce inflammation of the bladder lining, or may employ bladder distention therapy where overfilling occurs while you’re under anesthesia, stretching its walls in an attempt to relieve pressure on it – although no definitive explanation for why this helps has yet been provided by physicians.
Urinary Tract Infections
Bladder spasms are sudden, involuntary contractions of the bladder muscle. When your bladder fills with urine and you become aware that you need to urinate, usually by feeling an urge incontinence symptoms like urge incontinence may arise from bladder spasms squeezing your muscle involuntarily causing urine leakage from its normal path into your lower urinary tract – making you aware of its presence by the sensations associated with filling and emptying itself regularly. When these muscle contractions take place unexpectedly and force urine into this lower urinary tract path leading directly into lower urinary tract and into lower urinary tract; this condition known as urge incontinence occurs as urine leakage from its normal route resulting incontinence occurs and must be sought immediately in order for relief to begin working again.
At times, bladder spasms may be a telltale sign of urinary tract infection (UTI). UTI can make it hard for you to urinate and can irritate the lining of your bladder, leading to interstitial cystitis or bladder pain syndrome – two painful conditions which make urination extremely difficult and annoying.
Treat the symptoms of a UTI by drinking plenty of water and eating foods that are easy on your bladder, such as six to eight glasses daily of fluid to flush bacteria from the urinary tract and reduce spasms in your urinary system. Your doctor may also suggest medication that are designed to address their cause.
Some medications can reduce inflammation and relieve your discomfort so that peeing becomes easier, such as antispasmodics such as tolterodine (Detrol) and oxybutynin chloride (Ditropan). You could also try medicines that slow down bladder muscle movement like Ativan or tricyclic antidepressants like Amitriptyline (Elavil).
Depending on the doctor, if they suspect you of having a bladder infection they may prescribe medication to clear out your bladder and relieve your pain quickly and help you feel better within hours. Treating UTIs immediately decreases their chance of spreading to kidneys.
If other treatments fail to help, your physician might suggest an infusion procedure using a cystoscope and injection directly into the bladder. You could also benefit from implanting a nerve stimulator implant, which sends gentle electrical impulses directly to your bladder nerves to alter how its muscles work – helping with both spasms and urinary incontinence.
Overactive Bladder
The bladder is an intricate organ, requiring coordination among kidneys, nerve signals and muscle contractions in order to function. Over time this system may become less responsive than expected and lead to symptoms like frequent urination, an urgent need to urinate and urine leakage, commonly known as urinary incontinence.
Bladder spasms may be caused by any number of conditions and disorders, including weak pelvic floor muscles, nerve damage and certain diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s. While some conditions may improve with time or treatment, others remain permanent leading to bladder control issues like an overactive bladder.
Ofttimes, seeing your doctor is the best way to find out what’s causing bladder spasms. He or she will take a detailed history and perform a physical exam to understand what’s happening inside your body, likely ordering a urinalysis which analyzes a sample of urine for analysis – potentially revealing infections, measuring how your bladder empties over time or providing other measurements like bladder diaries or questionnaires.
Adjusting your fluid and diet intake may help ease bladder spasms. Try drinking less fluid throughout the day and sipping at different times; also if tomatoes, pickled foods, or artificial sweeteners trigger bladder spasms for you, try cutting back or even eliminating these items to see if that helps alleviate symptoms.
Physicians may prescribe medication to alleviate symptoms of an overactive bladder. Such drugs can relax muscles that make up your pelvic floor, decrease urine flow and stop incontinence from happening. Always speak to your healthcare provider prior to trying any new medicines.
Steps taken to alleviate your bladder spasms can make life much more comfortable, helping you feel better overall and living a more satisfying lifestyle. Remember that overactive bladder is not part of getting older; rather it requires treatment from medical professionals. If this issue has yet to be seen by a provider for diagnosis and management purposes, schedule an appointment immediately with them.
