What are bladder irritants?

Some people cannot go a day without at least one cup of coffee. People love coffee, but there are certainly times when they drink coffee and find themselves going to the bathroom more times than usual. So why does that even happen?

Coffee is a bladder irritant, and it can affect how your bladder sensation and makes you feel like you “gotta go” more strongly than usual. There are a number of bladder irritants, and for some people, these bladder irritants can be really strong and bothersome. For others, it doesn’t matter, so we’re going to get down and dirty to see what are bladder irritants? And the science behind it.

Caffeine

Caffeine affects the way your bladder functions and can make your bladder contract more often. Those bladder contractions make you feel the urge to go to the bathroom, and that’s why after you drink coffee sometimes you’ll feel the urge more strongly. Also, caffeine is a diuretic, so when you drink a cup of coffee or any sort of caffeinated beverage, a soda, a tea, even some chocolate that has caffeine in it, you’ll find that you’re making more urine than you’re actually putting in your body as far as fluids, so you’re going to the bathroom more often.

How to avoid it?

If you’re drinking coffee, it might make you go a lot, especially if you drink a lot of it. If you find that it’s bothering you and you’re going to the bathroom a lot, then cut back on your caffeine. If you are drinking coffee and you know it makes your bladder symptoms worse but doesn’t really care, that’s ok.  You can try not to drink it before you go on a plane or go to the movies so that you can avoid having to go often in certain situations.

Alcohol

Alcohol, when you drink it, gets metabolized in your body to a metabolite called acetaldehyde, and acetaldehyde is a bladder irritant. It goes into our bloodstream and our urine, and it can increase the ability of our bladder to contract. Alcohol is actually a diuretic similar to caffeine and it will cause you to make more urine than you actually produce. So, you might notice that people are going to the bathroom a little more often when they’re at the brewery or when they’re having their glass of wine with dinner. Alcohol also is a bladder irritant that makes your bladder contract more strongly, and so it also increases that urge to feel like you’ve to go, and so for some people, this is worse than others.

Carbonated beverages

Carbonated beverages: why are these bladder irritants? Because they have preservatives like citric acid and ascorbic acid, which increases the ability of your bladder to contract, so for some people, they might be sensitive to carbonated beverages because of those preservatives. Additionally, many carbonated beverages contain caffeine which can exacerbate those symptoms.

Artificial sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners like aspartame or saccharin, are also considered bladder irritants and can make the bladder contract more.

For other bladder irritants, there’s very little data, so you have to pay attention and see how your bladder reacts when you eat or drink some of these things. They can include spicy foods or acidic foods like grapefruit.

How to avoid it?

Pay attention to how bladder irritants impact your bladder and try to limit them in your diet. You may consider eliminating one irritant at a time and see if it helps. If it doesn’t put it back in your diet.

If after experimenting with all these bladder irritants, you are still having problems, make sure you see your doctor or your local urologist.

Download your own list of bladder irritants: https://mailchi.mp/c6f1e3f79d2e/bladd…