Time Voiding or Bladder Training
Providing you with an effective treatment approach for urinary incontinence.
Bladder training can be prescribed as the sole method of treatment or used in conjunction with behavioral and lifestyle modifications.
Behavioral modifications for urinary incontinence and an overactive bladder may include the elimination of bladder irritants from your diet such as caffeine and spices, management of fluid intake, weight control and normal voiding intervals.
Controlling your bladder can be a complex process. Urine is made in your kidneys and flows into your bladder where it is stored. A muscle helps to keep the urine in your bladder during that filling process. There are a multitude of reasons why the pelvic muscles may become weak and not function properly, causing you to become incontinent.
You may have a feeling of urgency, or frequency and feel the need to urinate all the time, or may have urge incontinence if you can not make it to the toilet in time. There are medications and surgery available to help improve your quality of life, but bladder training is often used as the first step.
Retraining Technique
Bladder retraining, or timed voiding, is a technique to train your body into a more normal pattern of voiding, which can help decrease the problems of urgency, frequency and incontinence. The normal interval between voiding during the day is usually 2 – 4 hours.
During bladder retraining, timed intervals are implemented to teach and train your bladder into a new voiding pattern. Urge suppression techniques are used to calm the urge in order to wait to go to the bathroom until the next scheduled voiding interval. During the training period, it is important to be consistent.
A common tool used during bladder training is a bladder diary. This diary helps you record various things about your bladder function, such as the frequency of urination, the volume of your urine and when urine leaks. You may start by holding urine for 10-minute intervals. The goal throughout this training process is to gradually increase the length of time between voiding intervals. Your bladder diary will not only assist the you in keeping track of voiding intervals but also lifestyle habits that may contribute to the symptoms of incontinence.