Do you experience urgency, frequency, leakage, or bladder discomfort? If so then you need to know about bladder irritants! 

Bladder irritants are foods or drinks that can irritate the bladder increasing these urinary symptoms. These foods and drinks affect everyone differently; something that irritates you may not irritate your friend and vice versa. 

Common Bladder Irritants

Let’s go over some of the most common bladder irritants: 

• Caffeine

• Alcohol

• Marijuana 

• Artificial sweetener

• Carbonation

Caffeine

This is a very common bladder irritant, and it is problematic as so many people are addicted to their coffee. If you are unwilling to cut coffee (which many people are), here are some tips that you can try to decrease coffee’s effect on you. 

• You can decrease the number of coffees you drink per day or drink half a coffee instead of a whole coffee at a time.

•  You can switch to decaf. 

• You can try cold brew as that is less acidic and can be gentler on the bladder. 

Alcohol

Alcohol is also a common culprit. I had a patient who was doing really well with her leakage then went drinking and dancing one night and was disturbed that her leakage came back. Likely, the combination of alcohol being a bladder irritant and dancing which involves some impact was a perfect combination for return of symptoms. 

Marijuana 

Regular marijuana usage is associated with significant alterations in several urinary peptides and can increase the risk of an overactive bladder. This can increase leakage! 

Artificial sweetener

Any artificial sweetener can irritate the bladder. Studies unfortunately have not broken up stevia v aspartame but lump them together making it more difficult to tell what’s the problem. I believe stevia is better than aspartame but can still be problematic. 

Carbonation

This is definitely a problem with the popularity of soft drinks. Many people are replacing their sodas with seltzer, but unfortunately this also has the carbonation that can serve as a bladder irritant. If you are drinking these throughout the day, try and cut them out or decrease them and see if that makes a difference! 

Treating Bladder Irritants

Changing your diet to decrease bladder irritants is a process, and it can take up to a couple weeks to see results (though many people do see results sooner). 

Another helpful tip is to always drink water before your coffee or other culprit to dilute the irritants in your system. 

All this information tends to help people with their leakage, urgency, frequency, or bladder discomfort, however I would not expect it to fully solve the problem. There is much more that goes into pelvic floor rehab in addition to diet changes.

If you are ready to solve your problem for good, speak to one of our pelvic floor experts in Columbia, Frederick, and Gaithersburg today!