Frequent urination in women now a days has become a common symptom. Are you disturbed while sleeping or do you need to get up every now and then from your work disturbing your schedule? Yes, I am talking about frequent need to get up from your seat to urinate. This can be truly irritating and problematic. Generally if urination exceeds six to eight times in a day then it can be an uncomfortable zone in your lifestyle. There can be n number of reasons for this situation to arise. The most common ones are drinking too much, urinary tract infection, diabetes, pregnancy, prostate problems, interstitial cystitis, diuretic use, stroke/ neurological diseases, bladder cancer, bladder dysfunction, radiation therapy, overactive bladder syndrome, involuntary bladder contractions.
Symptoms
Frequent urination in itself is not a problem but when it interrupts your ease then you need to pay attention towards it. Some of the alarming symptoms can be fever, back or side pain, pain or discomfort in abdomen, increased appetite or thirst, vomiting, chills, fatigue, bloody or cloudy or abnormally darker or even excessively foul smelling urine or any discharge from penis/vagina. And if you experience any of them then you need to immediately see a doctor.
Also you need to have answers to few questions before you see a doctor.
- Urine frequency in a day?
- The urgency to urinate. How uncomfortable do you feel before/while/after urinating?
Here, urgent urination means you have to get to a bathroom right now , i.e., even if your bladder is not full. It may also lead you to wake up once or more during the night to use the bathroom. - Do you drink more than usual?
- At what time of the day you experience it generally? Day/night/both
- Are you using any medications/treatments?
- Do you drink alcohol or/and caffeine containing beverages (coffee, etc)? And how if yes how much?
- Do you take drugs (if any)?
- The color of your urine? Dark yellowish (darker than usual)
- Any other symptoms like fever or pain in any of the body parts or frequent fatigue, etc
Causes Of Frequent urination
1. Urinary tract infection or simply UTI
UTIs are more common in women than in men leading to 8.5 million doctor visits yearly. UTI comprises of four main parts namely kidney, ureters (2), bladder and urethra. Infection in any of these parts by pathogenic micro organisms like fungi, bacteria or any kind of harmful parasites may cause UTI infection and thus leading to the problem. These may be called as urethritis (urethral infection), cystitis (bladder infection), ureter infection, and pyelonephritis (kidney infection)
2. Overactive bladder
One of the most common and obvious reasons for frequent urination is an overactive bladder. An overactive bladder is a condition which results from sudden and involuntary contraction of muscle in the wall of the urinary bladder which may cause an urgent and frequent need of urination even if the bladder is not full and has the capacity to hold urine. It can happen in any age but more seen in older adults. Generally in an normal adult 300cc of fluid alarms the bladders to urinate but in case of an overactive bladder 300cc may fall down to 50cc which may result in frequent urination. This is mainly caused due to spasms of muscles and inappropriate contraction of the muscles of the bladder.
3. Bladder Cancer
Cigarette smoking is one of the main causes of urinary bladder cancer. Carcinogens (cancer causing toxics) present in the cigarette smoke get absorbed by lungs, travel into blood stream and then come into contact with the cells in the inner lining of the kidneys and the bladder which may eventually cause bladder cancer and then lead to bladder dysfunction. This can lead to problems in urination or frequent urination .
4. Diabetes
Both types of diabetes type 1 and type 2 can become the primary cause for frequent urination. Not going into the details of the diabetes, let us look into the overview of how diabetes becomes the cause for frequent urination. Diabetes indicates an increase in the sugar level in the blood. To remove the excess sugar from the blood kidney filter and flush out the excess sugar into urine. This entire exercise may put pressure on the bladder and may in turn result in frequent urination. That’s why one of the early symptoms of diabetes is frequent urination.
5. Pregnancy
From the early weeks of pregnancy the growing uterus places pressure on the bladder, causing frequent urination.
6. Prostate problems
On the other side, an enlarged prostate can press against the urethra (the tube that carries urine out the body) and block the flow of urine. This causes the bladder wall to function abnormally causing the bladder to contract even when it contains small amounts of urine, causing more frequent urination.
7. Interstitial cystitis
This condition is characterized by pain in the bladder and pelvic region. Often, symptoms include an urgent and/or frequent need to urinate.
8. Diuretic use
These medications that are used to treat high blood pressure or fluid buildup work in the kidney and flush excess fluid from the body, causing frequent urination. This is a special when someone take some medication to treat high blood pressure.
9. Stroke or other neurological diseases
Nerves that supply the bladder, if weak can lead to bladder dysfunction including frequent and sudden urges to urinate.
Precautions & Treatment
You can take some steps to avoid the problem of frequent urination.
- Avoid taking food/drinks which can affect or irritate the normal functioning of the bladder like alcohol, caffeine containing beverages like coffee, etc, tomato based products, chocolate, artificial sweeteners, and spicy foods.
- Take fiber rich food to avoid constipation because this can worsen the problem.
- Take ample amount of water but avoid it just before bedtime because it can result in disturbing your sleep.
- Do daily pelvic exercises kegal exercises three times a day for five minutes. This can strengthen the muscles around the bladder and reduce the problem of frequent urination.
- Bladder retaining can be one of the good exercises to eventually reduce the problem. This includes increasing the time gap between urination. This can gradually increase the urine holding capacity of the bladder.
- If diabetes is the cause then you should be very careful with the intake of the sugar level in your diet. Cut the intake of the sweet products.
- If the cause is overactive bladder then there are drugs available in the market like Detrol LA, Ditropan, Enablex, Oxytrol, Sanctura XR, Tofranil, and Vesicare. Please go with these medicines only with the proper prescription from your doctor.