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GP
In a general examination your doctor will ask you for some background information on your health, enquire about problems you may have with your bladder, the severity of these problems and how long you’ve been experiencing them.
It may be useful to keep a diary of your bladder habits because you may be asked:
- How often do you need to urinate?
- Do you need to urinate during the night?
- Is it painful to pass urine?
- How much urine do you pass?
- Do you drink a lot of tea, coffee, or alcohol?
- Are you stressed?
- Do you leak urine when you laugh, cough or when you are exercising?
- Do you leak urine during sex?
It is important that you let the doctor know about any current illnesses, medication you are taking and any surgery that has been performed on you.
Follow-up Visit
You may be required to return and have more examinations performed if further intervention is required.
Urologist
Your GP may refer you to a urology specialist for further examinations, which may include:
- Urinalysis - used to decide what medication may work
- Urodynamic tests - tests of bladder function and pressure. Measurements of urine flow and pressure are taken by having a catheter placed in your bladder while you are passing urine. This helps distinguish between the two main types of incontinence.
- A pad test - can help the doctor find out how much urine you lose in an hour, on average. When you have a full bladder, you will be given a pad to place in your pants and asked to perform daily activities such as stretching.
- X-rays or an ultrasound to check the kidneys and ureters
- A cystoscopy - where a cystoscope (small camera) examines your bladder to look for any changes such as inflammation, stones, polyps or tumours
- Men: A urologist may examine your prostate
- Women: Your gynaecologist may perform a gynaecological examination
These tests will help your GP rule out other causes of your symptoms such as an infection, diabetes, bladder cancer, a tumour, or prostate cancer.
Urology Nurse
A Continence Nurse or Urotherapist may go through a questionnaire with you with questions on your micturition (urine flow) and urine problems.
For this investigation it is important to find out how your bladder works. A very easy way is to compile a bladder diary. This is most often filled out over two days where you record each time you urinated and how much urine you pass each time.
The purpose of the diary is to gather information about how much you drink, how much urine you pass in 24 hours and how often you need to visit the toilet.
It may also be necessary to check that your bladder has been properly emptied after you urinate. By using ultrasound or catheterisation, this is carried out immediately after you have emptied your bladder in the normal way.
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