Article: An overactive bladder (OAB) is a syndrome which leads to an immediate and unstoppable need to urinate. Common symptoms of the syndrome include:  Urinary urgency (primary symptom) Urgency incontinence (not making it to the toilet quickly enough) High urinary frequency and nocturia (getting up at night to go) Your doctor will help you officially diagnose OAB as the underlying cause. Only 2% of men who suffer from OAB experience regular symptoms of incontinence, so your doctor will want to exhaust other potential causes.  Your doctor will likely perform a physical exam, as well as ordering  urinalysis to test your urine and potentially even a cystoscopy in complicated cases.  Findings also suggest the overactivity of the detrusor muscle, which is found in the wall of the bladder. Treatment involves behavioral therapy with a timed-voiding regimen. A timed voiding regimen involves going to urinate at set times—for example, every four hours—whether or not you actually feel the need to empty your bladder.  This is a bladder retraining regimen, and a form of cognitive behavior therapy. Trying to train the bladder to empty at certain times to prevent incontinence. A recent report has shown that biofeedback-assisted behavioral therapy (timed voiding) was shown to be superior to pharmacologic therapy with Oxybutynin or placebo in patients receiving treatment for detrusor instability.  Biofeedback is when a patient is attached to some electrodes that measure their subjective, unconscious physiologic responses. That way they can see in plain sight when their body is having a physiologic response (such as the urge to urinate, and attend to their needs) versus a “false alarm.” This ability to see factual data rather than guessing increases their accuracy of judging their bodies cues. There are some pharmacologic interventions, specifically Ditropan, which is dosed as 5 mg twice daily or 5 mg extended release tablet once daily. Combination therapies, using combination of behavioral, pharmacologic, and biofeedback are common.

What is a summary?
Identify the symptoms of an overactive bladder. See your doctor. Use timed voiding. Ask your doctor about potential medications.