The Difference Between an Overactive Bladder and SUI

If you suddenly start leaking, you may not know exactly what’s behind that wetness. In fact, many women (and even some medical professionals) misdiagnose the cause of leakage. It’s fairly common for women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) to think that they have an overactive bladder (OAB) rather than SUI. Which is a big problem, because if you don’t understand what’s actually going on with your bladder, it’s impossible to address the issue. 

First, you should know that having an overactive bladder is a condition, while stress urinary incontinence is a symptom. Don’t quite get it? Let us explain the two more in depth so you can use your newfound knowledge to take action!

The Skinny on an Overactive Bladder

 An overactive bladder is a condition that causes the frequent, sudden urge to pee. Because of this, you may experience something called urgency incontinence—which is essentially like having an accident because you feel like you always have to pee. 

So, why does this happen? OAB occurs when your bladder muscles contract—even when your bladder isn’t full. This makes you feel like you have an urgent need to pee, even when you don’t have to. 

 There are a number of things that can cause an overactive bladder, including: 

 Medical conditions like diabetes and multiple sclerosis

  • Urinary tract infections
  • Hormonal changes
  • Consuming too much caffeine 
  • Not emptying your bladder fully when you pee

To address OAB, it’s recommended that you maintain a healthy weight, limit caffeine intake, manage chronic conditions (like diabetes) if you have them, and strengthen your pelvic floor muscles—more on this last one soon! 

Understanding Stress Urinary Incontinence

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is defined by leakage that occurs when some sort of movement—coughing, sneezing, laughing, oh my!—puts pressure on the bladder. 

It occurs when the pelvic floor muscles are weakened. These muscles are what support the bladder and when they’re not at optimal strength, pee can leak. A variety of things can cause a weakened pelvic floor, including: 

  • Childbirth
  • Menopause
  • High Impact Exercises

But you should also know that women who haven’t gone through any of these things can also experience SUI.

Now for some good news: You can totally address SUI. You just have to put a little strength back in your pelvic floor. Kegel exercises are the answer. But first, locate your pelvic floor. To do so, pretend you’re holding in pee. Those muscles that just contracted? That’s them. To do Kegels manually, squeeze those muscles like you’re sitting on a blueberry and lifting it, until you feel those muscles rise. Hold for 10 seconds and then relax and release. One word of warning: If you do them wrong, which many women do, you can make your SUI worse. Yikes. 

That’s one of the reasons that INNOVO is a great alternative. It offers an at-home solution that’s safe and clinically-proven to treat urinary incontinence. In the span it takes to watch your favorite sitcom, you’ll get 180 kegels delivered right to your pelvic floor muscles with every session. Slip on INNOVO for just 30 minutes a day, five days a week for 12 weeks as a proven way to eliminate bladder leaks in 12 weeks or less. 80% of women see results in just four weeks.