Treating an Overactive Bladder
Solutions for incontinent bladders

An overactive bladder is typically defined as a condition that results from sudden, involuntary contraction of the muscle in the wall of the urinary bladder. In other words, the urinary bladder creates a sudden and unstoppable need to urinate. Overactive bladder is also referred to as urge incontinence and is a form of urinary incontinence.
Although an overactive bladder is especially common in older adults, it should not be considered a normal part of aging. Overactive bladder affects an estimated 1 in 11 adults in the United States.
Overactive Bladder Symptoms

The symptoms include frequent urination, the feeling of having to urinate, and urge incontinence. Overactive bladder may cause significant social, domestic, physical, sexual, psychological, and occupational problems. To reiterate, these symptoms should not be considered a normal part of aging.
Overactive Bladder Treatments

Treatments depend on the needs of the patient. Here are a few treatments available:
Pelvic Muscle Rehabilitation may improve pelvic muscle tone and prevent leakage. This type of treatment can be further divided into types including kegel exercises, biofeedback, vaginal weight training, and pelvic floor stimulation.
Kegel exercises involve regular exercising of pelvic muscles performed 30-80 times daily for eight weeks. Biofeedback may be used in conjunction with kegel exercises to gain awareness of pelvic muscles. Vaginal weight training uses small weights that are held in the vagina through tightening vaginal muscles. Pelvic floor stimulation uses mild electrical pulses to stimulate muscle contractions.
Behavioral Therapies may help people regain control of their bladder. Therapies include bladder training, which teaches people to resist the urge to urinate, and toileting assistance, which uses scheduled toileting to empty the bladder regularly.
Medications for overactive Bladders might help improve incontinence medically. These include oxybutynin, which prevents urge incontinence by relaxing sphincter muscles, tolterodine which treats overactive bladders with symptoms of urinary frequency, urgency, or urge incontinence, and finally, estrogen, either oral or vaginal, which may be helpful in conjunction with other treatments for postmenopausal women with urinary incontinence.
Treatments for Chronic Incontinence

Pelvic muscle exercises, and bladder training, some will never achieve complete dryness, although many people can make good progress with medications. Physical impairments might keep some patients from being able to perform pelvic muscle exercises. Many will be cared for in long-term care facilities. To manage long-term incontinence, methods such as scheduled toileting, improved access to toilets, managing fluids and diet, and disposable absorbent garments can help improve and manage incontinence. Scheduled toileting may involve taking people to the toilet every 2 to 4 hours or according to their toilet habits. Improved access to the toilets means using equipments such as walkers, wheelchairs, and other devices to make toileting easier. Managing fluids and diet may help encourage fiber content and eliminate dietary caffeine. Disposable absorbent garments may also be used to keep patients dry.