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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffSigns and symptoms of overactive bladder may mean you:
- Feel a strong, sudden urge to urinate
- Experience urge incontinence, the involuntary loss of urine immediately following an urgent need to urinate
- Urinate frequently, usually eight or more times in 24 hours
- Awaken two or more times in the night to urinate (nocturia)
Although you may be able to get to the toilet in time when you sense an urge to urinate, frequent and nighttime urination, as well as the need to suddenly "drop everything," can definitely disrupt your life.
When to see a doctor
Fewer than half of women and less than one-quarter of men who experience incontinence ever talk to their doctor about the problem, according to a study in the Journal of Urology.
Although it can sometimes be difficult to discuss such a normally private matter with your doctor, it's important that you do, especially if you experience urge incontinence or if other symptoms of overactive bladder disrupt your work schedule, social interactions and everyday activities.
Don't avoid an evaluation and simply deal with the condition by wearing absorbent undergarments or pads. Treatments are available that might help you. Additionally, it's important to talk to your doctor because an overactive bladder and urge incontinence may occur as a result of a serious underlying problem, such as a cancerous tumor.
