www.incontinentsupport.org

Curious how many of you with urinary incontinence, particularly OAB related urge incontinence, still drink coffee, soda, alcohol etc.

I'm not much of a drinker but I very much do enjoy the occasional nice single malt scotch with a nice premium cigar. I do every now and then, like when having a cookout or camping, enjoy drinking some beers with friends. I may go 2 months without a single beer, or have a busier social week where I imbibe a bit more. I HATE drinking heavily as I tend to get bad hangovers marked by migraines. Drinking to me is social and fun once in a while. I'm not giving it up and it's uncommon enough that there's not much room for "cutting down".

Coffee is another story. I love coffee. I drink a few cups a day. I'm also not giving it up. My doctor advised on completely eliminating coffee, soda (very rarely do I drink it) and booze. At some point though you gotta live don't ya? He doesn't know I smoke cigars and I'm never telling a doctor I do. I used to smoke cigarettes VERY heavily and quit cold turkey six years ago. About 4 months ago I picked up a cigar "hobby" and don't feel addicted. Cigarettes head a death grip of addiction over me and I would like up hourly at least. 2 packs a day. I can go anywhere from a day to a month without a cigar and not crave one. Cigars aren't inhaled and are smoked for flavor and relaxation. When it's cold and snowy this winter I'll likely go almost all winter without one as I won't smoke in the house.

Anyway, wonder what vices you guys have refused to give up despite being told it could help your symptoms? Honestly if I had to choose between pissing my pants or giving up coffee, I'll piss my pants LOL

I still drink things with caffeine (tea mostly, soda, but never was much into coffee) and alcohol. When my problems started, I tried cutting both out with no noticeable results, except for a headache for a couple of days.

Alcohol and Myrbetriq don't seem to play well together for me. It seems alcohol makes control much more difficult on it.

I've greatly reduced the amount of tea and sodas I drank, but not because of incontinence. The link to kidney stones is what scares me, and the incontinence is a long walk in the park compared to dealing with that pain. Instead I've switched to fruit juices and club soda. My current favorite is club soda and pomegranate.

I refuse to give up my wine with dinner. Other cocktails have more leeway.

I've reduced coffee and tea, and contemplate on quitting alcohol altogether. I'm not into fizzy drinks: they irritate my bladder and the sizzling against the tooth enamel is terrifying. . However, coffee is a must in my current life, a cup or two per day keeps me going. Very busy at the moment in interesting and demanding projects that require much concentration and time. Coffee is also such an integral part of the culture here, that quitting that bittersweet "poison" would be very difficult. Tea is also good. It's more about the amount and timing.

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Linja-autojen ja rakkauden perässä voi juosta tai odottaa seuraavaa.

Coffee, tea, soda, and alcohol show up on lists of things to eliminate because they are known bladder irritants. But lots of things are bladder irritants. For example, my urologist gave me a list of bladder irritants that includes all of the following:

Beer, wine, spirits
Chocolate
Fruit: apples, citrus, peaches, pineapple, strawberries, grapes
Milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream
Sugar and artificial sweeteners
Tomatoes and tomato juice
Vitamin B supplements

Look at that list and ask yourself if you can avoid all that and still nourish yourself. I actually have prescriptions for things that are known bladder irritants. Personally, I have found that it is sheer folly to assume that you are going to manage OAB with dietary restrictions. It's just not possible.

Noe

Nope, nope nope... NOT giving up my coffee for anything, sorry! lol 4-5 cups a day, some days less, but that is the first thing I drink in the AM, and did cut back to one cup a day and it made no difference in my urgency, so I was glad for that result! I don't really find any particular food or beverage making anything worse, and nothing makes it better, so I eat and drink what I want to. 30+ years dry, but I will have a beer, one, in the summer when camping, it's funny enough that people actually take a picture of me having a drink! Grew up in it, so many horror stories that made my decision easy to not need it in my life. I do like the odd soda, but I really like Coke and Cranberry juice, it is really tasty! Puffy

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Puffy
BC, Canada
Fighting the "Bladder Battle" since 1995

I do enjoy a glass of wine with an expensive meal, and my favorite snack is brandy, fruit and cheese on a cold winter evening. I typically drink two 12-14 oz mugs of coffee at breakfast, and another at lunch. I drink tea for supper. I rarely drink carbonated beverages. None of this is on my diet, so my belly protests, and it complicates medication management, but I do it anyway, and rely on my protection and medications to see me through.

I drink a mug of coffee in the morning and will also have several cigars through out the day. As for alcohol I have one drink at night to help me sleep. My urgency incontinence is not any worse for my habits. By the way drinking alcohol at night helps my blood sugar. It is down some, but not to low, the next morning, on the rare occasions that I do not have an alcoholic drink it can go up (I also take insulin). As other posts have stated, I feel that just about anything we eat, drink or do has an effect on us. You just have to decide for yourself what you want in life. As an adult we have a right to live our life as we see fit as long as it will not harm others.

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RetiredRN

While caffeine and alcohol do make my frequency and urgency issues worse, completely cutting them out doesn't yield such a drastic improvement that I no longer have those issues. With or without moderate caffeine and alcohol consumption, I'm still relying on diapers to get though my daily life. At this point, I'd be cutting out two simple pleasures for no real gain.

My coffee consumptions is similar to Puffy's and I definitely agree with Ender about not giving jul "simple pleasures." Coffee is the last thing I will give up before I have to have surgery. In addition to the physical boost from caffeine, my cup of hot coffee also is my emotional comfort. Lord knows that anyone dealing with incontinence needs some emotional comfort!

--John

Still drinking coffee, I tried cutting out coffee for a while and there was a difference but not enough for me to justify cutting coffee out permanently.