Taking Care of Your Bladder
It’s cold season, and I’ve already battled 3 different colds over the past month. The first, I must have gotten from work at the hospital, because my children were not sick when I was. Then I had my cycle, then both my children and myself caught a cold. Then I caught a break in paradise. As soon as I came back, another cold hit me. During the most recent cold attack, I remember standing over the sink coughing repeatedly trying to hack up congestion, in a moment I remember feeling like my bladder just couldn’t hold whatever was inside anymore. I recall clinching my inner thighs as I continued to cough forcefully.
November is National Bladder Health Month, and I want to discuss briefly how to care for your bladder. I’ve discussed in the past, how our bladder receives signals about capacity levels, and these signals let us know when we need to urinate. We have two muscles that have control over the release of urine, the first is an internal urethral sphincter, that is involuntary in nature. It is our primary control of urination. The second is our external urethral sphincter or compressor urethra, which is voluntary muscle that is a part of our pelvic floor. When we perform a kegel that targets our pelvic floor muscles in the front, it helps to keep urine in, even if our internal urethral sphincter has begun to release urine already.
When we cough or sneeze, we are creating intra-abdominal pressure that pushes a strong force down into our pelvic organs and our pelvic floor. One cough or sneeze, can normally be managed pretty easy with our pelvic floor muscles working on their own. However, when we end up sneezing or coughing repeatedly, it can create a large increase in pressure that may out weigh our pelvic floor’s ability to hold everything up and in without external force. Performing a kegel at the same time as a cough/ sneeze (otherwise known as performing a “knack”) can help prevent leaking urine during a coughing fit one may experience during a cold or allergy attack.
Have you ever woken up to use the bathroom, and while you’re on the toilet, you have this urge to blow your nose? Don’t. Well not at least while you’re urinating. Hold off on blowing your nose until you’re completely done, or at least until you can sufficiently kegel on the toilet to prevent a forceful pressure into the pelvic floor while you’re sitting in a vulnerable position. Sitting on the toilet not only helps your pelvic floor to relax, it also puts you in a position that is void of inferior support to those structures.
Sometimes, you may feel increased urgency or frequency to urinate. This can be because of things we eat or drink. Bladder irritants are different for each individual, however there are some similarities due to how the food/ drink may affect the internal lining of your bladder. Carbonated beverages, spicy foods, acidic foods, alcohol, caffeine, all the fun stuff may be an irritant towards your bladder. When you consume these foods, they make you feel like you have to urinate, even though you just went 10, 15, 30 minutes ago. If you’re feeling urgency, it may benefit you to write down all you consume over the course of a week to see if you notice any patterns about what increases your urge. Understanding what promotes your urgency can help you make different choices about what you consume, before a road trip, or before bed.
At the end of the day, remember to hydrate with water before you eat or drink items that can be considered bladder irritants. Even though I don’t want anyone sitting at stop lights doing 1000 kegels or sitting on the toilet kegeling to stop your flow of urine, you should kegel BEFORE you cough or sneeze, IF you notice you may leak urine during the event.
