How to Retrain the Bladder

Bladder control issues affect many women and are often the result of childbirth or menopause. Urge incontinence and a sense of frequency are some of the complaints which can affect every aspect of your life. Many times simple bladder control problems can be improved or corrected if you learn to retrain your bladder. If you are always looking for the closest bathroom, try the following steps.

Instructions

• 1

  Rule out disease as the source of your urinary symptoms. Ask your physician to run tests to make sure an infection is not present before starting to retrain your bladder. Only train during the waking hours when you have more control. If you need to get up at night, continue to do so.

• 2

  Empty your bladder when you first get up in the morning. Decide how often you usually go to the bathroom and wait that amount of time before you empty your bladder again. If you normally go every hour, wait the full hour before you go, even if you have the urge to go sooner. Even if you do not feel the urge at the end of the hour, empty your bladder anyway. The idea is to retrain your bladder, and to do this, you must be consistent.

• 3

  Extend the interval between bathroom visits by 15 minutes for the first week. If you feel comfortable after that, continue to lengthen the time. This process may take several weeks before you see improvement. Eventually you may be able to wait several hours before you feel the urge to go.

• 4

  Learn to perform the Kegel exercise to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. You must do this procedure correctly for it to make a difference. Find detailed instructions on the Mayo Clinic website.

• 5

  Start over again if you are unable to wait the full length of time between voiding. Sometimes it takes a little longer, but be persistent and do not get discouraged.