Urgency To Urinate But Can’t Go, What Causes This?

Dr. Blaivas explains that rushing to the bathroom and having a hard time going is the common problem of an overactive bladder, which is linked to the symptom of urgency. Reasons for this may include having a hypersensitive bladder, or an involuntary contraction bladder.

Jerry Blaivas, MD: If you have to rush to the bathroom and you have a hard time going, first all of all it is a very common problem. The rushing to the bathroom part is caused by the symptom urgency and urgency is part of a symptom complex that we call overactive bladder. So if you have to rush to the bathroom, there are only two possible genetic causes.

One is that you get the feeling like you have to go without there being any underlying reason, that is a hypersensitive bladder, and the second is because the bladder actually starts to contract by itself, we call that involuntary bladder contraction.

So if you have the problem, that you have a hypersensitive bladder, there are lots of different causes of that. Probably the most common in everyday life is just irritants that you drink. The most common culprit is coffee. There are other causes like urinary tract infection, even a blockage by a prostate or by a dropped bladder can cause the same problem.

But why once you get there, if you have such a bad urge, you rush to the bathroom, why cannot you go once you get there? Well, there are a few causes of that. Probably the most common cause is simply that there is not enough in your bladder to allow you to go easily. Ordinarily, in order to urinate easily or normally, the bladder has to have a certain degree of fullness to it.

If you get an abnormal sensation before the bladder is very full, even though you feel like you have to go, when you get there, there is little in your bladder and you cannot go very easily. Probably the most common cause of that is just simply urinary tract infection, but again prostate problems in men causing a blockage can do with a dropped bladder in women can cause exactly the same problem.

Another cause of not being able to go is if the bladder itself is weak and there is lots of causes for a weak bladder, the most common though are blockages that have not been treated and then finally this is redundant because I dealt with it in answering the question already, but another reason why you might not be able to go is because of the blockage and once again the blockage in men is most likely due to prostate problem, and in women it is most likely due to a dropped bladder and commonly after surgery to correct urinary incontinence.

Fortunately, no matter what the problem, we generally have an effective treatment so, just because you have the symptoms, you should not get discouraged. See a doctor. With the proper diagnosis, there is generally an effective treatment.

 

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