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Can Anxiety Cause Frequent Urination

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Frequent Urination Causes And Risk Factors

1. Bladder conditions

One major cause of frequent urination is a condition thats affecting your bladder in some way. This can be an infection or injury of the bladder, or it can be muscle, nerve or tissue changes that are affecting your bladder function. Some specific conditions that involve the bladder and may be causing frequent urination include:

  • Bladder stones a buildup of minerals that form in the urinary bladder and occurs more frequently in men.
  • Overactive bladder  a condition that doesnt allow the bladder to hold urine properly, which results in problems like urine incontinence and leaky urine.
  • Interstitial cystitis also called painful bladder syndrome, this is a chronic condition that causes bladder pain and pressure, resulting in frequent urination.

2. Prostate conditions

The prostate is a gland thats located in the male reproductive system, just below the bladder. Frequent urination is one of the warning signs that you may have an issue with your prostate health, such as:

  • Enlarged prostate when the prostate becomes enlarged and pushes against the bladder and urinary tract.
  •   an infectious disease that involves the prostate gland and can cause symptoms like frequent urination, fever, nausea, vomiting, pain during urination and an urgent feed to urinate.

3. Kidney conditions

Changes in kidney function or kidney disease can cause frequent urination and other symptoms like kidney pain , fluid retention and swelling, indigestion and high blood pressure.

How Do I Stop Frequent Urination

Your doctor will emphasize treatments that address your underlying frequent urination cause. The goal is always to improve your quality of life and work toward stopping frequent urination.

Basic remedies include lifestyle changes. A doctor may suggest the following:

  • Avoiding drinking fluids before bed
  • Cutting back on alcohol, caffeine, artificial sweeteners and acidic foods or beverages
  • Doing pelvic floor exercises to help build your pelvic health
  • Trying bladder retraining techniques, such as peeing at fixed intervals that gradually increase

Your doctor may also prescribe medication to treat an underlying condition or to specifically address an overactive bladder.

Chapter 2 What Exactly Is Anxiety Urination

Anxiety urination occurs when you have to pee due to emotional stress. Normal urination is a voluntary action. You decide you have to go to the bathroom when your bladder is full. In anxiety urination, however, urination is is an involuntary reaction to stress.

Anxiety urination is an involuntary action caused by emotional stress. Normal urination is a voluntary action caused by a full bladder.

According to the National Institutes of Health , the two major symptoms of urination caused by anxiety are an overactive bladder and urinary incontinence. NIH reports that there is a direct relationship between the severity of the urination symptoms and the severity of anxiety.

 

How To Stop Anxiety Urination With Counseling

Stopping anxiety urination with the help of a counselor is undoubtedly a most rewarding and revealing journey. In contrast to normal urination, which is a voluntary reaction to a full bladder, anxiety urination is an involuntary reaction caused by emotional stress. Anxiety is caused by the brains amygdala. Once the amygdala interprets information received by the senses as a threat, it initiates a series of reactions which results in urination problems.

Related:How & why anxiety causes physical urination problems

In order to stop anxiety urination, it is crucial to understand how and why ones amygdala perceives something as a threat. A counselor can assist identifying past and present experiences that contribute to ones anxiety. A counselor can also help in distinguishing a real versus a perceived threat. Learning coping mechanisms teaches the brains amygdala to correctly process information and has a direct impact on stopping anxiety urination.

Hyperstimulation Can Cause The Body To Act Erratically

Frequent Urination Anxiety Symptom  anxietycentre.com

Stress hormones have a dramatic effect on the body, especially the nervous system .

The nervous system is responsible for sending and receiving sensory information to and from the brain.

A main component of the nervous system is specialized cells called neurons , which communicate with each other using an electrochemical process .

This system of communication and reaction works normally when the body and nervous system are healthy. Problems can occur, however, when the body and nervous system become hyperstimulated .

For example, because of their electrochemical properties, neurons are particularly sensitive to hyperstimulation. When they become overly stimulated, they can act erratically and more involuntarily than normal, which can cause them to misreport, over-report, and send false nerve impulse information to and from the brain.

These abnormalities can cause a wide range of sensory and physical anomalies, such as causing an urge to urinate when the bladder isnt full.

This erratic and more involuntary nervous system behavior can affect any area of the body, including the bladder and the muscles associated with it.

The frequent urge to urinate; frequent urination; and leaking,spotting, incontinence, and accidents are all examples of hyperstimulations adverse effects on the urinary system.

Natural Treatments For Frequent Urination

1. Pelvic Floor Training

Pelvic floor muscle exercises are usually one of the first lines of treatment for urinary issues like incontinence, overactive bladder and frequent urination. These exercises help to improve the strength, coordination and endurance of the pelvic floor muscles. Pelvic floor training is a type of exercise that involves muscle clenching.

One type of pelvic floor training is kegel exercises, which help to strengthen the muscles that wrap around your urethra. When you clench these muscles by contracting them and then relaxing them, they are becoming stronger and you can better control the act of urinating. For people dealing with frequent urination, kegels can help to support your bladder.

2. Bladder Training

Did you know that you can train your bladder? Some people are teaching their bladders some pretty bad habits and they dont even know it. For instance, some people dealing with frequent urination may be training their bladder to empty more often, before it is actually full. So you are getting the urge to urinate, even though you dont really have to just yet.

Do your best to wait the set amount of time before you urinate again, and if you find that you dont have to urinate when youve hit your interval, do it anyway. If you get the urge to urinate before its time, try some distraction techniques like taking deep breaths, relaxing your body and sitting in a chair and leaning down, which should relieve some pressure.

3. Watch Your Fluid Intake

The Good News: There Are Ways To Manage It

Needless to say, the last thing you want to be worried about when youre well, worried, is trying to find a toilet. Anxiety is disruptive and distracting enough without having to think about your bladder, too.

If it happens once in a while, for example before a job interview or going on a blind date, the level of disruption can be minimal. If it is happening more frequently, it may be worth thinking through your overall stress levels, said Jessy Warner-Cohen, a health psychologist at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.

The good news is that there are some strategies you can take up to try to tame your bladder. Many mental health professionals recommend practicing cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, to help manage anxiety and thus, your bladder on a more regular basis. CBT can also help people understand that frequent urination is simply a byproduct of their anxiety and also that they probably dont have to pee as much as they think they do, Nadkarni explained.

According to Warner-Cohen, practicing mindfulness techniques can also help. Recognize that the sensations you are feeling are typical and you are actually safe, Warner-Cohen said. Engage in belly breathing, slow breaths in and out, and focus on your breathing instead of whatever else is happening.

Our Treatment Program: Are

With the evolutionary purpose of the amygdala in mind, we use ARE to help children when their frequent urination interferes with their academic life.

ARE stands for Anticipating Reducing Eliminating.

Anticipating: The most effective treatment of anxiety urination is to prevent anxiety from occurring. Anticipate or be prepared for situations that might be triggering feelings of anxiety in you. The goal is to prevent the amygdala from perceiving a situation as a life-threatening situation. Make a mental or actual list of anxiety-triggering situations. Mere thoughts can also trigger anxiety. Get to know your thoughts and recognize any potentially anxiety-triggering thoughts. By bringing those anxiety-triggering thoughts into your consciousness, your prefrontal cortex can prevail over your evolutionary much older amygdala. Ask yourself, what size is my left and right amygdala? How does my amygdala interpret or process certain images, sounds, or smells?

Eliminating: While you do not want to miss out on activities that you enjoy, eliminate those situations that you know will cause a distress signal by your amygdala. Recall that sight, sound, smell can be major triggers. Again, your goal is to calm down your amygdala, your nervous system, and your urination frequency.  Instances of dental anxiety, social anxiety, test anxiety, and many other anxiety-triggering situations can be eliminated with medication. We will cover those medications in our individual case studies.

Chapter 6 How Does Urination Work

Urine is formed by the kidneys through a filtration of blood. From the kidneys, the urine travels down the ureters to the bladder. Muscles in the ureters continuously tighten and relax to propel the urine down to the bladder and away from the kidneys. About every 10 to 15 seconds, small amounts of urine are emptied into the bladder from the ureters.

The bladder can store about 2 cups of urine for 2 to 5 hours and swells into a round shape as it gets full. Sphincter muscles close tightly around the opening of the bladder to prevent urine from leaking and passing into the urethra, the tube passing urine outside of your body.

If a normal fluid intake is between 1.5 to 2 liters per day, it should produce 1.2 liters to 1.5 liters of urine output. Some of the fluid that you drink is excreted through the skin and lungs . The normal bladder capacity before you feel any sensation of having to go to the bathroom is about 300 ml . After peeing, some urine remains in the bladder. A residual urine volume of less than 50 ml is considered adequate. A volume of more than 200 ml is considered abnormal and can result in any of the overactive bladder symptoms. Again, an ultrasound post-void residual bladder scanner can be used to determine how much urine remains in the bladder after having peed.

 

How Many Times Should You Pee A Day

Although everyone is different, most adults urinate or pee five to seven times in 24 hours, most of that during the day, says Ali Dabaja, MD, a urologist with Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

If youre peeing a lot more often than that, does it mean something is wrong?

Potentially, but not always, according to Melissa A. Laudano, MD, an attending urologist at Montefiore Health System and assistant professor of urology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, both in New York City.

Heres everything you need to know about the causes of frequent urination. Plus, treatment options and when to talk to your doctor.

Comparison Of Anxiety Symptoms Between Oab And Controls

compares the anxiety and other psychosocial measures between OAB patients and controls. About half of the OAB subjects had anxiety symptoms, and one quarter of OAB subjects had moderate to severe anxiety. OAB subjects reported significantly higher anxiety symptoms compared to age-matched controls . A significantly higher percentage of OAB subjects had anxiety compared to controls . A higher percentage OAB subjects also reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms compared to controls .

Ask A Doctor About Behavioral Therapy

Behavioral therapy can improve bladder control by providing a person with strategies to help manage their OAB symptoms. These strategies may include doing pelvic floor exercises and using a bladder diary to understand the triggers and patterns of OAB.

In a clinical trial involving more than 200 men with OAB symptoms, adding behavioral therapy to pharmaceutical treatment was associated with significant improvements in symptoms and quality of life compared with either behavioral therapy or medication alone.

Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses specifically on the psychological aspects of OAB. CBT often involves strategies such as reshaping thinking about OAB and learning to calm the mind and body.

In a involving 10 women with drug-resistant OAB, CBT improved urinary symptoms and led to significant improvements in both anxiety and depression.

Other Ways Our Body Reacts To Anxiety

Can anxiety and stress cause very frequent urination?

And besides frequently peeing, there are other ways our bodies react to anxiety.

Demian Brown, a Toronto-based psychotherapist and registered clinical social worker, previously told Global News twitching of your face and body is a common symptom of anxiety.

When youre under stress, physiological things start to happen to the body, Brown said. Your adrenaline and noradrenaline levels increase as if your body is preparing for some kind of danger. That takes more blood away from your extremities, and puts it more in the middle of your body.

Brown added this type of response increases your muscle tone and prepares your body for what is perceived to come in its way.

READ MORE: How climate change can cause depression, anxiety  We will all be affected

For some, anxiety or stress can also cause diarrhea. According to Verywell Health, when were stressed, diarrhea is our bodys response to handling it.

When you come across something that you perceive as threatening, your body reacts with a variety of physical changes: heart rate and respiration increase, your muscles tense up, blood is directed toward your extremities, and most relevant to the current discussion, your colon contractions speed up. In some cases, this increase in colon activity can result in the symptom of diarrhea, the site noted.

Folk added anxiety or stress can even shut the digestive system down, and some people can feel constipated as well.

Another common response is tightness in the throat.

Increases The Severity Of Anxiety Symptoms

found that male and female OAB patients who have more severe symptoms such as urgency, urinary incontinence and nocturia had higher levels of anxiety as compared to patients with minimal or no symptoms. These patients also had low levels of health-related quality of life as well as low work productivity. Anxiety causes your muscles to tense up which puts pressure on your bladder and makes you urinate more often. Practicing mindfulness-based stress reduction exercises reduces symptoms and helps improve the quality of life for individuals suffering from stress incontinence.

Common Causes Of Frequent Urination In Men

Do you find yourself rushing to the bathroom every 20 minutes? If yes, then this article is for you. Frequent urination in men is a commonly shared woe. Most men, especially in the age group of over 50 years, experience distressing symptoms associated with urination. In this article, we will explore the various reasons for frequent urination and ways to manage it. 

In the piece below, Dr Shalabh Agrawal, a leading urologist at the CK Birla Hospital, explains the reasons for frequent urination in males. 

Causes Of Frequent Urination

Your bladder naturally loses elasticity as you get older, which can lead to an increased need to urinate. Apart from this, other common causes of frequent urination include anxiety, the use of diuretics, drinking too much liquid, or drinking too much alcohol or caffeine. 

In addition to this, there are other serious causes of frequent urination. A number of conditions are associated with frequent or urgent urination that requires medical attention.

Diabetes: When your body needs to eliminate excess blood glucose, it causes excessive and frequent urination. The urgent need to urinate will also be accompanied by excessive thirst and hunger. 

Enlarged prostate: When the prostate gland becomes enlarged. The displaced size puts extra pressure on the bladder, causing more frequent needs to urinate. 

Overactive bladder: An overactive bladder usually results from another condition, such as diabetes or prostate cancer. 

Urinary tract infection: UTIs are the most common cause of frequent urination, and these are caused by a bacterial infection anywhere along the urinary tract. The inflammation caused by the infection increases pressure and irritation in the area, causing an urgency to go to the bathroom.

Stroke: It is common for stroke survivors to experience poor bladder control, and a commonly reported symptom is frequent urination or incontinence. 

The Effects Of The Stress Response

Apprehensive behavior activates the stress response, which causes the body to secrete stress hormones into the bloodstream where they travel to targeted spots to bring about specific physiological, psychological, and emotional changes.

These changes enhance the bodys ability to deal with a threatto either fight with or flee from itwhich is the reason this response is often referred to as the fight or flight response, the emergency response, or the fight, flight, or freeze response .

The stress response affects the body in many ways. Specific to frequent urination, the response:

  • Immediately voids the bowels and bladder of waste and the body of water through perspiration and urination. The body does this so that we dont have to stop in the middle of fighting or fleeing to go to the washroom. So as part of the emergency readiness process, the body causes a strong urge to void the bowels and bladder immediately after an emergency alarm has been triggered.
  • Relaxes the bladder and tightens sphincter muscles so that we dont have to stop to urinate when fighting or fleeing.
  • Increases heart rate, which can cause the kidneys to filter urea more quickly. As the bodys stress increases, so can the amount of urine produced, which can increase the urge, urgency, and frequency to urinate.
  • Increases metabolism, which also increases water filtration and urine production.

All of these emergency actions can interfere with normal urinary function and cause frequent urination symptoms.

Contributes To Sleep Disorders

Bladder and urination difficulties will make it difficult for you to sleep through the night and reduce your sleep quality and duration. This can result in a range of sleep disorders including insomnia and sleep apnea which in turn increase the risk of stress, anxiety and depression. Simple lifestyle modifications such as following a regular sleep routine, not drinking fluids for a couple of hours before bedtime and indulging in a relaxing pre-sleep activity such as meditation or a warm bath will help to reduce your risk of developing a sleep disorder.

Consider Alternative Treatment Options

In addition to the established treatment options for OAB, a variety of alternative treatments may help reduce symptom-related anxiety and stress.

The results of a 2020 randomized controlled trial involving 27 females revealed that laser acupuncture led to significant improvements in OAB symptoms and quality of life.

Researchers have also investigated electrical stimulation, which sends targeted electrical pulses to the muscles that control and support the bladder, for use in OAB treatment. A found that electrical stimulation, in combination with bladder training and biofeedback, significantly reduced the symptoms of OAB and improved quality of life.

How To Stop Frequent Urination In Men

The treatment of frequent urination depends upon the reason behind it. Your healthcare provider will aim to manage or treat the underlying cause leading to urinary symptoms. 

If you are passing urine frequently due to diabetes, your doctor will offer effective management of your blood sugar levels. If the same is caused due to an infection such as UTI, then you will be offered certain medications to treat the bacterial infection. 

Along with medication, your healthcare provider will help you regain bladder control through training and exercises. There are different forms of bladder training techniques used by doctors to control the constant urge to urinate male.

  • Kegel exercises: Kegel exercises are helpful in strengthening the muscles below the bladder and control urination. 
  • Bladder training: Your healthcare provider will assist you to train your bladder and control urination for longer than usual. 

What Exams And Tests Assess And Diagnose Frequent Urination

Why Anxiety Causes Frequent Urination?

Your doctor will perform a physical exam and will ask you questions about your medical history and medications you may be taking.

Your doctor may ask the following questions:

  • How many times in the day and night are you urinating?
  • Are there changes in the color of your urine? Do you have light or dark urine?
  • Do you have frequent pain, discomfort or a burning sensation while urinating?
  • Have you made any recent dietary changes?
  • Do you have other symptoms ?

Your doctor may order any of the following tests, depending on the findings of the physical exam and medical history.

  • and urine culture: These tests detect and measure various components of the urine. A urine culture can detect bacteria that may be the cause of a urinary tract infection .
  • : This noninvasive imaging test is used to visualize your kidneys and bladder to detect any structural abnormalities or tumors.
  • Cystometry: This test measures the pressure inside the bladder and checks for the possibility of muscle or nerve problems that may cause frequent urination.
  • : This is an invasive test that allows a doctor to look at the inside of the bladder and urethra using a thin, lighted instrument called a cystoscope.
  • Neurological tests: Diagnostic tests such as urodynamics, imaging, , and are procedures that help the doctor confirm or rule out the presence of a nerve disorder.

Is It Possible To Prevent Frequent Urination

  • Because there are so many different causes for frequent urination, there is no one way to prevent it.
  • Proper diet and avoiding excess fluids and foods that act as diuretics can reduce urinary frequency.
  • Kegel exercises can keep the pelvic-floor muscles well toned and may help stave off urinary frequency as one ages.
  • Discussing any concerning symptoms with your doctor as soon as they appear may allow for early treatment or may prevent worsening of symptoms.

Hyperstimulation Can Cause Over Active Bladder

While not a disease, Over Active Bladder is the name of a group of symptoms that affect urinary function, such as the sudden urge to urinate that seems difficult to control, incontinence, and frequent urination. OAB affects approximately 30 40 percent of North Americans.

Research has found that emotional problems, such as anxiety disorder, can cause and aggravate over active bladder. For instance:

OAB patients reported higher anxiety symptoms compared to controls. OAB patients with anxiety reported more severe OAB/incontinence symptoms, worse quality of life, and more psychosocial difficulties compared to OAB patients without anxiety. There are positive correlations between the severity of anxiety symptoms and OAB/incontinence symptoms.

While the exact science isnt settled about the reasons why emotional problems can contribute to OAB, two theories suggest:

  • The heightened autonomic nervous system activity can override normal nervous system communication between the bladder and brain causing the brain to generate a sense of urgency to urinate when the bladder isnt full, as we mentioned previously.

Any of the above reasons can cause a wide range of bladder and urination problems, including frequent urination.

Frequent urination during sleep hours is also common. Contributing factors include:

  • Hyperstimulation can cause an increase in resting metabolism even when sleeping. An increase in resting metabolism will cause the body to produce more urine than normal.

How Is Anxiety Related To Bladder Symptoms

To understand how anxiety and bladder symptoms are related, it helps to understand how emotions work on the body. If, for example, you were suddenly faced with a stressor, such as being chased by a dog, your emotions would generate a stress response in your body the fight or flight response. Among other things, you may notice your pulse pounding rapidly in your ears, that your mouth feels dry, you may feel a bit shaky and not hear much going on around you, and you may feel sweaty.

This is all the result of a cascade of hormones that the body releases to respond to an acutely stressful situation, preparing you to fight a danger or run away. These hormones also act on the bladder, causing the muscles to relax and the bladder to empty. This is why, in films or novels, you find that when a person gets scared they wet their pants.

When you suffer from anxiety, your fight or flight response tends to be activated when there is no clear danger present. On a neurobiological level, the need to urinate is controlled by three different nerve pathways. The first, the autonomic nervous system, manages involuntary control. Its two branches supply the internal sphincter and detrusor muscle respectively with nerves.

Keeping a diary of when you go to the bathroom, how much urine you pass when you get there, what medications you are on, what youve had to drink during the day, and any other pertinent surrounding situational factors can help your doctor zero in on the cause of your symptoms.

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