Overactive bladder, abbreviated OAB, is a condition causing frequent, urgent needs to urinate whether your bladder is full or not. The spasms are uncomfortable and the leaking is embarrassing. Anyone can get OAB because it has many causes.

Here’s how it all works: your kidneys are blood filters. With each heartbeat, drops of runoff waste are secreted down tubes into the bladder where the urine is then stored. Surrounding the bladder is muscle that contracts when the time is right. At the base of the bladder are two sphincter muscles to hold the urine in. Otherwise you’d be continuously dribbling day and night. Nerves conduct messages to signal the bladder to contract at the same time the sphincters relax. And out the urine goes! With OAB, the bladder muscles are hyper and put the system out of sync. Here are some recommendations to discuss with your healthcare provider:

1. Kegel Exercises and other exercises for OAB
You know that general muscle fitness is part of any health program. In the case of OAB, abdominal muscle strengthening helps control your body’s trunk. Dr. Kegel discovered that exercising muscles of the pelvic sling supporting the abdominal organs radically improved leakage from OAB (as well as the intensity of sexual response). The basic approach is to locate the specific muscles inside your pelvis, learn how to contract and release them correctly, and then practice daily.

2. Quit smoking
You know that smoking is bad for your health. The inhaled gases contain toxic substances that your blood absorbs. Nicotine irritates the bladder, initiating more spasms. The smoke generates coughing, forcing urine to leak.

3. Botox for OAB
Who would have thought that a popular beauty treatment is also successfully used for OAB: yes, OAB Botox treatment! Botox relaxes bladder muscles that have tightened up with overuse.

4. Shed excess weight
Studies show that there is a relationship between excess weight and OAB. Specifically it involves the inside fat that you can’t see. Abdominal fat crowds the diaphragm, stomach, intestines, and bladder. Extra weight pushes down on the lower pelvic organs, triggering a fullness response in the bladder nerves that makes the muscles spasm.

5. Medications that relax the bladder
There are several drugs available that relax bladder muscle spasms. All drugs, whether natural or manufactured, have side effects as well as potential interactions with other pharmaceuticals. Some generics used for overactive bladder, accompanied by a commonly known brand name, include oxybutynin (Ditropan), tolterodine (Detrol), darifenacin (Enablex), and solifenacin (Vesicare). These come in oral tablets, although oxybutynin can also be ordered in the form of cream or a skin patch. Myrabegron (Myrbetriq) is another medication that acts in a different way in the body, as does estrogen.