Frequent Urination and Diabetes : All You Need to Know

Published 2022/04/21

What is diabetes?

A Brief Introduction

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease caused by insufficient insulin supply or poor insulin action in the body. When insulin is not secreted enough or the body does not work well with insulin, glucose cannot enter the cells, resulting in elevated blood glucose; in the case of high blood glucose, the sugar will be excreted through the urine, and this is diabetes.

What does diabetes do to the bladder?

When diabetes is not well controlled and the body is constantly in a situation of high blood sugar, the nerve cells may be affected and the bladder may contract abnormally, causing the below three symptoms:

Frequent urination
Urinary urgency
Urinary retention

How do I know if I urinate too often?

Normally, one person urinates every two hours a day on average.

Taking 24 hours a day, 16 hours of activity time, and 8 hours of sleep time as an example, the frequency of urination is about 8 times a reasonable range. Since there’s no diet during sleep at night, it is expected that there will be no urination or urinating once during sleeping.

It also depends on the living habits. If it exceeds the range, it is recommended to check the controllable factors in life first.

Ways to deal with frequent urination caused by diabetes?

We have listed several ways to handle a diabetic bladder from the perspective of urinary health management. (click here to read the full article)

However, the human body is a complicated system and sometimes it needs a more comprehensive and long-term adjustment to improve your bladder health. Here are some long-term solutions for you to improve the diabetic bladder.

Diet and Lifestyle

Some foods are bladder friendly and may help to improve your bladder health.

Banana: Banana is rich in potassium and loaded with fiber and is excellent for bowel movement. A nice bowel movement can reduce the pressure of the bladder.
Carrots, butternut squash, or bell peppers: Foods that are high in carotenoids are associated with a reduced risk of bladder cancer.
High-fiber food: Fiber not only improve bowel movement that reduces the pressure of the bladder, but also improves glycemic control, decreases hyperinsulinemia, and lowers plasma lipid concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes
It should be noted that although fruits are usually considered healthy with vitamin C, acid fruits like oranges, grapefruits, clementines, lemons, and limes can make it harder to control the urge. It is best to avoid if you found specific fruits that worsen your symptom.

It should be noted that although fruits are usually considered healthy with vitamin C, acid fruits like oranges, grapefruits, clementines, lemons, and limes can make it harder to control the urge. It is best to avoid if you found specific fruits that worsen your symptom.

What about cranberries? Cranberries, as we have discussed previously, are normally considered beneficial to UTIs. However, cranberries are acid and in some cases, they may irritate your bladder. If you are certain that cranberries do cause an overactive bladder in your case, you should exclude them from your diet.

Avoid or Limit Certain Food and Drink

It is best to limit or avoid caffeine, fizzy drinks, and alcohol as these can irritate the bladder. In addition, artificial sweeteners (acesulfame K, aspartame, sodium saccharin) seem to increase urinary frequency and urgency.

Exercise Regularly

1. Strength training

Dr. Sheri Colberg considers strength training the most important one for people with diabetes. The special thing about strength training is that it recruits and preserves muscle fibers that one would lose as one age or sit around too much. Strength training has been included as part of an exercise routine for managing diabetes because it increases insulin sensitivity in cells and promotes the absorption of glucose for energy.

Here are some strength training workouts that you can do in a wheelchair.

2. Yoga:

Yoga can improve flexibility and balance. The main reason that Yoga is recommended is that diabetes could accelerate the loss of flexibility due to glycation of collagen in joints, and having less range of motion around joints increases the likelihood of injuries, falls, and self-imposed states of physical inactivity due to fear of falling.

If you are a wheelchair user, here are some yoga poses that might be helpful for you.

3. Kegel exercises (Pelvic floor exercise)

Kegel exercise can strengthen the pelvic floor muscles that support the bladder and help prevent urinary incontinence. More women than men are familiar with these exercises, but they benefit men equally as well.

Be Prepared

Make sure you always have your incontinence supplies ready to use when you need them.

Incontinence products are often referred to as “diapers for adults”. This colloquial expression conveys that incontinence products are uncomfortable or bulky and even sound embarrassing. However, there’s nothing to be ashamed of when we treat illness with the proper mindset. Being prepared for urinary incontinence can give you a good reset is important for the endocrine system and overall health.

When do I need

to see the doctor immediately?

Contact your doctor right away if you experience frequent urination along with any of these symptoms:

Blood in the urine (What is Hematuria and Why is There Blood in My Catheter? – CompactCath)
Discharge from the penis or vagina
Fever
Shaking chills
Side or back pain
Vomiting

Key Takeaways

Frequent urination caused by diabetes may require a more comprehensive change of lifestyle to see the improvement. If you are experiencing frequent urination and you are suspecting, or you have already been diagnosed with diabetes, we hope the information in this article gives you basic ideas on how to manage frequent urination caused by diabetes.

Well begun is half done. It looks like there is a bunch of to-do-list in the article. Don’t worry, you can always choose to start with the one that is more feasible to integrate into your original lifestyle. All in all, the key is not “how many changes” you have done but how long you can maintain the habit for your health.

If you need quality urinary catheters or incontinence pads, we have them all in our online store.

Pack light but don’t forgo essentials

Look into getting travel catheters for your trip—they serve the same purpose as regular catheters but are more compact and easy to use.

Travel catheters are pre-lubricated catheters that eliminate the hassle of bringing your own lubricants with you.

If you have hydrophilic catheters that are pre-packaged with sterile water pouches, it can be bulky and heavy when you’re traveling. CompactCath’s catheter is pre-lubricated with antibacterial silicone oil, and it is compact and no-touch.