Overactive bladder is common in older adults but this doesn’t make it a natural part of aging. Some signs and symptoms indicate an overactive bladder. These unmissable warning signs of overactive bladder are as follows. If one has any of these symptoms, they should schedule a visit to the doctor because there are numerous treatment options available.
Urinary Urgency
One of the most common and unmissable warning signs of overactive bladder is urinary urgency. In this, one has an intense urge to urinate. One simply cannot ignore this urge. It feels like if there is any delay going to the bathroom then the person might leak. This occurs when an involuntary contraction occurs in the bladder’s muscular wall. It is sometimes associated with other symptoms such as nocturia and urinary incontinence.
Urge Incontinence
Urge incontinence is one of the unmissable warning signs of overactive bladder. Urge incontinence is often used as a synonym of overactive bladder but that is not always true because urge incontinence is one of the symptoms and not the condition itself. Urge incontinence is when a person has a need to urinate suddenly and they leak involuntarily. Note that this isn’t the same as stress urinary incontinence.
Urinate Frequently
One of the unmissable warning signs of overactive bladder is the need to urinate frequently. In this, one needs to urinate more often than they normally do. One might notice that while they urinated about 5 times a day, they now need to urinate more than 10 times. How many times one urinates isn’t fixed but one notices that they urinate much more often than they used to before. Some experts have said that frequent urination is when a person urinates more than 8 times in 24 hours.
Fear Of Traveling
If there is a fear of traveling because a person is scared about a leak or being unable to get to the bathroom when they have the urge, then it can indicate an overactive bladder. One might be scared about using public transport to go to work or traveling with family. If this sounds familiar, then it might indicate that a person has an overactive bladder.
Nocturia
Nocturia or nocturnal polyuria is one of the unmissable warning signs of overactive bladder that should never be ignored. Nocturia is when a person needs to wake up at least two times during the night to urinate. Generally, the body doesn’t produce a lot of urine at night and the urine it does produce is concentrated. But if one notices that they wake up two times or more every night, then they might have nocturia. This might indicate an overactive bladder.
Disruption Of Social Life
One may have noticed that they are unable to go out with friends and they even fear going out with family to restaurants etc. A person might be fearful about leaking. Or they might fear that they might have a strong urge to urinate in a situation where they cannot go to the bathroom on time. One might start to avoid social gatherings, even small ones, because of this fear. If urinary-related issues are disrupting one’s social life, then it is a warning sign of a deeper problem.
Change In Clothing Choices
If a person has started to wear clothing that is loose or those that are only dark-colored, there are chances that they might have had leaks in the past. They now fear that this might occur again and so they have modified the way they dress. A person might be experiencing urine-related issues more often than they want to admit. This might indicate an overactive bladder.