Bladder training, techniques and treatment

Bladder training is very much about developing a new attitude. One example of this is avoiding ‘just in case’ visits to the bathroom as well as last-minute rushes. During training, the bladder is gradually forced to hold increasingly larger amounts of urine as you lengthen the time between bathroom visits. Among the many techniques you can use to make this work, distracting yourself and squeezing the pelvic floor muscles instead of immediately running to the bathroom when feeling urgency are particularly useful.

While it is proven to be effective, bladder training and control takes time and persistence. To make it work, you have to learn to think in a new way and try to ignore the feeling that you need to go to the bathroom for as long as possible. If you can successfully do this, you will find that you are able to take control of the bladder and it will become less irritable.

 

As far as this is possible and based on the data in your bladder diary, you can see very precisely how often you’re going to the bathroom. From this, you can add a short period of time to these times – perhaps 15 minutes – to train your bladder to wait. By being this accurate and sticking to the schedule, you’ll start to believe that you have better bladder control.

As the name suggests, behavioral modification involves adapting your lifestyle to reduce, prevent, or treat the problems of incontinence. While it most definitely includes examples of taking control, such as creating a schedule for bathroom visits, it also covers making sure you don’t drink too much/too little fluid during the day and avoiding drinks that can irritate the bladder, such as coffee and energy drinks. You can also set up a training regimen and change eating habits to lose weight, which sometimes contributes to incontinence. Another behavioral modification can involve ensuring you have healthy bathroom habits in order to avoid bladder control problems.

Pelvic floor training involves strengthening the supportive muscles around the urethra and bladder by doing repetitive voluntary contractions. These exercises build tone and strength in the supportive muscles around the urethra and bladder, which need to stay tight to prevent urinary leakage. Many people also use Pilates as part of a self-help incontinence treatment.

In addition to bladder training there are several other treatment options. Biofeedback is a method of gathering and measuring information, for example by using sensors and computer monitoring during pelvic floor training, to tell if the correct muscles are contracting. Another approach is to use a device for vaginal support, to support the urethra, bladder, vagina, uterus and rectum. Other potential treatment options include injections of bulking agents around the urethra to add supportive bulk, or various types of surgery.

It could be that you want the extra security of protection against urinary leakage during bladder training. We offer a full range of effective, comfortable and discreet products for men and women. These will help you deal with any urinary leakage that could occur, giving you peace of mind as you go through your bladder training journey.