An expanding uterus puts pressure on the bladder, which in turn causes the bladder to empty more often. Frequent urination can sometimes be a response to feelings of worry or nervousness. But estrogen also plays a role in supporting the sides of your bladder.
That means if your estrogen levels are low, like during menopause, you may experience more frequent and more urgent urination as your bladder feels full. Reduced estrogen levels can also cause you to have to pee often at night.
This also means that frequent urination can be a sign of menopause — which happens around age 50 for most women. In fact, decreasing or low estrogen is the cause of several common menopause symptoms. The good news is there are treatment options for low estrogen — for both menopausal and non-menopausal women — such as hormone therapies.
Your pelvic floor muscles hold up many of the organs in your urinary system, including your bladder. If these muscles weaken, organs can slip slightly out of place and lead to more frequent urination. Vaginal childbirth is one way the pelvic floor muscles can become strained and start to lose their strength. Aging may also lead to pelvic floor muscle weakening. Many times, it can be hard to tell if weakened pelvic floor muscles are causing your frequent urination.
Your primary care doctor or OB-GYN can work with you to understand your symptoms, make treatment recommendations and connect you with a urogynecologist — a doctor who specializes in diagnosing pelvic floor conditions — if needed. There are many treatments available for overactive bladder, including behavioral modifications, medications, and simple in-office procedures. Most people have, or likely will, experience at least one urinary tract infection in their life.
Urinary tract infections often include a burning sensation when you urinate, as well as a frequent need to urinate that can sometimes include bladder leakage. Luckily, there are things you can do to prevent them, and if you do get one, they are easily treatable even from home! When the minerals in your bladder become too concentrated, they can develop into stones that can lead to pain, bloody urine, and frequent urination.
These stones typically pass out of the body on their own, but sometimes need to be surgically removed by a doctor if they become lodged in your bladder.
Be sure to stay well hydrated and eat a healthy diet to ensure your urine does not become too concentrated. Frequent trips to the bathroom are a classic sign of diabetes. If you have a history of diabetes in your family, or are worried that this may be a sign of the disease, consult your doctor right away.
Many times this can be accomplished with changes to diet and exercise, but medications are also available if you need them. Those excess pounds place extra pressure on your bladder, which can cause you to need the bathroom more frequently. Your diet may also be contributing. Try keeping a bladder diary and start incorporating more exercise into your routine. Among other things, you may see your bladder health problems improve. Growing a baby is an incredible thing.
But not so much for your bladder. A growing baby and extra weight put pressure on your bladder, and can also weaken your pelvic floor muscles. Many pregnant women find themselves using the restroom more than they used to, which is completely normal. Changing hormones can wreak havoc on your body, and your bladder. Menopause can cause you to lose elasticity in your bladder, leading to irritation. It can also impact the nerves that control your bladder, leading to Overactive Bladder.
If this is an issue for you, the Mayo Clinic suggests wearing panty liners to avoid soaking your underwear with urine. Uterine fibroids, noncancerous growths that can grow in and on your uterus, are the most common benign tumors in women of childbearing age, per the U.
Library of Medicine. Sometimes these tumors make their unwanted presence known by forcing you to pee all the time. This usually happens when a fibroid becomes large and presses on your bladder, according to the U.
Department of Health and Human Services. Fibroids can also cause heavy bleeding, painful periods , pain during sex, complications during pregnancy and labor , and even problems getting pregnant though the U. Department of Health and Human Services notes that this is rare.
According to the Mayo Clinic , as fluids build in your bladder, nerve signals from your bladder to your brain typically trigger your pelvic floor muscles and muscles of your urethra to relax.
This allows your bladder to contract and push urine out. Dune says. Plenty of things can cause this to happen, including having a neurological disorder like a stroke , a bladder abnormality like a tumor, or excessive caffeine or alcohol intake, among others.
The underlying cause determines the treatment, which can include medications to relax the bladder or even Botox injections to partially paralyze bladder muscles, according to the Mayo Clinic. Interstitial cystitis essentially happens when your body's wires get crossed—instead of your pelvic nerves telling your brain you need to pee when your bladder is full, your brain receives that message more often than it should, according to the Mayo Clinic. Along with a persistent need to pee even if you're releasing only small amounts, this condition can cause discomfort while your bladder fills up, pain in your pelvis or between your vagina and anus, and pain during sex.
While interstitial cystitis isn't curable, there are ways to try to treat it, like with physical therapy to relieve pelvic pain , bladder training it's precisely what it sounds like—you start strategically delaying urination until you're not going more frequently than normal , medications to relax the bladder and reduce discomfort, and more. Other conditions, such as diabetes, prostate problems , and pregnancy are also common causes of frequent urination.
Urinary tract infections UTIs are the most common cause of frequent urination. They occur when bacteria invade the urethra, which connects the penis or vagina to the bladder. UTIs are common in women and girls.
Additional symptoms typically include a burning sensation while urinating, as well as occasional fever, lower back pain , blood in urine, or foul-smelling urine. Diabetes Frequent urination can be a sign of uncontrolled type 1 or type 2 diabetes. When diabetes is not controlled, excess sugar causes more fluid to pass from the kidneys into urine. Uncontrolled diabetes is the most frequent cause of polyuria, or urinating more than normal.
Additional signs may include excessive thirst and hunger, weight loss, fatigue, vision problems, and mood changes. Frequent urination can cause dehydration and lead to serious kidney problems, or diabetic ketoacidosis or hyperosmolar coma, conditions that can be life-threatening. Prostate problems An enlarged prostate can cause the contraction of the bladder and affect urine flow.
Also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia , a noncancerous enlarged prostate is the most common cause of frequent urination in men over age Additional symptoms may include difficulty urinating, dribbling of urine, getting up frequently at night to urinate, and a sense that urination is incomplete.
Pregnancy Frequent urination during pregnancy is not a sign of any medical problem, and it usually occurs during the last few months of pregnancy. A growing uterus and fetus put pressure on the bladder, which must be emptied more often.
This may also cause urine to leak during a sneeze or cough. Pregnant women are also at increased risk for urinary tract infections. Additional medical causes of frequent urination can include: 6.
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