Struggles: why you keep going to the bathroom after you've been once
I am blessed with a bladder the size of a peppercorn. Quite inconvenient, I can tell you. The two biggest culprits for me are tea and alcohol. Every glass of tea seems to flow straight out again. Sounds unappetizing, but you get my point: I often have a subscription to the toilet when I drink something. A girlfriend of mine once said that your bladder is a muscle and that I could train it. Well, the chance that I will get a permanent six-pack is even greater than that I will ever go two hours without a bathroom break.
And especially when I drink alcohol. Correction: especially when I drink alcohol and have been to the toilet once. Yes, then you just keep going. First, some facts in a row: you have to pee more often from alcohol than from non-alcoholic drinks. This is because alcohol suppresses your ADH, a hormone that retains fluid with non-alcoholic drinks and does less with alcoholic drinks. Carbonated drinks can also cause an overactive bladder. Mystery one solved as to why you quickly build a good relationship with the toilet lady when drinking beer. Faster than with wine, because: carbonation. Don’t even get me started on mixed drinks or my favorite Moscow Mule. Vodka + soda = you’ll see me standing in line for the women's toilet. Yes, all the girls standing in the line for the bathroom.
But then the legend about the very first toilet visit. When you go once, you keep peeing the whole evening. I think many people have heard this, and many people believe it, even though I think few people genuinely believe there is truth in it. Well folks, I have news for you: it is really true. Science says so.
To begin with, this phenomenon even has its own name, ‘Breaking the Seal’. And breaking that seal is best done by waiting as long as possible. This is because when your bladder is full and you ignore it for a while, your body starts to ignore that urge. It comes down to the fact that your brain blocks that urge if you postpone it long enough, even if your bladder is bursting. Desensitization is what that chic word is called.
But that desensitization also means that when you finally give in and do go to the toilet, all hell breaks loose. Your bladder may be empty (hallelujah, what a wonderful feeling) but when it fills up again, your brain registers this as new: goodbye desensitization, hello urge to pee. And yes: this continues all evening.
Conclusion? Well, I don’t really have one for you. I can tell you that holding it in for as long as possible absolutely does not work. Your brain plays a dirty mind trick on you, causing my peppercorn bladder to seem to shrink to the size of a quinoa seed after that first release. I think I’ll delve more into the train-your-bladder-to-be-bigger phenomenon. Soon I’ll organize my first bladder boot camp, who’s in?
