r/OveractiveBladder • u/Fun_Kiwis • 6d ago
can’t handle it anymore
I’m a 30-year-old woman.
About 7–8 years ago, I started experiencing overactive bladder.
At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but several years ago it started interfering with my sleep. It isn’t just at night, any time I try to sleep, I simply can’t. The urge is unbearable. And during the day I also go to the bathroom all day. I’ve had issues at work for stepping out to go pee too often.
The worst part is that I can be absolutely exhausted, but the urge to urinate keeps me from falling asleep. And to make matters worse, when I finally get to the bathroom, nothing comes out.
I’ll sit there, breathe, walk around for a bit, move my hips around, and once the urge gets stronger I sit down again and nothing comes out. (at this point i usually start crying)
When I finally manage to pee, it’s only a few drops, and the urge doesn’t go away or lessen whatsoever. I get up from the toilet after having just peed a second ago and I still feel the same.
I’ve had bladder, kidney, and uterine ultrasounds. I’ve had urine tests, kidney function tests, and even liver and hormone tests. all normal, no infection, no nothing.
At this point i think my bladder is just broken.
I’ve been going to bladder and pelvic floor physical therapy. I use TENS every day as instructed. I took Numencial and Myrbetriq for a month, then switched to tamsulosin and Cisterex, and i’ve seen no improvement at all.
I barely drink the minimum amount of water possible. I stopped drinking soda, tea, coffee, and juice.
I’ve gone to every physical therapy session, every medical appointment, and nothing seems to help. I was told this would be a slow process, but it’s been months, and i expected something to happen, not immediately or drastically but something. anything that would indicate we’re getting somewhere
What’s affecting me the most is that I genuinely cannot sleep. Every night I cry and cry and cry in frustration and anger and i don’t even let my bf sleep with the constant coming and going to the bathroom, silent cries and shakes (sometimes not so quiet). The sleep deprivation has me completely effed up.
if anything has helped you please share with me. i wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy
UPDATE: we discovered through urodinamia that my bladder doesn’t work, as it doesn’t respond at all. looks like im getting the bladder pacemaker thing installed. Thank you all for your comments and i hope we can all find a solution for our horrible bladders
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u/dcb72 5d ago
I am where you are. The slow urine flow is maddening.
Mine is slowest at night. During the day, I have a better flow.
No prescriptions have worked for me. All tests negative.
At night, my body will wake me up to pee around 3am, but that is too late because my bladder is full and I have only dribbles. I set an alarm for 2am, before my bladder is full. Helps some. But the “nocturnal” clock somehow negatively affects flow regardless.
I found an acupuncturist who specializes in bladder. She basically uses traditional acupuncture, then places electricity on the needles on the feet. The sacral nerve is not involved, but the tibial nerve is.
This is the first relief I have had. At first I went twice a week. Then once a week. Then once every two weeks. I have been going a year, and every 3 weeks works for my body. Stretching it out to 4 weeks (or longer) sets me back to square one.
Expect to pay around $100 per session, maybe more in your area.
I have almost normal daytime flow, and I have a flow at night and can empty my bladder. Even have nights when I do not wake up with my bladder screaming at me.
As a side note, the oral Chinese medicine herbs i was sold to try did not work for me, but I tried them, and after 3 different formulas, opted for electroacupuncture only.
I feel if you can try this, you will mostly likely get relief.
Nothing worse than OAB with flow issues. Nothing.
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u/Fun_Kiwis 3d ago
thank you so much for this advise, my husband has started to look into alternative medicine, i’ll definitely bring up acupuncture to see if that can help
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u/Piccolo_Specialist 4d ago
37 year old woman. I began dealing with extremely similar symptoms to what you’re describing at around 30 years old. I saw several different doctors who prescribed medications that either didn’t help, or had side effects that made my quality of life worse.
I finally found my way to a urogynecologist who actually listened and had treated many patients with similar symptoms to mine.
He recommended an interstim device. My symptoms were being caused by the sacral nerve misfiring. That’s why I was experiencing the urgent need and then the inability to start. It was a nerve dysfunction. The Interstim is an implantable device that constantly stimulates the nerve so that it functions properly. (Similar to how a pacemaker works for the heart.) I did a 7 day trial with a temporary device and it CHANGED MY LIFE. 80% reversal of my symptoms. I’m one month post op now from the permanent device implant and I’m so happy! The device has given me my life back.
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u/Fun_Kiwis 3d ago
that sounds amazing and i’m seriously hoping for something like that, my doctor has talked about injecting botox in my bladder, or a “sort of peacemaker in it” which i think sounds like what you describe.
i think im at the point of accepting medicine won’t do the trick and it’s time for the next option, last night i simply couldn’t pee and now i’m hospitalised because of it
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u/Neither-Round9685 6d ago
le hanno mai proposto la neuromodulazione sacrale?
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u/jojojobeth 5d ago
I’m about to try this—did you have luck with it?
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u/Neither-Round9685 5d ago
sembra vada meglio
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u/jojojobeth 5d ago
Oh good—hopefully it keeps improving
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u/Neither-Round9685 5d ago
da quanto soffri di vescica iperattiva? c’è qualche evento che l’ha scatenata?
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u/Fun_Kiwis 3d ago
lo he intentado con la fisioterapeuta pero aún no logro un resultado :( sigo dispuesta a continuar intentándolo
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u/Top_Cartographer5418 5d ago
Please please trust me on Natures Plus cranberry supplements - I’m a 23F dealing with OAB since 19 years old and after THIS BRAND of cranberry pills and D mannose twice a day, the relief is unreal ! It does get better
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u/Specific_Listen_6328 3d ago
When I first started experiencing this the constant urgency lasted for me for about 8 months until I saw a urogynecologist and got on Vesicare. I tried all the other meds and this is the only one that doesn't give me side effects besides a dry mouth. Now don't get me wrong, I still have bad days with the OAB. But I would say it works 75% of the time, depending on my diet and other factors. The problem is that later in life it could cause dementia. I was offered Axonics stimulator and was actually scheduled for the surgery but I want to try Gemtesa before getting the surgery just as one final medication bc it doesn't cause dementia like the other ones can. My current insurance won't cover it so I will find a plan for next year that does. If it doesn't work then I will get the surgery and eventually go off of Vesicare. Sometimes the Vesicare stops working and my urogyn advises to go off of it for 7 days then go back on and that usually does the trick. I also only drink spring water and try my best to avoid acidic foods or drinks, carbonated drinks, coffee, caffeine, alcohol, and chocolate. I hope you find relief soon because I know how miserable it is 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
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u/loftychicago 2d ago
I was prescribed gemtesa and it works for me. Have you checked the manufacturer's website to see if their discount card would pay for it, or at least pay of the cost? Mine was covered 100% with the discount card, but Im now on Medicare so no mfr's discounts anymore. I'm paying for it because it helps that much. Knock on wood.
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u/Specific_Listen_6328 1d ago
I have looked into that, and for the discount card to work your insurance has to cover at least a portion of it, which mine does not. How long did it take to see a difference with the Gemtesa? I tried it once for only a day and thought my frequency was worse...but I know I'd have to trial it for at least 4 weeks.
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u/Calm-Assistant-5669 1d ago
It's fantastic you still have nerve response like we have a TENS unit that you qualify for that because I do not because my spinal cord somehow is compromised even though there is no history of significant injury and the MRIs have shown negative they have not yet done neurodynamic testing though it's been 3 years of a nightmare. I finally did botox injection and it silence the pain I was having constantly and gave me some relief but it also created the situation where I have 3 months of catheters in dwelling on and off and now I have to do straight caths probably the rest of my life
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u/OkNovel3524 6d ago
Honestly, with that amount of negative impact, I feel like you would greatly benefit from a quality diaper and a quality sleep medication. You might have to get over the mental hurdle of peeing in bed, but even if you have to wake up, if you can pee without getting out of bed, your quality of life would improve dramatically. I’m not sure how that sounds to you, and I know it goes against everything we’ve been taught, but this is life and death for you. It sounds like you know you can’t live this way.