Is urgency spasming or just a different sensation?

[IWin]

There's been a number of posts about urgency and frequency, so now I've got a question.

Here's how I think of frequency.....my bladder lining is leaky so when the urine comes in contact with it, it starts to feel full, even though it may not be. It feels like a balloon that is too full of air. To relieve this pressure of a full bladder, I go pee.

Urgency.....sometimes when the urine comes in contact with my leaky lining, rather than feeling full, I get intense urges to pee. I GOTTA GO NOW! I used to think these were spasms and I used to think I would wet myself. I do not leak.

Or, I may get both at the same time.

Kind of like if you have a tooth ache, sometimes it just "aches" and then periodically you might get a sudden shooting pain. The tooth isn't spasming, it's just a different sensation that the nerve is feeling at that moment because of infection or decay.

I guess what I'm trying to ask after all that, is urgency just a different sensation my bladder is feeling in reponse to the urine, or is my bladder actually doing something different, ie spasming?

[Sarojini]

Sometimes urgency can come from spasming, and sometimes it's just a symptom you get when urine touches the defective lining inside. Usually spasming for me includes crampy pain that can get quite severe, and if I'm peeing at the time, my stream starts and stops as the spasms happen. However, I have also had the sensation that I have to pee RIGHT NOW (urgency) without any of the regular spasming feeling. So actually, I don't know -- some report they think their urgency is the result of spasm, others don't. I think it can probably be either.

[lrogrn]

A lot of the time if I am having problems, the urgency happens frequently but occassionally after I have stopped urinating it feels like my bladder is still trying to empty and I have to sit for a while longer even though no urine is coming. It doesn't really hurt for me but it is very iritating.

[July]

After I'm done urinating and out of the bathroom, often times it feels like pressure that I still want to relieve by urinating again even though there is nothing in there.

[VickiB]

I'm doing the flare/frequency/urgency thing right now. I tend to think for me, it's more related to the bladder nerves communicating with my brain. Starts off like, "Hey, I need to pee again." to which brain says "No, you went two minutes ago". It goes back in forth, "I really, really have to pee again",... "I need to go soon!",.... "I REALLY have to go SOON!!" and with-in five minutes it's screaming "GET ME IN THE RESTROOM RIGHT THIS MINUTE OR I'M GOING TO LET GO RIGHT HERE IN THIS @%$*@# CHAIR!!!!!"

(Repeat cycle 'til flare ends)

Vicki

[charmedx3]

i think that my spasms are when i feel a burning pain it is almost like i have a yeast infection but know i don't. i have seen my gyn & nurse when i have had that feeling and there has never been a sign of anything going on there.
does anyone else feel that pain?

[Katrina]

Sometimes spasms, sometimes acid, sometimes nerve thing, I know I have a lot more spasms than I feel...sometimes I hear or see more than I feel them. Pretty much trying out the different treatments is the best way to figure out which it is for you. Nerve: Anti convulsants
Spasms: anti spamodics
Acid: diet, ant acids, water,

Charmed....do you know if you have Pelvic Floor Disfunction?? With me if PFD is flaring it can burn, feel sharp intense...and can really cause IC to scream too.
My worse PFD flares right now are after sex. Spasming and having PFD is quite commen...learning to strengthen the musscles....relax them, and things that help relax the musscles help both.

[charmedx3]

I don't know if pfd. all i know is sometimes i have the burn I think it is when the urgency & frequency is at its worst. I was experiencing the burning feeling yesterday, I had a decaf latte on sat andthen another on sun. :bonk:
So i made sure i drank a ton of water yesterday and I actually feel good tonight.
I am trying to be more in tune with everything.

[sydney42]

I am so relieved (ha! no pun intended) to see this thread. I too have the spasm and/or burning and/or urge problem, and often feel as if I am going to leak, but I don't. I have been wondering whether incontinence is the next step (and praying that it is not). Those of you who have written already have helped me to understand what the sensation might be, and that it doesn't mean that Depends are around the corner. In line with that, I DON'T have this feeling on days when I'm not having any pain, which seems to confirm that it has more to do with the lining being particularly irritated than with some sort of bladder dysfunction that is going on all the time. Thank you again, IC friends!