Bladder Health Centre
THE MAIN SIGNS OF WEAK BLADDER CONTROL AND HEALTH ARE:
Weak bladder control is a very common problem that increases with age. It affects a quarter of reproductive age women, half of post-menopausal women, and up to 75% of women in nursing homes. Male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) affect half of men who are over 50 years old and are not always only prostate issues - the bladder can be equally as involved. Up to a third of young children may wet the bed, and bedwetting can continue into teenage years. If you fall into any of the below categories, then your bladder health may need support.
- Urinating more than 8 times in 24 hours and passing small amounts (less than 200ml) at a time
- Waking more than once to urinate during the night
- Bedwetting
- Leakage when coughing, exercising or laughing
- Occasional leakage during sex
- Sudden and urgent need to urinate
How your bladder works
A Healthy Bladder
THE MAIN TYPES OF BLADDER WEAKNESS
Stress urinary incontinence
This type of poor bladder health is more common in women, often because the pelvic floor muscles that support and hold the bladder in place are stretched during pregnancy and childbirth. Stress incontinence occurs without warning when ‘stress’ is placed on the pelvic floor and bladder muscles. This might be by coughing, laughing, jumping or sneezing and people typically pass a small amount of urine.
Overactive Bladder (OAB)
OAB (or sensitive bladder) is due to involuntary contractions of the detrusor muscle, which is a muscle within the bladder wall itself. With OAB, frequent visits to the toilet, both day and night occur, and a sudden intense urgency to urinate can lead to bladder accidents if there is no toilet nearby.
Urgency urinary incontinence
This occurs when you do have a warning that you urgently need to go to the toilet, but you just don’t reach the toilet in time. Urge incontinence affects men and women at roughly the same rate and you typically pass a significant amount of urine. It’s a type of bladder weakness that is associated with overactive bladder and can be a very stressful condition which limits lifestyle and general activity due to fear.
BLADDER WEAKNESS: SYMPTOMS AND INCONTINENCE PRODUCTS
Urinary frequency
Urinary frequency is a common problem that can impact on many aspects of day-to-day life. It can cause anxiety about social events; concern about travel and how long a bus or car trip might take; worry over where the nearest toilets are, or force unwanted interruptions to professional business meetings for a trip to the toilet. Urinary frequency can limit social interaction.
Urox (2 capsules a day) can help support the bladder muscles and support normal frequency, so your bladder has the strength to hold when it matters most while improving your bladder health.*
Sudden Urgency and Bladder Accidents
Occasional urgency and bladder accidents are a more common sign of poor bladder health, especially as we age. 1 in 3 people experience a sudden urgent need to visit the toilet, have trouble ‘holding on’ and visit the toilet more than 8 times in 24 hours. Putting up with small, unplanned leakages when they don’t reach the toilet in time, can cause stress and constant worry about smell and urine seepage into clothing.
Just two Urox capsules a day work to improve bladder health, strength and control. You may begin to see improvement in as little as 2 to 4 weeks with best bladder weakness results after 2 months.*
Nocturia (waking through the night)
Nocturia, or waking regularly through the night to go to the toilet, is also common and it increases with age, creating tiredness through the day. Men who experience nocturia often blame their prostate, but half the time their poor bladder health is the main culprit. Strengthening the bladder can help to reduce exhausting nighttime accidents and toilet trips.
Prorox is our prostate and bladder formula for men, and (2 capsules a day for 1 - 3 months) can help put the control back in your bladder, while providing support for your prostate.*
Bedwetting
Bedwetting can be embarrassing and stigmatizing for children, interrupt sleep for the whole family and increase the domestic workload. Bedwetting, a symptom of an overactive bladder, can continue into teenage years and beyond.
Bedtime Buddy is our formula for children (1-2 capsules a day) to improve bladder control in the day and night to help reduce bedwetting.*
STRENGTHEN YOUR BLADDER WITH DIET AND LIFESTYLE
Simple changes to your diet and lifestyle can help the problem from becoming worse, especially into menopause and old age.
- Maintain a healthy weight and make exercise a daily routine
- Address constipation and eat plenty of fibre-rich foods including fruits, vegetables and whole grains
- Avoid too much tea, coffee and alcohol. These are diuretics and may irritate the bladder
- Drink around 6-8 cups of water each day, preferably spread throughout the day; do not reduce fluid intake as this may make the problem worse
- Reduce foods that are known ‘bladder irritants’ such a citrus, watermelon, tomato-based products and check to see if bladder control improves.
- Only go to the toilet when necessary
- Maintain a healthy weight to avoid excessive pressure on the pelvic floor muscles
- Practice pelvic floor exercises known as Kegel (pelvic floor) exercises. These strengthen the muscles involved during urination.
- Don’t hold on ‘just in case’. The bladder is largely muscle and can be trained. Bladder retraining helps to teach your bladder to last a little longer each time you need to visit the toilet.
*Schoendorfer et al. BMC-CAM, 2018. Research jointly funded by the Australian Federal Government and Seipel Group.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.