Y’all know how much I LOVE coffee.
Coffee is nectar to my soul, the elixir that promises that together we can accomplish ALL the things, and the comfort that I crave each morning.
BUUUUT……. Coffee is also a bladder IRRITANT.
It’s sad but true.
It can make you feel like you have to go pee more frequently, make the urge to go pee stronger, and it can worsen leaking.
Now I’m not hear to tell you to stop with the coffee. You get to make your own decisions and trust me, I get your love for that liquid black gold.
But I want you to be informed so that you can make your own decisions as to what is best for YOU.
Try abstaining from coffee for a week as see if your symptoms change. If they improve, well now you know!
Maybe that will mean that you stop drinking coffee (crickets chirping 🦗🦗🦗)
Maybe that will mean that you have just 1 cup rather than 2.
Maybe that will mean you switch to a lower acidity decaff coffee (which though still an irritant may be less so for you).
Maybe that will mean that when you look at the WOD and see double unders, you will skip your cup ‘o joe for that day, or just push it back until after your WOD.
For me personally, one cup is fine. But any more than that and my bladder is definitely irritated. This means that after 2 cups, I feel like I need to pee during double unders. For others, it might mean a leak. Everyone’s threshold is different. You might do better with none 😱. But once you know, then you get to make the choice based on that knowledge.
And coffee is just one of many potential bladder irritants. This is small part of what we often go through (amongst LOTS of other stuff) when dealing with concerns such as urinary urgency, frequency, bladder pain and leaking.
Need help with an unhappy bladder? Give me a call.
Teresa Waser, RX Physio