Bladder Diary: Take Note
If you’re experiencing urinary urgency, frequency, or leakage, a bladder diary can be a great place to start to gather more information. Bladder diaries help us to be able to learn more about what you’re eating and drinking and how this is impacting your symptoms. It can help us to learn more about what habits you might have around going to the bathroom. And most importantly, it opens up the lines of communication between you and your provider.
I often will have my clients fill out a bladder diary for 3 days or more if they’re up for it. It can be helpful to get an idea of what it looks like during the week and on the weekends as we often have different habits during these times. I’ll admit, the bladder diary can be a lot to fill out, so most folks don’t fill it out for more than 3 days, but the information is so very helpful!
How to fill out your diary:
Record what time you wake up and go to sleep.
Record the type and amount of fluid you drink throughout the day. (If you sip on your coffee from 8-10, you can put 16oz coffee at 8am and draw a line down to 10am.)
Record the type and amount of food you eat throughout the day.
Record the amount and time you urinate. You can actually measure if you’d like, it can be helpful to have the exact amount but not always necessary. You can count how many seconds you urinate for by counting ‘One-one thousand, two-one thousand, etc.’ Or you can roughly say small (small amount, peeing ‘just in case’), medium (like an 8oz measuring cup would overflow), or large (similar to amount you urinate first thing in the morning). In this void column, also note when you had a bowel movement.
Record whether or not urge was present. Mild (first sensation of needing to go), moderate (stronger sensation of need to go), or strong (get out of my way, I need the toilet NOW!)
Record the amount of leakage if any. Small (a drop or 2 of urine), medium (wet underwear), or large (wet pants or floor).
Describe what was happening when you leaked. For example, coughing, sneezing, washing dishes, jumping, running, had a strong urge, bending over, lifting, etc.
Note how many pads you used that day and what level absorbency they were.
Add any other information you feel would be helpful for your provider to know or anything you want to make sure you remember.
Stay tuned for more information about how to interpret your bladder diary!
PS. if you’re not able to print easily from this blog and would like me to send you a pdf or excel version of this diary, please contact me and I’ll send it on over!
