Bladder Spasm Treatment

Bladder spasms can not only be painful, but can also cause embarrassing episodes of urinary incontinence and leakage. Though there are a variety of treatments for this condition, bladder spasms must first be recognized and their causes identified before proper treatment can be administered.

Recognizing a Bladder Spasm

• A normally functioning bladder will fill with urine gently, and your urge to urinate will progress slowly and pain-free. However when you have bladder spasms, also known as an overactive bladder, the urge to urinate will often be severe and sudden, as your bladder muscle squeezes involuntarily, releasing bladder without warning. Many women who have experienced them have described the feeling as a burning sensation, and have compared it to menstrual cramps.

Treatment

• The course of treatment depends on the cause of the bladder spasms, for which there are many. The most common cause is a urinary tract infection (UTI). Bladder spasms are also a common complication of catheter use after surgery.

  Some nervous system disorders can also contribute to an overactive bladder and include Parkinson's disease, brain damage caused by stroke, cerebral palsy and diabetic neuropathy.

  Surgery involving the lower abdominal floor can either weaken the bladder muscles or damage the nerves which control the bladder. These surgeries include Caesarean sections, prostate removals and hysterectomies.

  Finally, your diet may also play a role in the amount of bladder spasms you experience. Citrus and acidic foods such as tomatoes, pickled foods and oranges and grapefruits can irritate the lining of your bladder. Foods with chemicals and preservatives may also have the same effect and include alcohol, chocolate and caffeinated beverages. Spicy foods can also contribute to this problem.

Treatment Options

• Ruling out food as a source of your bladder problems may be the best place to begin. Keep a food diary of everything you eat and when you experience spasms. As you begin to notice a correlation between certain foods and the episodes you have, eliminate those foods from your diet.

  Kegel exercises help strengthen your pelvic floor and bladder muscles, helping prevent urinary incontinence and leakage. To practice, stop urinating midstream while going to the bathroom. This will allow you to feel the muscle you need to exercise. To perform, squeeze this muscle ten times, three times a day, holding each squeeze for a count of ten.

  Medications are also used for treating bladder spasms. The most common is tolterodine, which belongs to the family of medications called anticholinergics. These help relax the bladder and reduce the number of spasms you experience.

  Finally there is electrical stimulation. The most common is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), which sends electrical pulses to the bladder through the skin via patches applied to the skin. These pulses increase blood flow to the bladder muscle, strengthening it and reducing bladder spasms.