Stupid bladder!

[Mysterweepinata]

… it’s so intensely annoying. I know we are not meant to hate bits of our body but I loath it … it literally lets me down at every given opportunity it can; sneezing, walking down hill, running, coughing, jumping and sometimes, just for shits and giggles, after I’ve just been for a wee!
I’ve been living in Tena Lady since peri started 4 years ago and though I do daily exercises on squeezy the last two weeks of my cycle are a disaster. Typical symptoms include incontinence flooding through extra absorbency pads with little warning, needing to wee ALL the time and grouchy, crampy bladder feelings (uti’s ruled out).

After 3 big babies my bladder/ pelvic floor was never going to be in tip top shape but I feel this is getting ridiculous. If my bladder was a character in a movie it would be Jar Jar Binks: an inept useless creature turning up at the most inconvenient moments and unloading!
I know it’s not called stress incontinence for this reason but it seems kind of apt.

Any ideas how I make things better or can you relate?

I’m on hrt by the way ( oestrogen applied externally and progesterone days 16 -28) but it’s not helped the bladder issues.

Ask your doctor about bulkamid

Best step is to book yourself in with a women's physio- there are lots of private ones around who specialise in this. Google your area.
They can do an assessment and tweak the kegels to show you how to do them properly.

If that doesn't work after a few months, ask your GP to refer you to a specialist gynae as you may need surgery to pull it all back into place.

Your GP needs to refer you to gynae and I would second the vaginal oestrogen and a women's physio in the mean time. You don't have to suffer the way you are at the moment.

Get yourself to the GP for a urogynaecology referral. I definitely agree about seeing a pelvic floor physio in the mean time, but I’d get the ball rolling with the referral because the waiting lists can be months long.

My GP who was standing in for my menopause specialist just told me to do pelvic floor muscles and it was that or surgery

So you’ve carried out medical tests to diagnose this lady’s condition?

Women's physios are qualified ( the ones with additional training) to do assessments (internally) and can also give you a program of exercises.
They can make an assessment of prolapse but you do need another opinion from a gynae.
Most won't do surgery unless you have worked really hard on Kegels for 6 months doing them correctly.

You can buy a device to use at home called PeriFit. It's about £120. This assesses your strength (it's a small probe) and there are exercises to follow on the app. You can see if your strength is building.

Women’s physio definitely but also vaginal oestrogen, it can massively help the constant needing a wee/horrible UTI feeling.

Thank you all so much! I’m going to see if I can get a physio appointment sorted.

I forgot to mention that I’ve spent a small fortune on devices to try and help me with exercises at home - a tens machine thingy which kept giving me shocks, special electric pants, an internal device linked to an app ( it was too small - the shame 😂!).

I think this is beyond me now.

I've just had surgery to fix this problem. Years of physio and gadgets didn't help. Then 5 years on a waiting list. Although some of that waiting was during Covid. Aged 57. I haven't leaked since. I was a nervous wreck going in for the surgery but honestly it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Now fully recovered and can jump sneeze and vomit lol all without leaking. Wish I'd had it years ago as it really did impact on my life. I was reluctant to do any exercise. And dressed "just incase". I didn't realise how much it held me back until now.
It was natural tissue fascial sling surgery so no mesh.

I'm not sure what hrt you are on from your description. Do you mean you have both full body oestrogen and localised oestrogen? Are you taking the progesterone orally? Are you using any oestrogen inserted vaginally?

Are you taking localised oestrogen that you insert into your vagina as well as systemic hrt?

I recently had a total hysterectomy so was told to do pelvic floor exercises using the Squeezy app. I decided to pay to see a women's physio who examined me and my technique was all wrong. I've been doing them regularly and working to get them right which has made a huge difference to any little leaks.

I’m taking 2,0mg of Sandrena gel applied to inner arm and 2x 100mg Utrogestan taken orally on days 16 - 28. I still have periods.

Trifle - this is exactly how I feel. It’s been going on so long I’ve almost got used to wearing pads and certain clothing on the bottom half - just in case! I completely forgot about the vomiting but your post reminded me vividly of having to sit on the loo with a bowl on my lap when I was pregnant with my third and had awful morning sickness.

Estriol 1% cream works miracles in menopause x

I’d second this. It’s completely stopped my bladder issues.

@LizzieSiddal It’s changed my life. GP didn’t have a clue. Gynae at the hospital ditto. Did my own research and it’s given me my life back and that’s no exaggeration x

What you need in addition to this is vagifem :) it’s oestrogen that you insert into the vagina

genitourinary syndrome also called vaginal atrophy affects a lot of women. It causes the skin & tissues if the vagina and vulva tk thin & become less elastic. Constant need to empty bladder is one of the main symptoms

Just seconding or thirding, you need localised oestrogen inserted vaginally. Also I'd keep careful track of symptoms across the month.

14 night loading dose and then twice a week is the usual dose for localised oestrogen but some women need more.

Are you using vaginal estrogen internally @Mysterweepinata ?

A lot of posters are saying you need to but your post here suggests you are.
You mention using it 'externally'. Do you mean Oestrogel or do you mean Ovestin or Vagifem?

TBH if everything is really stretched, local estrogen alone isn't going to do the trick.

You need a proper assessment to see if you have bladder prolapse.
This can be improved with exercises and vaginal estrogen but you may need surgery.

If you are using vagifem make sure you only insert about half way. The full way in does nothing for the bladder symptoms. Women are not told this.

I found giving up caffeine has really helped me.

I know you say UTIs ruled out but the nhs testing is useless. Did it have a sudden start? I'd try a 14 day course of antibiotics