Hi,

I am finding that at some times during the month (depending on my hormonal fluctuations) my bladder doesn't void completely, especially first thing in the morning. I might have to go 3 or 4 times before all the pee comes out. This used to happen to me at times during my 30s when I was close to either ovulation or a period (this is how I know it has to be hormonal), but now that I'm in my 40s (47 years to be exact) I find that it can come any time. I no longer have monthly cycles and my periods seem to come once every 3 months or so, but this incomplete voiding comes and goes and it is really bugging me.

Another thing, for 18 years I've been living with an oversensitive bladder and I can never hold too much in any case, but I hardly ever had the incomplete voiding problem - until now.

Can anyone relate to this?

I think I have although it's never bothered me. I think it is when the bowel is full and partially blocks the bladder. Could it be that do you think? I am sure it's nothing to worry about.

I just wanted to say how I love your picture-it's really beautiful

janet c

Hi Janet

No, for me it isn't a full bowel unfortunately. I've always had a terrible overreactive bladder in the first place. I was reading several articles on Google that as women age some of them experience incomplete voiding due to meno I hope this isn't going to bother me too much.

I'm glad you liked my pic - I guess it represents meno as a time of getting wisdom and as a time of going into the final phase of our lives , that's a little morbid actually; let's just say we're going into our golden years, though right now I don't feel golden

Hi Rosepurple .... oh yes, i can relate! I never had any problems with my bladder, UNTIL, peri! I have that problem a lot now, and it really bothers me.! How annoying! I also get the full bladder feeling ... then I can't even sleep!

This has to end sometime!!!!!

It's sad, isn't it? Not only do we feel crappy, on top of that we have to put up with all these new problems. You should see how bad it gets when it also affects your bowel as well as your bladder, as it does with me nowadays

I have had a very irritable bladder since starting peri--sometimes I have to go a few times an hour, sometimes I feel like I need to pee even when I don't, sometimes I am up at night several times. I can still do my normal activities but it is annoying and distracting. My gyn gave me estrace cream and has me on low dose bcps for my bladder/vaginal irriation but he said it could take several months to help. I'm interested to read what others are experiencing and how they are finding relief. I have read that the bladder is very sensitive to estrogen levels.

I have always had bladder issues. I can get a bladder infection at the drop of a hat. I have been to many doctors in the past and my bladder is fine but I found out that my uterus is tipped and it pushes on my bladder. So, I will void like you and then have to go again in a few minutes. It is frustrating and I have dealt with it for 20 years or more now. I remember when i had my job and would have to go to the bathroom all the time that the other woman would make fun of me. I just ignored them as I figured they were to stupid to know any better.

Hi Mopsy

Do you find that you can actually feel it when the bladder is filling up, by getting a kind of irritation inside that makes you feel as if you have to go when in fact you don't? I've suffered with this for 18 years and doctors have never been able to tell me what is wrong. I had a cystoscopy and all seemed fine, and yet, my bladder is usually irritated and I always feel like I have to go and when I finally do there isn't that much in there either.

I think it's cruel that those women made fun of you for going all the time; I hope one day they get to experience what we're going through!

Right now I'm having a horrible flare up and my bladder will hold very little and I'm getting all the irritation that goes with it. I don't go to doctors anymore since they cannot help. I go to a naturopath and he has mixed some herbs for me to try and calm the bladder contractions and also to take away inflammation. I don't have an infection, but the urine test I had showed some inflammation inside. And this is also the reason why the detrusor muscle sometimes weakens and it shuts down on me so that when I'm voiding I don't always get to empty the bladder completely. This isn't any fun and in the last few days I've had a panic/anxiety attack that lasted 2 days with horrible headaches. I always panic when my bladder is on the blink. I said to my husband that I've lost my fear of death, because to live like this is better to be dead. Sorry to sound so morbid, but sometimes this thing overwhelms me and I don't know what to do; and it's difficult to share this with hubby as he would have no idea what it really feels like. He's very supportive, but he cannot understand. So thank God for this site.

I am very upset right now and all I think about is my diminished quality of life due to this bladder thing; and this is on top of all my other meno symptoms. Right now I'm really desperate and am not making much sense. Sorry

Hi, as you probably read my reply to Mopsy's entry I won't go into it again, but I know exactly how you feel. Unfortunately, I've had this for 18 years and now with peri it seems to be getting worse. I'm taking herbs prescribed by my naturopath to balance out my hormones and to calm down my bladder. I tried bioidentical hormones before (progesterone cream), but that didn't help me. I've heard about estrogen sometimes being able to do something about irritable bladders, but I haven't tried that as I'm being very wary about using estrogen. Please keep us posted as to how it goes with you; if the estrogen helps I would give it a go - are you supposed to apply the cream around the urethral area?

I will keep you posted. He said to apply the cream with an applicator into the vagina at night. So far it seems to be helping somewhat--I am more comfortable than I was a few months ago for sure, but it has not been an overnite solution by any means. I am also on low dose bcps as I was told I had too much progesterone, which I have can be hard on bladders.

Episodes when I have to go a lot can make me very anxious too--like you can't ever relax. I hope you feel better soon!

Hi RP...boy do I know that feeling of 'bladder nudging'
all night long!

Two things I do to try and combat this problem when it revisits me:
For that "have to pee but nothing more than a tinkle" feeling, I always
reach for my cranberry juice...drink about one cup a day to help calm
down the "equipment" (It doesn't work for everyone, but it does help me)

Also, I try to heed the words offered to me by my ob/gyn many
years ago about the urge, urge but little output. He said to try and
"retrain" my bladder by, instead of going immediately at the first
nudge, just try and not give into the urge for say, 5 minutes...then
go ahead and hit the can. Each time, hold it for a lil longer...I don't
know why this works, but it does. It seems to "trick" the brain/bladder
response.

The caveat would be if you have a urinary tract infection, you would NOT
want to hold back...that would not be a good thing to do.

The first time I experienced this bladder annoyance was after giving
birth to my one and only child at age 43...perimenopausal challenges
all 'round!!! (that was over 16 years ago)

I find lately that when I am having anxiety issues, and cannot sleep
at night...nigh on about 3 AM I start having to pee, I swear, about every 15 minutes.
A real pain in the arse it is.

Our personal remedies don't work for everyone, but it sure is nice to
know that we are not alone.

I just saw in the store today where there is meds that help take away pain for bladder infection. My doc gave me some when I had a bladder infection a few weeks ago. Darn, I can't remember the name of the medicine though. But what it does is take away any pain or irritation. IT works great too. Have you asked the doctor about that? I will look at my med bottle tomorrow if I can find it. But, you can buy it over the counter too and you could ask your pharmacist.

I drink half of a glass of pure cranberry juice every day now that my infection is cleared up. It is so bitter but worth drinking as it is helping.

Mopsy

Hi

I had to call the doctor on Saturday and he confirmed I had a bladder infection; which I found surprising since I didn't get the burning feeling that usually comes with infections like this. Instead I got the feeling of fullness all the time, which was very uncomfortable, but the worst thing was that my bladder muscle would close on me and I couldn't empty the bladder when I wanted to, and this is what gave rise to panic and I had the worst weekend of my life.

It's interesting though, when I first got these symptoms I had the urine tested by my naturopath and it didn't show any infection, and then 2 days later I had it tested again and there was the infection.

Anyway, I'm on antibiotics now and it seems they are working. Thank God. I am also drinking a fizzy drink to alkalize the urine, it's called Ural and they also put some cranberry in it.

I am glad you are feeling better. Those darn bladder infections stink.

Hi Sylvia,
Hope you are feeling better. I just found out today that I have a mild bladder infection. No symptoms at all, alittle blood showed up on the test. Do you know of anything I can take to hep clear it up instead of an antibiotic? I finished Levaquin just a few weeks ago for a sinus infection and I don't really want to take another antibiotic again, I would rather take something natural if that is possible. The Levaquin gave me terrible heart palps again, you know what that's like, so I am leary of another antibiotic. I developed a dropped bladder 8 months ago so I think that causes some irritation too. Thanks for any advice, Hope

Hi Hope,

I've been taking cranberry juice tablets (I don't like the actual juice itself, but tablets seems to be just as good); these have an antiseptic affect on the bladder and also help rebuild the bladder lining, and they are also a good source of antioxidants. You may want to give them a go. Also drink plenty of water to flush out the infection, and nothing that will irritate your bladder such as coffee, spicy or acidic foods. Magnesium (around 300mg) is also a good thing for the bladder, to relax any muscle spasms. Go to your local vitamin shop and I'm sure they'll be able to advise which are the best products.

My bladder is still fairly irritated and I am fairly sure I have inflammation, and this is why I am finding it difficult to empty my bladder. At the moment it takes me between 2 to 4 goes to empty and this can be very distressing, but I'm holding off going to see the specialist as I despise going to doctors; they simply treat you as a number and to them we are often a money making evil necessity In 1995, I succumbed to a urologist out of desperation because my bladder was so irritated (I've suffered with irritation for 19 years now) and he said I should have a cystoscopy, which I did, in the process of which the damn doctor electrocuted me as I was under. You see, the cystoscope malfunctioned and created a short circuit and I was part of the short circuit because apparently my arm was touching a metal part of the bed; as a result I incurred a deep electrical burn on my arm. Well, that was enough to traumatise me and put me off doctors for a long time.

Right now I'm finding it difficult to decide what to do as I don't know what is causing the difficulty in emptying the bladder - I think inflamed tissue can do it - but I'm not 100% sure and you cannot discuss this with a specialist as they don't listen; they think everybody's body is the same and they are not open to other ideas. So I'm leaving the specialist as a last resort; in the meantime I am taking quite a lot of things to help me reduce inflammation and build up bladder tissue. Some of these are:

Flaxseed Oil - to help reduce inflammation
Glucosamine - to help build up the bladder wall (it works as well for bones as it does for bladders)
Cranberry tablets - which I already spoke about
Olive leaf extract - a powerful antifungal and antibacterial
Magnesium tissue salts - to help my bladder muscle relax
My regular multivitamins - to give me energy
Quercetain - to help reduce inflammation
Chlorophyll - to alkalise my body
And finally, some herbs my naturopath mixed for me to help balance my hormones and help my bladder along.

You should see my pantry; it looks like a vitamin shop

Anyway, I have always believed that the natural approach is best if one is patient enough to wait for natural things to kick in, and as long as the situation isn't life-threatening. Although my bladder has been extremely irritable lately and difficult to empty I figure that I should give it a chance to heal itself first by helping it along with natural things. If all else fails I guess I will have to go to the specialist. I pray every day that I won't have to, however. So wish me luck.

As for you, with all the stuff I recommended above I am sure you will find something that suits. Sometimes it's a matter of trial and error. Hope you resolve your issue, and let me know how you get on.

Love, Sylvia

Thanks Sylvia for your help. I can always count on your help! I was surprised I even had an infection, no symptoms to speak of, I just tested my urine on a fluke. Do you think irritation or inflamation could cause a small amount of blood cells in your urine? I wonder too if the blood cells could be contamination from my vagina, it has been so dry and sore lately.

How did the move go? Working at your same job? I have been so wrapped up in trying to find work, I haven't kept up on posts like I should have. I hope Glenn is doing well too.

Thanks again for the help, I am going out today and getting the cranberry pills. Hope

I read something the other day about "pelvic floor spasms". I was having some pain in my pelvic area and someone suggested that. Among other things -- like hurt like h-e-double toothpicks -- it can cause incomplete urination and constipation. There's quite a bit about it on the web.

Here are a couple of suggestions:
When you are thru urinating bend over as far as you can at the waist while you continue to urinate; this WILL eliminate more urine.

The pills you can buy otc are called AZO(pyridium)...it used to be prescription but now are available in several concoctions at any drugstore...

r

Hi

I tried the bending over bit and it doesn't really work for me, but I think there might be some kind of an infection involved here as well, so I will give it time. I don't live in the States, so I don't know what AZO is.

Hi,

I wiill look into that. Sounds helpful. Thank you.

Hi Hope

Microscopic blood in the urine can definitely signal inflammation; I had this for years on countless urine tests and while they never showed infection they showed the red blood cells. Right now I'm not sure if I have an infection or simply inflammation, although I am sure there is heaps of inflammation in there (my naturopath did a litmus test on my urine and it came back showing the presence of protein, which is another marker for inflammation), so I think this might be the reason why I cannot yet empty my bladder properly and why I am taking all those natural herbs and supplements.

As we go into peri and meno the vaginal walls get drier and so does the urethral walls, so I'm not surprised you feel sore and dry down there. This happens to me also and it's turned me off sex. When I do have sex these days I use a lubricant like KY jelly, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do it anymore. Even then I still remain feeling a bit sore after sex. I guess the change of life is the pits, isn't it?

I'm not working either at the moment as I finished my last work contract and with the economy there aren't many jobs out there, but I'm grateful I don't have to go to work right now because the way my bladder's been lately I wouldn't have been able to focus.

On the upside, my palps have mostly disappeared. Isn't that great? I must be moving along the peri-ladder and onto other symptoms.

I'm glad Glen is doinng fine. I keep in touch with Susie and she's going through a bit right now with life and health problems. The two of us say we are peas in a pod in the world of meno and its wonders

Let me know how you get on with the cranberries.