Why do I feel like I constantly need to urinate?

A persistent need to urinate can occur with overactive bladder, urinary infection, bladder pain syndrome and a number of pelvic-floor or other conditions.

 

Importantly, the sensation of urgency does not necessarily mean that the bladder is actually full.

 

A useful assessment therefore looks beyond frequency alone.

 

For example:

 

• Are you passing large or small amounts?

• Is there pain or pressure?

• Is the urgency worse when the bladder fills?

• Do you feel that you haven't completely emptied?

• Are you waking repeatedly during the night?

• Does stress/tiredness make the urgency worse?

• Do bowel symptoms occur at the same time?

• Are there pelvic or sexual symptoms?

• Does the pattern change with your menstrual cycle?

 

These details can help distinguish different causes and identify whether several apparently separate symptoms may actually be interacting.

 

The Chinese medicine perspective

 

Chinese medicine looks at the overall pattern rather than treating urinary urgency as an isolated symptom.

 

Someone whose urgency occurs with pelvic tension and stress may be approached differently from someone whose urgency occurs with fatigue, nocturia (urinating at night) and a tendency to feel cold, for example.

 

The traditional diagnostic framework considers patterns across the urinary, digestive, reproductive and nervous systems.

 

These traditional patterns do not correspond directly to Western medical diagnoses. Their purpose is to help individualise treatment according to the particular combination of symptoms.