Let's be honest, who hasn't gone through a situation like that? Our bladder feels like a giant hot air balloon, but there's no place that allows us to "evacuate" as physics and biology demand. The temporary solution, and we should say instinctive, is to hold it until the right opportunity appears. However, how bad can that resistance do to us? The answer varies from person to person, but extending the wait for too long carries some risks.
A good number of my stories are related to that special place of "meditation" that we all must visit sooner or later. My "stomach delicacy" has extended for years, forcing me to visit strange and improvised places in order to find a toilet, although the so-called "number one" also has its share of betrayals. Come on: who hasn't woken up and run like a cheetah to empty that equivalent to the Iberian Sea we feel in the bladder?
"When you gotta go, you gotta go," but on occasions we must postpone the visit, several times. A meeting, a movie at the cinema, a party with three or four beers in our system, a fast food place after finishing one of their super giant sodas... the list goes on. Obviously, that resistance can have consequences. How well do we know them?
The Consequences of Holding in Urine
The average human bladder can hold almost half a liter of urine, while at night, the bladder increases its volume enough to store double, which definitely explains our speed records from bed to bathroom. The bladder is equipped with a series of receptors that, upon detecting a certain limit, send a signal to our brain, indicating the need to urinate.
The brain's first action is to order a contraction of the detrusor muscle, generating that sense of urgency we all know. The internal sphincter of the bladder opens in response to the inevitable evacuation, but the last "safety valve" is the distal sphincter. This leads to a duel between the detrusor muscle and the distal sphincter, in which one way or another the former wins. Now, what are the alternatives? What happens if that mechanism breaks?
In a normal case, we will feel the "hot stream" running down our legs. If the bladder is deteriorated for some reason, holding too long could lead to a rupture, which involves draining with a catheter to remove urine from the abdomen. Even so, the main risk of prolonged containment manifests through a urinary tract infection, which leads to the constant sensation of urinating even when the bladder is empty, a higher frequency of bathroom visits, and of course, the feeling that we are urinating lava.
Another complication is urinary retention, which occurs when the detrusor muscle cannot empty the bladder completely. In summary: resist in moderation. When the alert comes, your body is not wrong, and as always, if you feel something is not right, consult a specialist.
