Overactive Bladder (OAB)

Symptoms:  The term Overactive Bladder is used to describe a collection of symptoms.  A patient may have one or more of these symptoms.  OAB symptoms include:

• A sudden, intense urge to urinate (urinary urgency), sometimes followed by the loss of urine (urge incontinence).
• Urinating more than 8 times daily or twice at night (urinary frequency).

Cause: OAB is generally caused by bladder muscles that are overly sensitive or overactive.  This overactivity is caused by damage to nervous system or to the nerves and muscles associated with bladder. While the cause of the nerve damage is often unidentified, it can result from Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, stroke or injury.  Urinary urgency, urinary frequency or urge incontinence may also be present in people as a result of interstitial cystitis or post-radical prostectomy.

Prevalence: It is estimated that over 16% of the adult population have one or more of these symptoms.*

Treatments: A variety of treatments are available including behavior modification, pelvic muscle strengthening, medications and neuromodulation. Outpatient neuromodulation with Urgent PC provides a minimally-invasive alternative without the side-effects of drugs or comorbidities of surgery.

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* Stewart, W.F., Rooyen, J.B.V., Cundiff, G.W., Abrams, P., Herzog, A.R., Corey, R., et al. (2003). Prevalence and burden of overactive bladder in the United States. World J Urol, 20, 327-336.

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