Overactive bladder (OAB) brings sudden, strong urges to urinate, frequent trips day and night, and sometimes leakage before you reach the bathroom. Lots of adults have it, and age alone does not explain it.
What can be behind it
Strokes, MS and other nerve disorders can drive it. So can a pelvic floor weakened by pregnancy or time, infection, stones, some prescriptions and heavy fluid intake. Often no single cause is found, and treatment still helps.
Working out the cause
We start with your history, medicines and fluid habits, an exam and a urine test. Next, you may keep a bladder diary and have a scan of what is left after voiding.
Treatment options
Treatment is stepwise: habit and bladder training, pelvic floor therapy, then medicine. When those are not enough, procedures such as bladder Botox injections and sacral nerve stimulation are options, and at Sandy Springs they can be done in the same building as your visits.
Marc Greenstein, DO and Herman Bagga, MD, FACS treat overactive bladder at Sandy Springs. More at Advanced Urology: overactive bladder.