Updated: Nov 2, 2021
Overactive bladder (OAB), involves a frequent or sudden, urgent need to urinate. You might find that you need to pee frequently during the day and night, or you can have unintentional loss of urine.
Are you the person who has to make frequent pitstops on road trips? Have you gone hiking with friends to find yourself dashing into the woods to pee more than anyone else? Do you get up most nights to pee?
Your bladder might be overactive.
OAB is different than stress incontinence where people experience a loss of urine that is triggered by physical activity such as laughing, coughing, sneezing, or exercising. Recognizing the difference is important because overactive bladder will not respond to treatments for incontinence.
Histamine as a Contributor
Histamine signals smooth muscle contraction throughout the body. Your bladder is one of the tissues with smooth muscle. A recent study (1) showed that both histamine and mast cell activation cause a rapid contraction of bladder smooth muscle via H1 receptors.
If you have high histamine levels in your bloodstream, either from Histamine Intolerance, or MCAS, it makes sense that your bladder might be impacted too.
The muscles in the bladder start to contract involuntarily with overactive bladder. Even though the bladder doesn’t feel distended or full, the need to urinate comes from the muscle contractions signalled by histamine.
To figure out if your overactive bladder is from histamine, access our Tracking Worksheet in our Online Community, in our Resources section. Join our online community by clicking here. (It's free to join!) Monitor your urinary issues for several days, and then try eating foods just from our Shopping List (also available in the same spot).
Keep tracking your urinary urgency or frequency and see if things improve.