Dumaguing: Can't You Control Your Urination?

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Dear readers, especially the Golden boys and girls ( more than 50 years olds) or the so-called Baby boomers ( born after WWII), have you found yourself many times in difficult and sometimes awkward, if not shameful situations , when you have to run looking for a comfort room or toilet because, you can no longer control your urination and you have to urinate, otherwise. you're in an awful embarrassing moment where you may have leaked out urine, with a prima facie evidence of a wet spot in your pants or undergarments? To make things worse, in the Philippines, the words "comfort room" are, for the most part, a rarity, yes, still a luxury in which one could do his or her urination or evacuation, with private comfort and ease.

In the absence of urinary tract infection or any diagnosed neurologic or muscular disorder, your doctor might suspect you have an overactive urinary bladder ( OAB) whose signs and symptoms may range, but not limited to urgency( strong sudden need to urinate immediately), frequency( urinating eight or more times in one day), nocturia ( waking more than once at night to urinate) or incontinence ( leaking or urine escape when you cannot get to the toilet or restroom on time). Millions of people, particularly women and the elderly suffer from overactive bladder worldwide. Multiparous women or women who have delivered many babies are more l;ikely to have OAB, especially if the delivery was through normal vaginal route.

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Normally, the bladder muscle ( detrusor muscle) contract only once the bladder is filled with a certain amount of urine ( 350 ml) although the maximum capacity of the bladder is 500 ml ( seen in patients with nerve and muscle diseases in which they could no longer initiate and complete spontaneous urination. In those people with OAB, the bladder muscles work inappropriately, contracting when the bladder isn’t even full, and without warning. Because symptoms develop gradually, affected persons make adjustments like reducing fluid intake, knowing where the nearest comfort room is, looking for aisle seats in a train or bus or plane, bringing extra clothes just in case, and worse, limiting social and physical activities. All these coping mechanisms can, sad to say, cause significant emotional, social and economic strains in your life.

Of course, your doctor can recommend some techniques to control frequent bladder urges. Kegel"s exercises are recommended by OB-Gyne doctors to women who just delivered their babies to strengthen their pelvic muscles especially the pubococcygeaus muscle. Bladder training in the form of going to the restroom at regular times, after 2-3 hours have been useful and common sense, keeping track of fluid intake especially in relation to the duration of a trip, and possibilities of stop over along the way.

Otherwise, there are adult diapers. However, for most people, even for adults, the thought of wearing adult diapers is a nightmarish reality not only for the discomfort due to frequent wearing and changing. There is that problem with diaper rash from skin contact with irritating urine, not to mention the embarrassing odor when the diaper is not changed immediately. Plus, the added cost of buying diapers, not to mention the ego-depreciating effect of knowing that now, you have to wear diapers.

But don’t look so sad, there is a remedy  so that you don’t have to put up with the hassles of OAB. We now have in the Philippines the drug, Solifernacin succinate, more popularly known as Vesicare, available in 5 and 10 mg tablet. . Depending on what time of the day are the symptoms of OAB more disturbing, a once-a-day 5 mg tablet taken  will block certain nerve signals to the urinary bladder so that you experience fewer urges, have less need to use the bathroom and obviously, have fewer embarrassing accidental urine leakage.

Who says that the elderlies can't have as much fun as the young ones? Ask your doctor about Vesicare!