How You Can Stop the Leakage Overactive bladder (OAB) refers to symptoms rather than a disease. It is used to describe the phenomenon of people experiencing urinary issues. Some products that help include Comfort Medical and PureWick. Treatments for an Overactive Bladder Treatments will vary depending on what exactly is wrong. Most cases of OAB do not require invasive intervention. Some of the most common treatments recommended are: Lifestyle changes: Introducing some exercise routines in your life can help strengthen muscles. Plus, it can fight obesity, which can help reduce the chances of suffering from OAB. Some experts recommend that you try to put your bladder on a schedule. By training your bladder to know what you can and cannot do, you can shape your behavior. Some also recommend “bladder training,” where you try to delay urination when you feel the urge to grow in increasing durations to strengthen your ability to “hold it”. Using protective, absorbent padding can be a last resort if you cannot adjust your behavior. This will allow you to avoid embarrassing accidents. Medication: Some prescription medications can be sued to help strengthen areas of the body or “relax” your bladder. Some common medications include: tolterodine, darifenacin, fesoterodine and mirabegron. Botox: Botox does not just flatten our wrinkles. Small injections of Botox into bladder tissue can offer temporary relief from bladder problems. It sometimes has the side effects of increased UITs and urinary retention. Nerve stimulation: Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation has also been shown to help with OAB. It works by sending electrical signals from a nerve in your leg to nerves connected with bladder control. Surgery: For those suffering from severe symptoms, surgery is the last option. It can involve increasing the size of the bladder or replacing the bladder with a surgically constructed replacement. Comfort Medical vs. PureWick Comfort Medical provides catheters inserted into the urethra to manage urinary incontinence internally, whereas PureWick offers an external catheter solution using an absorbent wick for non-invasive urine collection. Getting a Diagnosis Anyone can suffer from OAB. Unfortunately, many adults are too embarrassed to ask for help or do not realize their conditions are treatable. Roughly 30% of men and 40% of women in the U.S. suffer from overactive bladder symptoms. While no one is immune to these problems, there are some conditions that increase your chances of suffering from OAB. These can include: Brain damage Hormonal changes Pelvic muscle weakness Urinary tract infections (UTI) Taking certain medications Stoke, multiple sclerosis (MS) or other conditions impacting the central nervous system (CNS) Signs and Symptoms of OAB Some people fail to realize that their bathroom habits are not normal. Familiarizing yourself with the symptoms can allow you to better recognize the signs of OAB which will get you one step closer to treatment. Those suffering from an overactive bladder may experience the following: Urgency: OAB’s main symptom is that sufferers experience strong, sudden urges of needing to go to the bathroom. Typically, the need to go to the bathroom will build up over time. While it is easy to ignore these feelings until you have to go, when all you feel is a sudden urge to go immediately or risk having an accident, there may be something wrong. Leaking: Suffering from something called “urge incontinence” is rather common when you suffer from an overactive bladder. It means that sometimes during these sudden urges, you will leak a little urine. You must distinguish it from people suffering from stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Rather than leak during an episode of sudden urges, those suffering from SUI leak during physical activities which would strain the region including sneezing, laughing or stretching. Frequent urination: Frequently needing to use the bathroom is not always a sign that you drank too much. If you constantly need to go to the bathroom a lot throughout the day (especially to the point where it begins to interfere with your daily life), you may be suffering from OAB. Waking up to pee: The same can be said for those who have to wake up to go to the bathroom. A fully functioning bladder is normally able to hold urine while someone is sleeping. If you frequently have to get up during the night because you need to use the bathroom, you should talk to your doctor about OAB. [youmaylike] Causes of an Overactive Bladder Because OAB is not one disease, but rather an umbrella term to characterize specific urinary symptoms, physicians will need to investigate the underlying cause of your problems. The origin of problems usually arises from areas in the urinary tract itself. Areas of the body likely responsible for an overactive bladder include the following: Kidneys. Bladder. Ureters. Urethra. Sphincter muscle. In Conclusion Talk to a trained physician if you believe you or a loved one may be suffering from an overactive bladder. They will be able to offer expert advice on how to handle your case. This is not the same as someone who suffers from an inability to control their bladder from emptying on its own.
Colon Cancer Symptoms
Before you can fully understand early symptoms of colon cancer, it is important to understand where exactly it occurs within your body.
A colon refers to the final part of the digestive system; specifically, it is part of the large intestine. The purpose of a colon is to help prepare your digested foods for excretion. It stores your waste as it waits to vacate your body and plays a very minor part in extracting nutrients in the final stages of digestion.
What is Colon Cancer?
As the name suggests, colon cancer is a cancer that starts in the colon. Cancer occurs when cells, instead of replicating at a regular rate, begin to divide rapidly, causing tumors to form, and disrupting healthy bodily functions. As cancers progress, the growing cells can travel to other regions of the body.
What are Polyps?
Polyps are growths that can grow within the colon. Having polyp growth does not mean you will get colon cancer. While not all polyps are cancerous, almost all malignant tumors in the colon start out as polyps.
Upon examination, your doctor will be able to give you more information on what your options are. Generally, a physician will perform a colonoscopy to remove it. Once removed, a pathologist can examine the tissue in order to determine whether or not the sample is dangerous and further actions need to be taken.
Symptoms of Polyps
Polyps are not something you can see. In order to know something is not quite right, you will have to monitor your regular bodily functions.
The most commonly reported symptoms related to polyp formation are:
- Rectal bleeding: If you notice that your rectum is bleeding, this could be due to polyp formation. It is important to recognize that this is also a common symptom of other problems such as hemorrhoids or anal tears. If it happens persistently, you should consider visiting your doctor for an internal examination.
- Abdominal pain: When polyps are rather big, they can obstruct the bowel. In doing so, it can cause problems that manifest as cramps or other abdominal pain.
- Irregular colored stools: Even if you cannot notice it directly, rectal bleeding can influence the color of the stool. You may notice some small red stripes in mild cases. In more serious cases, heavy bleeding may cause your poop to appear black. Before you start to worry, make sure these color changes are not simply due to a change in diet, medication, or supplement use.
- Anemia: If polyps continue to bleed for a prolonged time, they may cause the development of an iron deficiency. Anemia can manifest is several ways, including fatigue, shortness of breath, feeling dizzy, fainting, or having abnormally pale skin.
Common Early Symptoms of Colon Cancer
Polyps themselves are, again, not a direct indication of colon cancer. While cancer can develop from a polyp, there are other symptoms which separate the benign and malignant development.
Symptoms of colon cancer are different for everyone, but the most commonly reported signs are:
- Changes in bowel movements: Particularly, you want to pay attention to the consistency of your stools. If it looks different or you develop constipation or diarrhea for an extended time, talk to your doctor.
- Rectal bleeding: You might pass bloody stools.
- Abdominal pain: Any type of discomforts, such as cramps or gas, should be monitored.
- Fatigue: Feeling weak or consistently tired despite adequate rest can be a sign of many medical problems.
- Weight loss: Unexplained weight loss may be a sign of lack of nutrition due to a malfunctioning digestive tract. Essentially, if your intestines are not able to properly absorb nutrients from food, you will not get enough nutrition from the food you eat.
- The “feeling” of a full bowel: Sometimes, even after passing a bowel movement to the highest extent possible, some patients report feeling like their bowel is not “empty”. While this is a normal sensation to experience form time to time, it can be a sign of an underlying colon problem.
When to See a Doctor
If you notice any of these symptoms mentioned above consistently, you should schedule an appointment with a licensed physician. Even if your abnormalities are not cancerous, they can be a sign of another serious medical condition that should be addressed.
The earlier you recognize a problem, the better chance you have of getting access to effective medical intervention.