www.incontinentsupport.org

Hello,

So...I thought I was getting a handle on the OAB up until my hours changed at my job and now I have to leave earlier in the morning. The problem is, I drink 1 mug of green tea before I leave. By the time I get to work, my bladder is full, and I have the urge to go several times. Before (when I would go to work later in the day), I had plenty of time to void the green tea out of my system prior to arriving at work and didn't need any bathroom breaks there. So now it's back to wearing pads. But the strange thing is, while I make several bathroom trips in the morning for 1 mug of green tea, at night I drink a beer and other fluids (lemonade, ice water) and I have no urge to go from 4pm until the next morning!!!

Anyone else mainly have morning incontinence?

Sadly my bladder has no sense of time..... Lately I’ve been close to free flow but is improving a bit recently! Yah for me!!!

Tea and coffee can be diuretic.
Try to drink something else and see if you notice any difference.

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I want to join the bowel movement....

@Ellyn I guess I'm thankful that my bladder is somewhat predictable. I know I will need 2 bathroom trips after 1 mug of green tea. And I know that I have key in lock syndrome so when I get to the front door I'm psychologically triggered to go again.

@optimist I know, caffeine is a no-no! It's just one of my few treats every day that I look forward to. I've tried hot chocolate and same thing. I react to the teeniest bits of caffeine it seems.

Hi icgirl,

I think this is not unusual and happen also to me. I have a job where I normaly start late - but if I travel I have also to leave early in the morning. My trick is to skip the breakfast and drinks at home and have it later at the airport or on the train where toilets are in reach. On one hand I can sleep longer if I have my breakfast on the trip, on the other this works mostly fine for me without accidents. But to be honest I need to wear protection anyway if I'm on the way, because a traffic jam or a long cue can ruin this approach quickly. The point is that I feel much better when I make it to the toilet and deferring the breakfast is a low price for this - at last for me.

I'm not sure if this is a way for you but maybe you can drink the tea at work - not sure if this would help.

@michael_dahlke I think you're right and I will have to wait to drink my tea later in the day. It's probably for the best as I have a long commute to work and like you said, there could potentially be a traffic jam in which case I will have an accident with a full bladder. It's so disappointing though b/c I have grown up drinking a cup of tea every morning as a ritual. It is one of my only treats as I do not snack during the day and rarely eat sweets.

I'm considering starting off w/ half a mug to see if that makes a difference. Logically, it should cut my bathroom trips in half?

It's so frustrating! I wish they could find a cure for urge incontinence but I don't think it's well understood still, being a complex problem with physical and psychological roots. I've done so much research on the bladder and haven't come up with much. I know for women they say declining estrogen is linked to bladder issues.

@icgirl I completely understand your frustration and it’s often the same for me. I had changed a lot of my eating and drinking habbits since the beginning of my problem and luckily things went a lot better - so it might be an option to think about this.

If it comes to hormones I would be very carefull - I think at the moment the knowledge about how the body is balancing this is probably as well known as the causes of OAB. My wife decided in the end against it (menopausal symptoms) and used natural medicines. In case of OAB it might be worse trying also acupuncture, bach flowers or Causticum Hahnemanni D 4/D 6,Hyosciamus niger, Pulsatilla. Especialy if there are no physical defect diagnosed the natural medication can be pretty successful - even if you don’t believe in it...

@michael_dahlke Thanks I will try to look into those treatments and see if they're available in the US. I'm just not sure I believe in homeopathy. I do take many vitamins in the hopes that if my overall health is good, this problem will improve - but the incontinence really hasn't responded.

The weird thing is, all my life I would drink a cup of tea and never required 2-3 bathroom trips (w/ an almost full bladder) each time. In the past, I have worked in places in which I did not even know what the bathroom looked like because I never had to use it for 8 hours! In fact, I used to hate using public bathrooms but now I'm always thankful when I see one! Is it possible to be urinating massive quantities from a touch of caffeine?

Homeopathy is nothing. Whether or not you believe in it, it's nothing. It's water or sugar tankers that you pretend have medicine in them. Every large blinded medical study to ever evaluate it finds no effect, or worse, finds there just substituting real medicine without labeling it.

Don't use homeopathy. At best it's a waste of money.

Do you drink much at work after the green tea?
If I drank a beer and other stuff at night and didn't need to pee till morning, it's a sure sign I'm dehydrated.