Frequent urination in women comes mostly from a few disorders, irritation due to cystitis (bladder infection), urinary retention caused by a dropped bladder,  urine that leaks out (urinary incontinence) when the bladder becomes full due to bladder muscle weakness caused by trauma (giving birth), atrophy (from not controlling the bladder sphincter muscles), and disorders of the brain and spine.

Frequent urination in women from urinary tract infection symptoms also cause painful urination, burning urination, urgency to urinate, hesitancy to urinate, cloudy urine, smelly urine, urine test results that show microhematuria (microscopic blood in urine) and gross hematuria (blood that you can see in the urine).

Frequent urination in women is also brought about by bladder spasms causing urinary incontinence which can happen from either infection or from neurological complications. Weakness of the muscles at the convergence of the bladder and the urethra can cause urine to come out uncontrollably when pressure is applied to the bladder. This occurs when coughing, sneezing, jumping, sitting, standing, laying down and going up and down stairs. This is known as stress incontinence. Urge incontinence is when the sudden desire to void becomes uncontrollable due to a bladder spasm. Frequent urination and urinary incontinence are considered different diagnosis’s however in the lexicon of a person making increased trips to the bathroom to stop leaking from occurring it is a moot point.

 To diagnose these specific problems a urine culture test will show if urinary tract  infection is the culprit and the urine sample will also give our urologists the knowledge to order a specific antibiotic to kill your invading bacteria. The urine culture will also tell the doctor how much bacteria is growing in the bladder which then helps the decision on the dose of antibiotic to use.

Frequent urination in women caused by a dropped bladder is diagnosed with an examination and a cystoscopy. The cystoscopy is a very short procedure lasting only a few minutes,  your urologist takes a very thin flexible fiber optic scope and slides it into the bladder and looks at the interior of the bladder for tumors, bladder or kidney stones, growths, irritated areas of the bladder, bladder diverticuli, and any suspicious areas. You may be asked to cough when your bladder is full of water in order to see the extent of any stress incontinence caused by the dropped bladder or muscle weakness.