Please share some do's and dont's for patients with a dysfunctional bladder or other bladder conditions.

Interstitial: Interstitial cystitis? Find someone who will prescribe high dose vaginal estrogen for a cure.

Urinate: Urinate before intercourse and drink a large glass of water so can urinate after intercourse as well.

Hygeine: Maintain good hygiene with bathroom behavior and intercourse.

Go: Go to restroom every 2 hrs, even if you think you do not have to go. This avoids accidents.

Avoid: Avoid caffeine which irritates the bladder. Chocolate has caffeine, not just coffee and tea.

Drink: Drink lots of water. Empty bladder after sex. Drink crainberry juice.

Drink: Drink lots of water and avoid acidic foods. Lots of infections are really not infections.

Avoid: Avoid carbonated drinks. The carbonation creates carbonic acid when mixed with water in bladder.

Lay: Lay tissue over the water prior to bowel movements. It cuts down on bacteria splashes.

Stick: Stick to the diet sheet your doctor gave you. It really helps.

See: See a doctor who treats lots of patients with ic. Involves meds, diet changes, bladder instillations.

Avoid: Avoid acidic foods. Avoid stressful situations. Find a doctor good with ic to help you.

Keep: Keep a food diary, and notice which foods seem to make your symptoms worse or better.

Avoid: Avoid caffeine, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, and hot pepper as these can worsen symptoms.

Avoid: Avoid drinking more than 2 l of fluids as this can worsen symptoms.

Multi: Multi step approach is needed. Amitryptline has been effective.

Having: Having urinary tract infections associated with sex? Try peeing immediately after sex.

Try: Try Pyridium (phenazopyridine) to reduce burning with urination associated with a urinary tract infection.

There: There are medications that help so you do not have to know where the bathroom is everywhere you go.

Time: Time voids (trying to urinate, say every 4 hours, whether you feel the need or not). Also, ditropan (oxybutynin).

Urinate: Urinate after intercourse, drink cranberry juice. Stay well hydrated. Urinate frequently.

If: If cystitis symptoms persist despite negative urine cultures, it may be interstitial cystitis

If: If you have interstitial cystitis, don't take antibiotics for "uti" based on symptoms. Culture!

Don't: Don't routinely practice kegel exercises during urination. It is not good for your bladder.

Don't: Don't go to urinate too often or hold too long. Every 2-3 hours during the day is a good goal.

After: After a uti, avoid irritants like caffeine, carbonation, acidic foods, alcohol and spicy foods.

Incontinence: Incontinence causes a loss of self esteem and independence - it is not a normal part of aging!

Incontinence: Incontinence is one of the major reasons for the institutionalization of the elderly.

Bladder: Bladder control problems can severely impact a person’s quality of life causing excess worry.

Practice: Practice holding your urine and doing pelvic floor exercises while voiding on a regular schedule.

Incontinence: Incontinence after labor & delivery? Usually goes away on own in few weeks, if not tell your obgyn.

Pelvic: Pelvic muscle exercises help to reduce over active bladder, mainly in females. Keep bladder empty.

The: The keegle exercises work if done enough and right.

Overactive: Overactive bladder affects quality of life: social, home, psych, work, physical and sexual.

Urinary: Urinary frequency and urgency is not a normal part of aging, and there are effective treatments.

With: Overactive bladder: when the urge to void strikes "stop, squeeze, & ease." relax, wait a bit, then go.

OAB: Oab treatment: evaluate and modify bowel habits. Add fiber to diet to manage constipation.

OAB: Oab treatment: engage in pelvic floor exercises and delayed voiding to improve bladder control.

OAB: Oab treatment: combined lifestyle and medication treatments will have the best outcome.

Meds: Meds for oab include estrogens, antispasmodics, tricyclics, snris, and antimuscarinics.

Current: Current oab medications act to cause bladder relaxation & inhibit bladder spasm, increasing capacity.

You: You should see a 50% improvement within 1 week of starting Detrol (tolterodine) for oab; it could be >80% after 3mo!

Success: Success with oab meds can be seen by counting # of urgency/incontinence episodes or bathroom visits.

Current: Current medications for overactive bladder have a bad side effect of dry mouth - experiment around!

Kegel: Kegel exercises: squeeze and hold the muscle that controls urine flow for 10 seconds: repeat 50x/day.

Never: Never pass up the opportunity to urinate and void frequently.

Incontinence: Incontinence is no fun - and there are so many treatments available. Talk to your doctor soon.

All: All patients who have used Flomax (tamsulosin) must tell their cataract surgeon about it because of reactions to eye surgery.

Lose: Lose weight. Don't wear tight garb!

Dribble: Dribble urine when you exercise? Wear cycling shorts! they're comfortable, absorbant, and look cool!

Wipe: Wipe front to back to prevent urinary tract infections.

A: A pessary is a removable, curved plastic device that helps women with urinary incontinence.

Always: Always urinate frequently, don't hold it for long periods of time.

Your: Your doctor is not embarrassed at all to discuss this with you. Honor them with openness.

It: It may be a your prostate. If you have high blood pressure, try: selective alpha-1 blockers.

Bladder: Bladder problems? Maybe constipation. Get used to trying to go to the bathroom after every meal.

Elderly: Elderly women may choose to stay home because of this and they never go to the doctor. Bring them!

Resist: Resist the urge to resist going to the bathroom. Do empty your bladder after every meal.

Elevate: Elevate legs two hours prior to bedtime to decrease midnight trips to the bathroom to urinate.

To: To decrease urination at night make sure you have minimal fluids 2 hours before bedtime.

Maintain: Maintain good personal hygiene. Avoid foods and habits known to cause bladder discomfort.

Identify: Identify foods and habits that make it worse and avoid. Strengthen your bladder with kegel's.

Certain: Certain types of dysfunction can be improved with kegel's exercises. Avoid harmful habits and food.

Avoid: Avoid excessive amount of bladder irritants, avoid sodas and coffee in excess, drink water.

Eliminate: Eliminate caffeine. Try an 'elimination' diet, and see if symptoms improve, try to id triggers.

Avoid: Avoid foods/drinks known to cause/worsen your conditions don't hold urine.

Kegel: Kegel exercises can strengthen the sphincter muscles and pelvic floor.

Myth:: Myth: doctors can't help anyway, so don't mention it.

Sometimes,: Sometimes, medication or surgery can help.

Do: Do take a change of clothes along when you go out.

The: The practice of clean intermittent catheterization (cic) is used primarily in neurogenic bladder.

Don't: Don't do kegels exercises repeatedly while urinating. Only do this occasionally to check progress.

You: You don't have to live with bladder problems. There are many effective treatments. Tell your doctor.

Everything: Everything in moderation. Keep hydrated, but don't drink large amounts of extra water.

Watch: Watch fluid intake especially hidden water in fruits and veggies.

To: To prevent bladder dysfunction, always empty your bladder completely when pee. 1/2 empty can be bad!

If: If you are female and have trouble with leaking or bedwetting there are meds to help.

Do: Do share with your dr everything . Don't suffer needlessly.

For: For regular urination a fluid schedule may assure a good night sleep.

Have: Have a regular schedule for urination and stick to it.

Don't: Don't drink fluids at night before going to sleep. In fact, don't drink within 3 hours of sleeping.

AS: As its said women is a creature-that pee once a day- etc take much less water a day.

Have: Have a good medical exam, especially if you have a bladder issue. Also please see a urologist.

No: It's a myth that there's no good treatment.

A: A guy with a bladder infections without previous instrumentation or surgery is bad and needs work up.

Regular: Regular use of pelvic muscle exercises will strengthen the muscles that control the flow of urine.

Bladder: Bladder training. Going to the bathroom at scheduled intervals.

Void: Void frequently and do not push on abdomen to urinate if having difficulty.

Avoid: Avoid caffeine, especially before going to bed.

Do: Do control your prostate problems. That will help you fully empty your bladder!

Females,: Females, daily cranberry juice, blueberries, goldenseal can go a long way with preventing utis.

Ask: Ask your doctor if any meds you are on cause bladder dysfunction.

Don't: Don't let bladder infections go untreated.

Never: Never ignore bleeding from the bladder. Have it evaluated right away.

The: The best advice is urodynamics to diagnose the problem and then determine the many possible treatmen.

Do: Do kegel exercises regularly to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and maintain bladder control.

To: To decrease bladder spasm; avoid caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, chocolate, citrus, splenda, and spices.

Stress: Stress incontinence is more common after menopause. 70% of women will improve with kegel's alone.

For: For BPH choose green light laser or nerve sparing surgery to protect sex.

Do: Do your kegel exercises frequently and do a log of events and food and drink.

Do: Do your kegel exercises frequently and do a log of events and food and drink.

Do: Do your kegel exercises frequently and do a log of events and food and drink.

Do: Do your kegel exercises frequently and do a log of events and food and drink.

Bladder: Bladder suspension in female patients or prostate thermo shrinking in males, depends on indications.

Never,: Never, never pass up an opportunity to visit a bathroom - don't wait until symptoms to pee.

Ignore: "40 kegels a day keep the gynecologist away" . Pelvic floor exercise helps prevent incontinence!

Ignore: Minimize intake of fluids in the evening. That will help decrease nocturia.

Ignore: Decrease intake of bladder irritants: tea, coffee, alcohol and nicotine are the worse!

Ignore: Empty your bladder frequently to avoid distention and dysfunction !

Ignore: Drink plenty of water and other liquids on a daily basis.

Ignore: Urinate quickly after sex to prevent vaginal bacteria from entering the bladder and causing a uti.

Ignore: Study kegel exercises for women. Urinate frequently. Strengthen core muscles. Goal: ideal weight.

Ignore: Coffee, tea, pop, acidic fruit drinks, salsa and highly-spiced foods can irritate your bladder.

Ignore: Do not try to stop your urine flow mid-stream. This actually makes dysfunctional bladder worse.

Ignore: Talk with a surgeon if kegel exercises are not sufficient to control the symptoms.

Ignore: 200 kegels a day, keep the doctor away!

Ignore: Go for the depends as well as medication, exercise and doctor visits. Less stress.

Elmiron (pentosan): Elmiron (pentosan) is the only fda approved oral medication for interstitial cystitis and can be very helpful.

Bladder: Bladder irrigation with DMSO or Heparin is an effective treatment option for interstitial cystitis.

Smoking: Smoking cessation is an important step to improve interstitial cystitis.

Ignore: If you use flomax, (tamsulosin) make sure you tell your eye doctor.

Ignore: If you have bladder problems, avoid caffeine - it is very irritating to the cells that line bladder.

Ignore: Strengthening of bladder muscles by certain types of exercises can decrease incontinence.

Ignore: Daily Cialis helps older men with urine flow to empty their bladder.

Ignore: Avoid irritating dietary substances such as caffeine, alcohol and acidic foods.

Ignore: Avoid caffeine as it may worsen urgency. Do drink water and stay hydrated.

Ignore: The foods you eat / drink are a very large contributor to bladder irritation.

Ask: Ask your parents if they have them. Ask your children to take you to the doctor if you do.

Trampoline: Trampoline exercise strengthen the right pelvic floor/ inner thigh muscles!

Ignore: Meds work, but no side effects to "programmed voids." use restroom every 1-2 hours while awake.

Ignore: Minimize your intake of caffeine and sugary beverages to keep your bladder functioning well.

Ignore: Patients should consult with urologist or uro-gynecologist ; most will be helped by treatment.

Ignore: The treatments available for incontinence depend on the type of incontinence. Urge incontinence is usually treated with medication and stress incontinence is often treated with surgical procedure.

Ignore: Double urinating may help to alleviate frequency.

Ignore: Patients with overactive bladder, urgency ; frequency should limit caffeine, salt, ; alcohol in diet.

Ignore: 3 tips to help make kegel exercises a habit: stay consistent; remember benefits; follow progress.

Ignore: Consider timed voiding to help avoid any unwanted surprises, like trying every 4 hours to stay safe.

Ignore: If you have to use a Foley catheter long term, know it can increase chances of bladder cancer.

Ignore: First see urologist or urogynecologist to find a cause. Consider physical therapy.

Ignore: Let toddlers bladder train themselves. Tell them to make shhhh ; not to try ; push or squeeze urine.

Ignore: Do get checked to find the cause of dysfunctional bladder. Don't ignore and get treated.

Ignore: If you have over active bladder, avoid bladder irritants like caffeine, spicy foods, and acidic food.

Ignore: Always go to the washroom when your bladder dictates.

Ignore: The less u drink, the less u pee. The more u exercise your pelvic muscles, the drier u will be!

Ignore: Good bowel function, daily and normal form Do not postpone urination timed voiding.

Ignore: Don't hold urine and go to urinate whenever the urge to urinate arises.

Ignore: You should see a Urologist. Take with you to the appointment, a voiding diary, and your meds.

Ignore: Try to avoid bladder irritants, especially caffeine, spicy foods, and acidic foods.