GynoFiles

Overactive Bladder (OAB) is an idiopathic syndrome, there is no known cause. Generally the most common symptom is an overwhelming urge to run to the bathroom. Too often that urge is 'inappropriate' meaning that there is no urine in the bladder. The cure has escaped us and in a study published in June 2015 issue of OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY by Reynolds and colleagues showed that most drug therapies are only modestly successful and rarely resolve all the symptoms. So a new solution was proposed that seems contrary to medical logic Just when we see doctors and patients calling for less antibiotic use in general a team from Scotland has a new idea to cure the medical condition of running to the bathroom too frequently: More Antibiotics! This group, reporting from  Glasgow, Scotland at the 41st annual meeting of the . International Continence Society came up with a novel idea that a group of patients with Overactive bladders and white blood cells in their urine probably had...

Smoking can damage the pelvic floor. Quitting can improve this, and pelvic floor therapy can repair damage. We recommend smokers who are noticing weak pelvic floor or bladders consider the non-invasive treatment of MonaLisa Touch to repair the vaginal tissue damage that smoking has caused. Another gyno lecture about stopping to smoke, and yes, even cutting back will improve your bladder. But as smoking can cause urinary leakage it's time to let your gyno help you stop smoking. Oddly we even see decreased smoking when we put you on a diet with Contrave, so selecting the right medications for the job can have many favorable effects as well as the favorable effects we intended. First determine the cause of the bladder problems leading to pad usage, and we can help you do that . But bottom line, if you didn't realize why you are having increasing problem with over active bladder, urge incontinence or mixed incontinence disorders, well for those of you who still smoke are all li...

Women who run to the bathroom to pee too often have bladders that do not react normally to the signals of full and empty. Most women can't stand this life intrusion and want it fixed which is why they find themselves at their gyno office discussing whether they should begin medicine or get a surgery, when to use a pessary,  or when to hire a physical therapist, or when to get a  rejuvenating laser, PTNS therapy, or even a  PRP shot, bulking agents, or Botox therapy. All these therapies can be successful, and at Women's Health Practice we want to help you be successful!   Extra trips to the bathroom or just feeling like you have to go with out really having to empty. called the "overactive bladder" or OAB. Medically we say that overactive bladders have a "SUDDEN, COMPELLING DESIRE TO PASS URINE THAT IS DIFFICULT TO DEFER"  Physicians might also term term this urgency . Women say that it's not a sensation that can be avoided, when they e...

Urodynamics or Cystometrics are fairly straightforward tests of the ability of our bladder to function. When we are having to rush to the bathroom, but don't make it; run to the bathroom too often; have questions about the way the urine actually comes out, it may be time for more than just a simple gyno visit. It maybe time to get a test of the function of your bladder so that treatments can be fine tuned to fix exactly what is wrong. These tests, which has a variety of names including urodynamics and cystometrics are in office tests that are done at many urologists offices and some gynecologists offices. A catheter is placed in the bladder and sterile fluid is instilled.  Cystometry (or cystometrogram) evaluates bladder function by measuring the pressure and volume of fluid in the bladder during the inflow of this fluid, which is equivalent to your kidney filling your bladder from above. Then after the pressure is measured during filling, the amount of urine you can hold known a...

Untreated asymptomatic bacteria in the urine will turn into kidney infections about a third of the time. The definition of a bladder infection was set by Kass in a famous article reported in 1962 in the Annals of http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm Interal medicine . The definition was quite rigid. Dr. Kass stated for an accurate diagnosis a woman must have 100,000 bacteria grown in a culture to show positive in two separate but consecutive clean catch midstream urine cultures. 80% of the patients still had the bacteria on their second test, but about 20% didn't. So when he studied the fate of these infections he was studying a fairly high risk group, one that was not likely to clear up on their own.. None of us spend the money on two cultures for our patients any longer. When it comes to pregnant patients about 5% of patients will show this asymptomatic bacteria. Risk factors for the urinary tract infection in women include either recent or frequent sex, the...

If you run to the bathroom and do make it, the symptom is called “urgency.” If you run to the bathroom and don’t make it when you have a few dribbles, the symptom is called “urge incontinence.” As opposed to leaking when you jump which is called stress incontinence. And if you just are constantly going to the bathroom, even if you have just gone, whether or not you actually leak, the term is called Over Active Bladder (OAB). And OAB can be very annoying, mostly because we are busy, and it’s very disruptive to one’s life to make all plans around bathrooms or bathroom breaks. The quickest fix is to always pause, and don't just run to the bathroom, but let that sensation pass. Gynos will usually suggest giving it 15 minutes before you actually get up and rush. Other fixes are possible. So if this is a symptom that you have, and it’s been weeks or months, it is probably time to see your gyno and get a diagnosis, as there are medications that can treat the condition.

Relative Positions of  Our Pelvic Organs The bladder begins it's life high in the pelvis. If the bladder wall weakens if the nerves get a bit warn, if you pressure your bladder with too much fluid or too many dietary irritants you can have problems with that rush to the bathroom known as Overactive Bladder . Overactive Bladder or (OAB) can be associated with stress incontinence, which is defined as leaking urine when you cough or strain. If you do have both it is defined as mixed incontinence. Defining what is too many trips to the bathroom is somewhat arbitrary, we all pee a lot, what's too much? Over 8 times per day. You really should be able to hold your urine for at least two hours, even in midday after a normal meal. And having sudden, strong desires to urinate, that you cannot control, or even after you think you just emptied your bladder. This extremely strong urge that you cannot control is not a normal state. Not everyone has incontinence with OAB, although with ...

Another gyno lecture about stopping to smoke, and yes, we can help you do that. But bottom line, if you didn't realize why you are having increasing problem with over active bladder, urge incontinence or mixed incontinence disorders, well for those of you who still smoke are all linked to smoking. Of course smokers have more frequent and more forceful coughs too, so the challenge to the bladder integrity is there constantly. Tobacco side products and nicotine lower estrogen, which may also have the long term consequences of weakening your pelvic floor. So eCigs probably won't help you solve this problem, you really should quit! There probably is also a direct link with nicotine and contractions of the bladder wall called detrusor contractions.Studies also reveal that more urinary retention occurs in smokers, and it can be a source of infections and lower abdominal discomfort.   Cystometrics at womenshealthpractice.com can help you make a diagnosis. And some of these changes...