Pollakiuria is a term that is associated with describing the condition of abnormal urination and frequent visits to the washrooms during the day. Children often face Pollakiuria and find themselves facing the situation of an overactive bladder, which leads to urgent urination, numerous visits to the washroom, and not being able to control the urine for even a few seconds.
Pollakiuria, a word deriving from the Greek word, Pollakis, means “often” in literal terms. This condition is extremely common, and non-threatening to the human body. Pediatricians all over the world come across a number of cases of Pollakiuria in a year and claim that it is as common as bladder infections. Pollakiuria is seen to be more common in boys, who are aged between four to ten years. The condition can also be termed as “extraordinary daytime urinary frequency”, or “sham urinary tract infection.”
What Are the Symptoms of Pollakiuria?
1. Frequent Daytime Urination
A number of symptoms and characteristics are associated with Pollakiuria and these symptoms are extremely common. Children suffering from Pollakiuria may be subject to the development of frequent daytime urination all of a sudden. Even the children who have been toilet trained, will see the development of this symptom and will face frequent urination that leads them to the washroom every five to ten minutes. A child can be expected to urinate almost three to four times an hour, or as much as forty times a day!
2. Urinate Little Each Time
Another common characteristic of Pollakiruia is that it has no pain associated with it. Thus, the child is pain free during urination. It is also seen that although the child visits the toilet a number of times, he or she will urinate only a small amount of urine in every visit. Remember that the child will not face any incident of leakage of urine, unless their visit to the toilet is delayed.
3. Decrease in Fluid Intake
If your child is showing a sudden decrease in the amount of fluid intake, it may be a symptom of Pollakiuria. Although daytime urination frequency is increased, the child will experience nighttime urination as well but to a lesser extent.
School-aged children are most prone to Pollakiuria and can be prone to recurrent cycles of Pollakiuria, which can be stretched over a period of one to two years. Doctors have not been able to identify any bowel behavior alterations or any indication of infection in the child.
What Causes Pollakiuria?
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Causes |
Descriptions |
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Uncontrollable spasms in bladder muscles |
It is important to understand the causes of Pollakiuria in children. Children who face the problem of an overactive bladder, which leads them to frequent urination, usually have uncontrollable spasms in their bladder muscles. The bladder muscles present around the urethra are there to stop the urine from leaving the body at the wrong time. However, these muscles can be affected, if the bladder faces a strong contraction. |
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Infection in urinary tracts |
Any infection in the urinary tract can cause the urinary tract to become inflamed and this leads to severe discomfort. This inflammation and discomfort leads to a need to urinate frequently. It should be taken into account that certain neurological conditions can lead to these changes in the urinary tract. |
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Stress |
Another condition that can lead to an overactive bladder is stress. Doctors believe that stress is the main cause of Pollakiuria and this causes frequent daytime urination. It leads children to urinating very often. Pollakiuria can occur during the hours when the child is awake and sound. Pollakiuria, caused by stress, usually ends within two to three weeks without treatment. |
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Other factors |
There are a number of other causes of Pollakiuria, which include a greater consumption of caffeine that increases the production of urine and spasms in the bladder muscle. There are also different ingredients or food items, which may cause allergies to the children along with anxiety and stress, will make children hold on to their urine for a longer period of time and thus putting stress on their bladder. This will, in turn, create a decreased capacity of the bladder to hold urine and may even cause constipation. |
How to Treat Pollakiuria
1. Outgrow Pollakiuria Naturally
Most of the time, children are able to outgrow pollakiuria as their overactive bladder becomes normal after 2-3 weeks. After your child turns 5, his chances of getting an overactive bladder decrease by 15% every year. Your child starts learning to respond to the changes in his body and the changes in the capacity of his bladder. Moreover, if your child is undergoing any stress, he might experience from an overactive bladder, but this problem will settle down as soon as the stressful incident ends.
2. Bladder Training
On the other hand, if your child’s pollakiuria is unable to settle down on its own, then you need to give him proper treatment. This can include getting him a bladder training that will teach him how to control his bladder. Your child will be taught various exercises that will help him strengthen his urethra and establish coordination between the muscles of the bladder and the urethra to control the sudden urge to urinate frequently throughout the day. These exercises teach him to control urination when he does not have access to a toilet.
3. Keep a Healthy Lifestyle
Apart from that, there are other techniques as well that can help your kid in mitigating this condition. For instance, he is taught to control his intake of caffeine and foods that are rich in caffeine such as coffee. He has to avoid eating foods that can result in any allergy. Moreover, he has to establish a urinating routine that will help him control abnormal urination. He will also have to improve his personal hygiene and adopt healthy urinating habits, including urinating properly when he feels the need to urinate and relaxing his muscles during that time.
4. Medications
Besides these techniques, there are medicines that can help your child in combating an overactive bladder and pollakiuria. Oxybutynin is a medicine that helps in controlling the urgent need to urinate. It also treats different bladder infections. It relaxes the muscles of the bladder and hence prevents infections and conditions affecting the urinary tract.
Your child’s health care provider might prescribe him with antibiotics in case he has a urinary tract infection that has resulted in an overactive bladder.
More Tips on Dealing With Pollakiuria
There are other tips available to help manage the issue of Pollakiuria.
- You must indulge in developing the confidence in your children that he or she is healthy, and thus helping reduce the anxiety and stress in their minds.
- You do not have to consider getting X-rays done and you must prevent your children from getting scared of additional tests.
- You must also help your child understand that they can wait for a longer period of time to urinate that there will be no incident of urine leakage. The more confidence developed in the minds of the children, the better will be their bladder control.
- Work towards increasing the fluid intake of your child and make sure that no individual is mocking their frequent urine condition.
- If your child is experiencing abnormal symptoms, then it is best to visit a doctor.
