The weird panic of OAB..

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Anyone have any advice or experience the same thing?

I can not seem to get past the mini panic attack that happens when the urgency hits and I don’t know if I will get to a bathroom in time. This has happened to me since the very beginning and still bothers me..

I have been managing OAB with incontinence for 3-4 years now. My OAB/incontinence fluctuates so there are some weeks I go without accidents and there are other weeks that I couldn’t make it to the bathroom in time if my life depended on it. I have come to terms with my bladder issues a long time ago, I wear protection everyday so I won’t have to worry. However, my body’s involuntary response is almost always to desperately try to hold it. My heartbeat gets elevated, I hold my breath, etc. and I have to like have a conversation with myself to calm down.

 

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Just let the urine flow out of your body calmly as long as your protection is sufficient to hold it until you are able to change whatever protection you use.

 

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I used to be the same way but realized there was no sense in letting it get to me I couldn't control it and unless my pull up leaked no one else knows

 

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I find that it is less likely to leak if I let it go a little at a time. If I hold it for a long time, it comes out too fast in a big gush that can't be contained.

 

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Me too. Good point.

 

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I can totally relate to the feeling you describe. I have oab issues more or less all my life, and was diagnosed with oab about ten years ago at the age of 34. It is a natural body reaction to try and hold your pee no matter how much pain is causes. Just letting yourself go is against that feeling and is often only a relief for a limited time. To me the feeling sometimes comes 2 or 3 times a hour, finding myself on the toilet trying to squeeze out every drop of urine thats in my bladder. The panic doesn't decrease, even if it happens that often and i know my bladder is as good as empty.

I can't without protective underwear and it makes me feel more save but it helps in no way dealing with the pain. Trying to relax and calm my body only sometimes works, and only to get to the loo without running.
Did you try any medication or therapy yet?

 

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I've been dealing with this since age 12 and I still have that mini panic when i wet :/ it's so weird. you have to like tell yourself to breath and not react

 

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@Martoli I recognise the feeling. It was even noticed when I recently had urodynamics, they say that as I feel the bladder contraction coming on, my whole pelvic floor muscles tighten. Phil

 

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I am new to this thread, so I don't know what you have tried. But, I'll just put this out there. If you have not received pelvic floor physical therapy, please give it a try. There are many strategies that one can use to ease the burden and panic associated with OAB. Peroneal nerve stimulation (PNS) has been effective with many people with your diagnosis. Also "quick flicks", behavior modification strategies, reducing bladder irritants, and more. I would suggest you request a referral to a pelvic floor physical therapist (physiotherapist, if you're not from the USA). Hope this helps you.

 

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I've been dealing with this since age 12 and I still have that mini panic when i wet :/ it's so weird. you have to like tell yourself to breath and not react

Yes! I always wear protection and even when I’m home I still get weird and slightly short of breath. I’ve been sick recently so my bladder has been completely shot for two weeks straight.

 

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I can relate with this feeling... I know I will not be able to hold back but most of the time I try until I feel pain or can't hold it any longer. I have been able to at times recently to start just letting the flow pass and just control the flow enough not to have a leak which is so much better.

 

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Wear adequate protection and just let it go! It's not worth stressing out over!

 

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You are not alone for sure! I thought maybe I was but as I read more experiences from others, the more I realize I am not alone. I am 45 now, but about 10-12 years ago I found I was getting small spasms and using the toilet many times a day. I would find wet underwear and finally it started to show on my pants. I tried hiding it with TP, then ladies pads. Finally I had to tell my wife and find a product better suited. Now I have moments if not seconds from the start of that feeling of flutter in my gut, until I just void. The use of diapers has been a positive in that I can just relax rather than getting anxious, but negative as here I am an adult wearing diapers!

 

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Lots of adults wear diapers! Don't let that bring you down. I love my diapers! They prevent me from wetting my bed and peeing on the floor at the grocery store!

 

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Every once in a while I get these bladder spasms and all hell breaks loose. The annoying little pain that I get from it sends me in a full fledged diaper flooding. It's the caffeine intake that causes the spasms. So, I lay off the soda for a while. I still need my 2 cups of coffee in the morning to get started for the day. My diaper takes the brunt of the storm.

Diapers can be a man's best friend.

 

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mmmmmm, caffeine!

 

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I've been dealing with oab and urge incontinence for 1,5 years now. I can remember the first time I realised I was about to per myself on the platform waiting for my train to approach. Thankfully, I was already wearing protection at that time but I was still positive ALL the people around me knew what was going on. I'm sure I was beet red.
Since then it just calmed. I mean the panic, not my incontinence. If I owe myself in public, that is it, I wear my diapers, no biggie anymore. (Still have the panic feeling with #2, though. Thankfully, it's not really common.)
For me it got easier with time. We are all different, but hope once you find a product you can fully trust, this feeling of panic will ease up for you too.

 

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Hi Petya,
When you wrote about the train station it reminded me of when I was in college waiting for the MTA bus metro train to arrive.
No bathrooms anywhere and if a bus was a no show you would be stranded for another half hour or more waiting for your ride to college, work or home. Met some nice people while waiting and riding metro (and some interesting ones). Sure don’t miss the waiting anymore too many times ended up soaked or worse.

 

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@cosmo040

Hi Cosmo, I don't have OAB so I cannot relate to yours or others panic feeling associated with that. I suspect though that it might be similar to when I am out kayaking and after good and proper hydration and being out on th water for a few hours the bladder does tend to fill up and I realize that I had not been paying attention to it as closely as a I should have and need to find a pull out place with a bathroom or find a shore side overgrown area to go pee (benefit of being a guy, easy to pee in the bushes). Or a few times when I've been driving on a long trip (talking 15-16 hour drives) and late into the drive again not really paying attention to my bladdder's needs and condition and then realizing I have to pee bad. Then the panic, different panic feeling than yours I am sure, but a panic feeling of when is the next rest area or exit to find a bathroom. Not always as easy as finding a place to pee on the side of a river or lake in a wilderness area.

So I can relate in a way and know that fear feeling of am I about to pee my pants?

JT

 

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@jrpoorman

Hey Jim, Good point. Sometimes gotta plan your public transit trips around your bathroom needs. Was in New Orleans once and the road for the normal bus route was all tore up for construction and closed so they had an altered route and apparently not as many busses running the route. Waited 55 minutes for a bus one Sunday night and there were so many people waiting for it (near Canal St) that we filled the bus. At the next stop there were jsut as many people and since there was no room and no one pulled the cord for a stop request the drive drove right past the stop. I suspect the peopel waiting were very upset, but nothing the driver really could do. There was no more room not even standing on the bus. Reading your post I wonder if anyone at that second stop was having concerns about their bladder having waited so long and now having to wait for who knows how much longer. Hope everyone made it home dry.