Urgency and Frequent Urination

Hi,

I was wondering if it's true that caffeine can irritate the bladder? I know many people aren't doctors but I've seen some people who've had issues like mine have no problem drinking caffeine and remaining symptom free.

 

I experience urinary urgency and frequent urination, it’s one of my primary symptoms. I tracked what I ate and drank for 2-3 months very diligently, and found absolutely no correlation to any food or beverage.

I have coffee every morning, some days I have to pee constantly or the feeling is always there. Other days, that symptom is completely absent.

Like you said, I’m no doctor, but the fact that I could not tie back my symptom to anything concrete and that it comes and goes inexplicably indicated to me that it was TMS.

Are your symptoms constant or do they come and go? Are they always worse after coffee? Keep in mind that even if your answer to that question is yes, it could be due to conditioning (i.e. expecting to have urgency after drinking and therefore having it).

It’s an extremely frustrating symptom to have but also one that, more than many other symptoms people talk about on this thread, is accepted as being caused by or tied to someone’s emotional state - namely nervousness and anxiety. One of the primary treatments for Overactive Bladder is behavioral cognitive therapy.

 

Frequent urination is a major form of anxiety, when your body goes into the fight of flight response part of your body’s job is to empty your bladder and stop digestion.

Ever wondered why you need the loo more times over when you are about to do a stressful event maybe like a job interview? This is why, you are sending a signal to your brain that you are worried/scared/nervous and then this normal bodily process will begin.

I had it in 2020 for like 3 months and was going no stop, got tested for diabetes because it runs in my family and it came back negative, it then stopped as I stopped worrying about it . TMS!!!

 

Yeah, I think my body is used to being in a constant state of anxiety and that's why it's popped up as a symptom for me. If I try to time my bathroom breaks and not chug water, would that be trying too hard to heal? I know Steve Ozanich said the way to heal is to stop trying to heal, so I'm just wondering how people move past the symptoms without using certain methods.

 

Your second thought is a better approach. Trying to harder to control the symptom will only increase your fixation on it and induce anxiety whenever you feel the need to go despite your efforts to time it out and moderate hydration. The best thing you can do is stop caring. Who cares if you have to pee 20 times a day? Who cares if you just went 45 minutes ago? Who cares if you didn't pee that much when you went?

I know you DO care, and it's hard to just switch that off, but if you begin to stop trying to prevent the feeling or the behaviors, and just listen to your body, go when you need to, you will put less pressure on yourself to heal and you will calm down. You may even allow yourself to be distracted enough to forget you have to go, or realize 3-4 hours has gone by without a visit to the bathroom.

I know this works because it worked for me. I am still healing from this symptom, but it has improved a lot, and my anxiety around it is much less than when I started. I go longer without this feeling now too.

Right now, it is what it is, and trying to force a change will only exacerbate the cause of it in the first place (your anxiety).

 

That's a good approach. There was a time I was able to forget I had to go and went a few times throughout the day (the ultimate goal). Then it came back with a vengeance and I've been struggling with it. Just goes to show that if I did it once, I can do it again and eventually have it disappear altogether!

 

Yes! Hold onto those moments where you felt relief from the symptom. That is one of the major indications of TMS - the coming and going of a symptom.

The more you experience the absence of urinary urgency, the easier it will become to mentally respond to the symptom when it returns because you'll be able to trust it is temporary. It's like a snowball effect, each "win" makes the next flare easier to handle until they hardly come at all! That's how I see it all coming together for me with this symptom.

Good luck!