Recently I was diagnosed with an overactive bladder, something that one in six adults across the UK suffer from, but something that people take an average of seven years to see a doctor about. All that's happening with an overactive bladder is a muscle spasm, the bladder is a muscle and it has a spasm which makes you feel like you're going to pee yourself. I've been suffering from this for seven months and this blog is my story. It's, hopefully, accurate information about the disorder and also my own personal experience as I get treatment for it.
I went to the seaside in April. I love the seaside, but it's two hours away on a good traffic day. Not a problem, got in the car in the morning and off we went. Arrived at the seaside and was fine, noticed that I needed to pee a bit more throughout the day, but I'd had fizzy drinks etc, so I didn't think anything of it. After a great day we went home, about an hour into the journey, I needed the loo. Nothing wrong with that, I could hold it, or so I thought. 5 minutes later, so so so so so so so so desperate. Driving over the bumpy road made it worse. I was so desperate that I was saying to my boyfriend "You'll still love me if I pee in your car won't you?" hmmmmmm romance isn't dead. Never have I been so angry as the moment when he missed the turn for the service station. Eventually he had to pull up on a slip road and I had to pee at the side of the road, an experience that was both embarrassing and I got prickled by the bushes, not fun.
After this little jaunt I started to go to the toilet every 40 minutes, sometimes more frequently. There was no way I was living like that, so I went to see the doctor, something I REALLY hate doing. Without a lot of questioning, she gave me trimethoprim, an antibiotic for water infections. I was a girl in my early twenties, I'd got a boyfriend, there's a history of infections in the family and therefore it must be a water infection. I took the three day course, they didn't work, test results came back, not an infection. Back to the doctors, same story, not an infection but they gave me trimethoprim again. Back again, I told him it was not an infection, but he gave me more trimethoprim. He did send me for an ultrasound on my bladder though.
After waiting weeks for an ultrasound, I finally went and found the hospital staff fairly unhelpful. You have to go with a full bladder, but when your body is telling you your bladder is full when it isn't, that's fairly tricky. I had to explain over and over again that that's why I was there, I can't tell. They made me drink a jug of water and eventually did the scan. The scan was to tell if my bladder was emptying properly, which it was. No further action.
By this time it was summer, no change in my situation. I went back to the doctors again, not an infection, by this time every time I heard those words I would genuinely cry. I so wanted it to be an infection. What else could it be? No other avenues had even been mentioned. This doctor said that I should make sure I'm washing myself properly, something that I have always done, but ok, anything to make myself better. He didn't suggest I dump my boyfriend, but he was just saying that his daughter had a similar problem and when she changed boyfriends the problem went away. Thanks for that helpful information, Dr.
I give up. I couldn't face it anymore. It wasn't an infection, I knew that, therefore it seemed like I'd just have to live with it. Problem was, I have a life to lead, I'm 22, I'm a student, I have two hour lectures to sit through, I have a big pitch coming up. I had to tell my lecturers that I had this problem. That's embarrassing, but they were so understanding and supportive. One of them told me not to give up and to go back to the doctors one more time. I did and finally I got some help.
He suggested that it was an overactive bladder, he told me it was common. Please please please, if you are suffering like I was, suggest to your doctor that maybe it could be an overactive bladder. If it's so common they should really be suggesting that to you, but if they don't, just drop them the hint. I got referred to the urologist (took weeks, but at least I knew I was going to see a specialist who might be able to help me). It took minutes for him to diagnose me with an overactive bladder and to give me some tablets and some bladder training exercises for it.
I've been on Vesicare for three weeks now and they take up to six weeks to work, I have good days and bad days, but after seven months and all that struggle, even though they're not working amazingly yet, I know where I can go for help. I know that there are people out there who can help. And I know that what I have has a name, is treatable and is common.
Overactive bladder shatters your confidence, you worry constantly about where the next loo is. You don't think shall I go out? You think, if I go out there might not be a close toilet and there could be a queue (queues become your nemesis along with any sort of journey and the cinema (all those people looking directly at you thinking she's gone to the toilet twice during this film already, because of course everyone is really bothered about the frequency that you go to the loo and not the film))
I've found that the best thing to do is enjoy life. Force yourself to go out, don't be afraid to tell people that you've got a problem (don't shout it from the roof tops, but don't think that no one else has ever had an embarrassing problem). Be persistant, go to the doctors, go again and again and again and don't be afraid to suggest seeing a urologist if that doctor doesn't know what the problem is. Do not put up with the problem, there is help available go and find it and enjoy your life!
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