Overactive bladder or OAB is categorized as a physical syndrome since it can cause sleep problems such as sleep disruption and physical discomfort. In the country alone, there are 30% of men and 40% of women show symptoms of OAB but most don’t speak to their doctor about it. OAB symptoms can vary from individual to individual, there are some early warning symptoms of an overactive bladder that people should know which can point to OAB. These are as follows.

Sudden urges
People who have OAB have a very strong urge to urinate all the time. This is not caused because the person has waited for a long time to go to the bathroom in which case the urge to urinate becomes stronger. The urge to urinate can even occur when the person has just come back from urinating. This is one of the early symptoms that can arise suddenly because the urge is so strong and it can’t be ignored. Some people develop urinary incontinence whereby they are unable to hold the urge to urinate until they reach the bathroom.

Frequency
One of the early warning symptoms of overactive bladder is how many times a person urinates in 24 hours. People who have OAB have the tendency to urinate at least eight times or more. Although, it is vital to note that a person with OAB has less urine in their bladder when compared to someone without OAB. The urination frequency of people with OAB is not connected to consuming fluids. People with OAB will need to urinate often whether they consumed a lot of fluids or not. They are unable to stay in social situations for a long time.

Urge incontinence
Urge incontinence occurs when the urine leaks involuntarily due to the inability to control the bladder. Those people who have OAB are not aware that they need to urinate as the urge suddenly rises. Although the leakage consists of some urine drops, in some cases people with OAB can have urine leakage of many ounces. The urge incontinence starts when there is a contraction of the bladder muscle that cannot be stopped. This occurs when the urine is filling in the bladder and it happens suddenly. This symptom can be quite stressful because it can happen anywhere.

Nocturia
This is a condition that causes people to wake up in the middle of the night to urinate. This can happen two times or more during the course of the night. Nocturia causes sleep disruptions and it is one of the early warning symptoms of overactive bladder. When people are sleeping, the body doesn’t produce as much urine as it does when they are awake and so for normal people, there is no requirement to wake up to urinate at night. However, for people with OAB, they need to wake up several times to go and urinate.

The OAB symptoms above can begin all of a sudden or they can gradually worsen over time. OAB symptoms that occur suddenly are usually due to childbirth or surgery. When pelvic floor muscles deteriorate then they can lead to the gradual worsening of the OAB symptoms. The sooner people speak to their doctors, the faster they can get treatment. This can help decrease stress and help get their life back to normal.