Overactive bladder is a health condition that leads to symptoms like a sudden and strong urge to urinate several times a day. A person with this condition experiences a lot of stress and tends to avoid social interactions. Apart from making it difficult for one to engage in their daily activities, it can create disturbances in the person’s sleep patterns.

Here are some early warning symptoms of an overactive bladder one should recognize and get timely treatment for:

• Sudden urge to pass urine
  One of the most apparent and common early warning symptoms of overactive bladder is the sudden urge to urinate. An individual with this condition can feel a strong urge suddenly, without any prior warning, even though they might have urinated just a little while ago.
• Urinary or urge continence
  Many a time, people who suffer from this condition are unable to control their bladder movements and the urge to urinate, which is called urinary incontinence. This symptom starts with an irregular contraction in the bladder muscle when urine passes through the bladder, and people with an overactive bladder get very little time to realize that they need to urinate, leading to their body being unable to control the urge. This symptom causes embarrassment and hampers the self-esteem of the individual, and patients might often restrain from socializing due to this.
• Frequent urge
  Heading to the washroom to urinate a couple of times in a day is quite normal, but if one feels the need to do so too many times, it indicates abnormal functioning of the bladder. Urinating eight times or more in a day is one of the early warning symptoms of overactive bladder. In this condition, the bladder tends to lose elasticity and can store a lower quantity of urine in as compared to those who do not have this condition. Also, the amount of fluids one consumes has nothing to do with the severity of this symptom.
• Nocturia
  Nocturia is a medical condition in which a person wakes up from slumber several times in the night on account of feeling the urge to urinate. As a result of this, the sleep cycle of the patent is disrupted severely and might even lead to the development of a sleep disorder and irritability due to lack of rest. Nocturia is one of the early warning symptoms of overactive bladder and is common among people who suffer from this condition. Also, owing to the lack of sleep, the person may find it difficult to carry out their daily activities efficiently. It can also lead to hypersomnia, which causes patients to feel excessively sleepy during the day.