Leaky Bladder, Pelvic Floor, UTIs, & Constipation: Dr. Rena Malik Gives Solutions To Get Control

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Today, you are going to learn about something that impacts 40% of women and 30% of men. This topic can be embarrassing and difficult to talk about, but Mel is putting an end to the shame. Mel is opening up for the first time about her decades long struggle with leaky bladder and pelvic floor issues, sharing how they kept her from fully living, and what she did to finally stop suffering. She has invited Dr. Rena Malik, MD, one of the top urologists in the world, to have this important conversation with her, and to give you the specific solutions you need if you struggle with leaky bladder, pelvic floor issues, UTIs, and constipation. Dr. Rena is an absolute powerhouse who is known for her viral, no-shame, straight-to-the-point advice. She’s a top urologist and pelvic surgeon who specializes in female pelvic medicine, reconstructive surgery, and sexual medicine. Her YouTube videos have over 300 million views and she’s published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, multiple review articles, and book chapters. And today, you’ve got an appointment with her. Join Dr. Rena and Mel for a very personal, open, and solution-filled conversation so you can take control and stop suffering. This episode is so packed with actionable advice that you’ll want to share it with every person in your life who needs this information too. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/episode-200 Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 0:00 Intro 3:45: What’s the difference between “common” and “normal” bladder issues? 5:10: What happened to Mel when she delivered her first child led to shame and embarrassment. 9:15: 8 common signs you’re dealing with a pelvic floor issue. 12:40: Why is there so much shame around a leaky bladder? 14:20: Your pelvic floor, explained. 19:25: This is why your pelvic floor muscles stop working. 20:50: You’ve been doing kegels the wrong way. 21:15: How to test your pelvic floor muscles on your own. 23:55: Why do young women have leaky bladders? 25:05: Are you an athlete? You’re more susceptible to pelvic floor issues. 26:10: Wait on those kegels! If you have this, kegels will make it worse. 27:00: 3 yoga poses that will help you relax your pelvic floor. 27:30: Pain while you pee but there’s no UTI? This might be the cause. 28:05 What you can do if leakage is an issue. 32:50: This is what Mel did when the embarrassment was too much. 33.30: Signs that you have an overactive bladder. 35:50: How does alcohol and coffee impact your bladder health? 37:00: Do this when constipation is a problem. 38:00: Symptoms of urinary tract infections and what to do about it. 39:15: Do this every day and decrease your risk of UTI by 40%! 41:45: Here’s why it’s a red flag if a man gets a UTI. 45:05: Why UTIs are common if you’re sexually active. 44:20: Is it better for men to sit when they pee? 46:10: Why do men have a harder time peeing when they get older? 48:25: 4 things you can manage on your own to help with overactive bladder. 49:55: Can acupuncture help? 51:20: Look for this before you flush the toilet. 52:45: The #1 thing to do when you’re having trouble “down there”. — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@UCk2U-Oqn7RXf-ydPqfSxG5g Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Mel Robbins?

  Hey, it's your friend Mel and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast.

• 0:08Mel Robbins?

  It is always such an honor to be able to spend some time with you. And if you're brand new to the Mel Robbins Podcast, welcome to the family. I'm Mel Robbins. I'm on a mission to inspire and empower you with the tools and the expert resources that you deserve and that are going to help you create a better life. And you know, one of the things that you and I haven't talked about yet is something that I really struggled with early in life, and that is I had a leaky bladder. Now, I never envisioned a life where I would be having problems with my bladder, but it all started in my twenties after our first child was born. And it was literally like as soon as the birth was over, I almost immediately started having problems with leaking. I mean, first it happened when I would sneeze and then it became kind of a more consistent problem

• 0:54Mel Robbins?

  because at the time in my life, I was also doing a lot of running. And then it turned into an overactive bladder. And I just kind of kept thinking, okay, it's going to go away. It's going to go away. And then I started rationalizing it, thinking, oh, this is something that I'm just going to have to live with. I can live with this. But over the years, it just got worse and worse. And it turns out that bladder issues are extraordinarily common for both women and men. In fact, 40% of the women that you know will have issues with their bladder. And so today, you and I are going to have a conversation that every single person in your life needs to hear. Because if you've ever had a problem with constipation, with UTIs, with dribbling,

• 1:38Mel Robbins?

  my message to you is that you do not need to suffer in silence for decades like I did. You do not need to feel ashamed of what's going on. You're going to learn that all these things, UTIs, bladder issues, constipation, all kinds of stuff going on down there, it's extremely common. But if it's happening to you, it indicates that things are not functioning normally. There's a signal that something's wrong. Is it ever normal to leak urine? What are the causes of UTIs? Is there something natural that I can do that will... Help prevent them or treat them. What exactly is the pelvic floor? And what role does it play in your health? And why does it have something to do with constipation? And while we're on the topic of constipation,

• 2:23Mel Robbins?

  what exactly should normal poop look and feel like? The simple fact is, this is something that we need to talk about. Because you can't take control of something that you're not willing to talk about. So let's get into it.

• 2:44Mel Robbins?

  Hey, it's your buddy Mel. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I'm so excited that we are having this conversation. Because this is an issue that I have dealt with personally, literally for over a decade. It's something that I wish I would have faced head on sooner in my life. It would have improved my quality of life. And so I am really excited that you and I are going to learn a lot more about improving our pelvic health. Because Dr. Rena Malik is here today. She is a board certified fellowship trained urologist. She's a pelvic surgeon and a sexual health expert. She specializes in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery and sexual medicine. Now she runs a really busy medical practice

• 3:28Mel Robbins?

  that offers patient focused care and bladder health, sexual health and hormone management, with a particular expertise in urinary incontinence, which means leakage and accidents, and an overactive bladder. Dr. Rena is a medical powerhouse. She is known for her no shame, science-backed YouTube videos that have over 300 million views. She has also published over 80 peer-reviewed research articles, and her extraordinary contributions to the field of urology earned her the distinguished title of the 2023 American Urological Association Young Urologist of the Year. Now, this is a topic that I care deeply about. And so does Dr. Rena.

• 4:11Mel Robbins?

  Like 40% of you, I have dealt with bladder issues. And I suffered in silence for years about it. And I will not let you do the same. Dr. Rena is here to help you and your loved ones. And she's going to tell you exactly what you need to know and what to do about it in a no shame, matter of fact, medically accurate way. So, let's jump into it. Dr. Rena, I'm so excited that you are here and that we're going to talk about pelvic floor issues. And I want to start by having you speak directly to the person who's listening. What can they expect to change about their life based on what they're going to learn from you today?

• 4:56Speaker 01

  I think what you should know is that your pelvic floor is such an important part of your body that's often ignored. It can create a lot of problems, whether it's urinary issues, constipation issues, pain issues, and these can be corrected. And so you don't have to suffer in silence. You don't have to just live with it, right? These things that we're going to learn about and talk about today are not necessarily normal. They're very common, but they're not necessarily normal. So they can be fixed and treated and managed appropriately if you want help. But if you don't, that's okay, too. But ultimately, learning about your body and knowing what's possible is going to empower you to make better health decisions.

• 5:35Mel Robbins?

  What is the difference between common and normal? That struck me.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  Well, so, normal physiologic function is for bladder, let's talk about, is a bladder that can hold urine until an appropriate time, and you're able to delay and go to the bathroom at an appropriate time, empty your bladder completely, and not leak or have urgency or frequency at a rate that's problematic, right? And that's abnormal when those things occur. But again, it's very common for people to have things like bladder leakage, or have urge, like gotta go, gotta go. That doesn't mean that it's normal.

• 6:10Mel Robbins?

  Oh, so it's almost like you're not some weirdo if you're having issues with leaking or with constipation, but your body is designed to function in a better way. And we're going to talk about the connection between your body functioning in a better way and your pelvic floor health.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 6:30Mel Robbins?

  Well, this was my story. This is why I wanted to talk to you, because I had a... Wildly traumatic birth when our daughter Sawyer was born like over 25 years ago. Just forceps, vacuum delivery, then the placenta tour. I had to have a manual extraction and like lost all this blood. And I didn't realize it at the time, but all of that trauma to the birth canal basically just shredded all the muscles in that region. And from that point forward, I started having chronic issues with leaking urine. Like I would take a step and I would leak. I would sneeze, I would leak. Forget about jumping on a trampoline, forget about

• 7:12Mel Robbins?

  jumping rope. Like it started to profoundly impair the quality of my life. I just thought there was this wildly embarrassing thing that was happening to me that made me not want to go on a big hike, that made me stop running, something that I really love doing because I would literally soak my shorts by the time I was done running a mile. And so, you know, this is something that I lived with for a long time and I was really scared to do any kind of surgery around it, which I ultimately did. But I tried to strengthen the pelvic floor, but my case was so far gone after having three kids and letting it go for so long. Like I had so much shame around it, Dr. Rena, that I didn't even talk to anybody around it. I got pregnant

• 7:57Mel Robbins?

  again, had another baby, it got worse. I just started wearing maxi pads. Like it was a constant thing. And then finally, I'm like, this is interfering with the quality of my life. And I might have been able to do something had I had the courage to talk to a doctor like you right after Sawyer's birth to try to strengthen the pelvic floor. What other role does your pelvic floor play in your overall well-being and health?

• 8:23Speaker 01

  So it's sort of like an under-recognized, important structure in your body, right? So I always give it the example of like people who get TMJ, right? You never think about these muscles here until you're grinding your teeth at night or you're causing problems or waking up with headaches because you're having TMJ. It's the same thing. Your pelvic floor is really important. It does a lot of things. And if it's functioning normally- You never need to think about it. It's doing all it needs to do. You're feeling fine. Everything's great. Good. That's wonderful. And I really want to thank you for sharing your story because it is so common. This is what I trained in, female pelvic medicine.

• 8:58Mel Robbins?

  Oh, you did?

• 8:58Speaker 01

  That's what I did my fellowship in. Yeah.

• 8:59Mel Robbins?

  Wow.

• 9:00Speaker 01

  And I can't tell you the number of women who wait years. Like you ask them, how long have you had this for? 20 years? 40 years? Like, no joke, they've been living with leakage or prolapse or overactive bladder, which I know we're going to talk about for years. And they've been so busy taking care of their kids, their partner, their parents, anyone who needs them, but themselves. And so I hope whoever's listening, I hope if you're listening, that you're having these troubles, that you can take the courage it takes to go to the doctor and talk about this because, one, you might save yourself a surgery, but two, you're prioritizing yourself.

• 9:39Speaker 01

  And I always tell people, like, take care of yourself because you are worth it. And like, you need to do that. And I'm glad you did it. I wish you had done it earlier. But this story is going to help millions of people. Like, they are sitting at home, struggling with the same thing, crying about their diapers, right? Like, oh, my God, I have to wear adult diapers. I can't believe this. I'm 40 years old, or I'm 30 years old. I just had a baby. Like, it is extremely devastating. And we just like, oh, everyone leaks a little. Like, we just sort of brush it off like it's nothing.

• 10:09Mel Robbins?

  I wish I had addressed this at least a decade before I did. If not, even a decade and a half. And so the thing that I really want you to hear, whether you are younger and this is happening, or that you have had kids and this is happening, or you're older and you've been living with it, is that there's actually a lot that you can do about this. And so you can change this. And what I would love to talk about is, could you just list off? The symptoms that you may be dealing with a pelvic floor issue.

• 10:43Speaker 01

  So let's start with urine. Urinary urgency, gotta go, gotta go. Urinary frequency, going more often than usual. Urinary leakage, so that can be leakage that occurs because you cough, sneeze, do heavy things, do any, any exercise, that's called stress incontinence. And then there's leakage that occurs because you gotta go, gotta go, can't make it. And that's urge incontinence. They're different processes and they have different treatment options. Just, we can talk more about that if you want. You could have a little bit of both. If you're having difficulty emptying your bladder, or if you're having pain with urination and you've ruled out a urinary tract infection. So those are the common urinary complaints. Pelvic floor pain related complaints can be just feeling pain in the pelvic floor.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  So like you feel pain in the vagina, pain with sex, pain with orgasm, can be pain in the hips or backs that might be correlated with it. For bowel symptoms, you can have constipation. So if you're having difficulty emptying, it could be a fact that your sphincter, your muscles around the sphincter are not relaxing. And so you're having difficulty emptying or evacuating your colon. And so those are probably the most common symptoms. And I would just say, if you're having any of those, it's valuable, if you're bothered particularly, or if you're having pain, to see a doctor, urologist, a pelvic surgeon, a female pelvic surgery expert, uro-gynecologist, anyone that is available to you.

• 12:06Mel Robbins?

  I know it sounds like a dumb question because I hear uro-gynecologist or urologist and I'm like, oh, that's a pee pee doctor. I don't think about, you know, we go there and we talk to them about constipation. But I could see how, as we're learning that the pelvic floor and your pelvic floor health has way more function and importance from everything from normal bladder function to normal elimination function, to orgasm, to the overall health of that region of your body, it makes a lot of sense. How many people have pelvic floor issues?

• 12:40Speaker 01

  I mean, I don't think we have an accurate number because I think many are under diagnosed. But we know that up to 40% of women will have some prolapse. Very few of them will need anything for it. We know that up to a third of women will have urinary leakage. So it's very, very common. And to your point about, you know, should a urologist or urologist be able to talk to you about these things? A good urologist or urologist with female urology training will talk to you not only about your urinary symptoms, but about your constipation, about your neurologic symptoms. Because I had mentioned sometimes it can be neurologic.

• 13:15Mel Robbins?

  What do you mean?

• 13:16Speaker 01

  So maybe you had a back injury and maybe you injured something in your spine that could be causing issues. So they'll talk to you about that. They'll talk to you about your sexual function. So you should be having a really holistic approach in terms of like the, all these things can contribute. So a lot of people don't know that constipation can cause urinary problems just in and of itself. So if you're just constipated, you might find yourself going more often to the bathroom. You might find yourself going more frequently, going urgently or waking up at night because it's all full of stool and it's pushing against the bladder. Sometimes people will be more likely to get urinary tract infections if they're constipated. So like, these are things that are very interconnected, which is why we always talk about them.

• 13:57Mel Robbins?

  You know, I'm just curious, why is there so much shame around having a leaky bladder?

• 14:04Speaker 01

  Well, I think it just feels very degrading to people. You feel like you're not in control of your bodily functions and it's like wearing a diaper, smelling like urine. It is very, very debilitating for people to the point where they stop going out in public. Like they stop seeing their friends, they stop going to movies because they can't sit through the movie without having a leak. Or like, they stop doing things they love because they're so embarrassed by it. And it's one thing, if you're not embarrassed, great. But I think the majority of people really fall into that category. And once we're there, like, it's not just the implications of, oh, you're leaking. It's the implications of, okay, now you're not having social connection. Now you're depressed. Now you're not productive in life. It's very multifactorial, the impact of incontinence and why.

• 14:50Speaker 01

  We just throw it away like it's nothing like it's really an important problem. And I'm sorry, but for a lot of people pads are just that's not an answer they want to live with. But for some people that's that is and that's fine, but pads are also really expensive. So like for a lot of people, spending money every month on pads is an exorbitant expense. And so I think like you don't need to suffer in silence, you don't need to suffer in shame. We are here to help you like I love taking care of patients who have these issues because I can change their life. Like they are dramatically happier after they see me, right? And sometimes it takes a little work, right? Like if we're going to try medications or try some things, the first thing may not work. And that's okay, we're on a journey together to get you better.

• 15:29Mel Robbins?

  Awesome. Okay, so what is the pelvic floor?

• 15:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, so the pelvic floor is actually part of your core. So people don't realize this, they think of core, they think of abdominal muscles, but it's actually a bowl of muscles that sits in the pelvis that holds up your organs. So holds up your bladder, holds up your uterus for women, holds up your rectum. And it also attaches to different parts in our on our bones. So it attaches to the coccyx, which is like the the end of the spine. It attaches to the hips and to the pelvic bones. And so these areas are all interconnected. And it's a very important group of muscles and it does a lot of different things for us. So it does things like control our sphincters, right? So when you want to urinate, your sphincter is is holding until you're ready and at the bathroom.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  And it relaxes and allows urination to come out. Similarly with your bowels, your sphincter is contracted until you're ready to defecate or have a bowel movement. And then it opens and you have stool come out, right? And so that's part of it. It's also part of supporting your organs. So for women, very often you'll see women can develop something called prolapse, where they may have a vaginal hernia. And that's usually because of a weakness of the pelvic floor. So it's important for supporting these organs. It's important for stability. So every time you take a step, you're actually activating your pelvic floor. So it helps us with stability. And it also helps us with sexual function. When you have an orgasm, those muscles contract and squeeze. And that's sort of what gives you that sensation of part of the sensation of an orgasm.

• 17:00Speaker 01

  And then it's also a sump pump. So it helps with lymphatic fluid and clearing our lymphatic fluids and pushing it up to our heart and clearing that through our bodies.

• 17:08Mel Robbins?

  So I'm going to take a quick pause. We're going to hear a short word from our sponsors. Please share this. Share this with your partner. Share this with somebody that you want to talk about with this. Share this with somebody that could use this information. This is important, even though it's kind of embarrassing. I'll do the embarrassing talk. You stay with me because we're just getting started. I'll see you after a short break.

• 17:37Mel Robbins?

  Welcome back. It's your friend Mel Robbins and you and I are here today with the extraordinary Dr. Rena Malik. Dr. Rena, so when anybody used to say pelvic floor, I would throw that term into a giant word casserole with kegels and your abdominals. Like I really didn't even know what people were talking about. And so I want to get really granular just because, again, you said this is a very important part of your anatomy that we don't talk about enough, that has an impact on everything from normal urinary function, normal pooping, your orgasm,

• 18:19Mel Robbins?

  all of it. And so the way you just described it, it almost sounds like it is this web of muscle that goes from what, like the top inner part of your legs and all around? Like is it like a hammock down there?

• 18:32Speaker 01

  It's sort of like a hammock. Yeah, it's a bunch of different muscles. There's actually layers to it. So if you look at a pelvis, there's like the outer layer and then you peel it back, there's more layers deep inside. But to give you an example of how we assess the pelvic floor, that may be sort of help you in three dimensions. So when I assess a pelvic floor for a female, I will touch them with a gloved finger, obviously with consent, all those things. I'll actually insert a finger in the vagina and say squeeze my finger with your vaginal muscles. And I can assess if they're working appropriately, or if they're weak, or they're strong, or they're tense. For men, we do this exam through the rectum because there's no vagina, right? And so that's how we can feel the pelvic floor muscles there.

• 19:09Mel Robbins?

  Got it. Okay, so if I'm sitting in this chair right now, am I sitting on my pelvic floor?

• 19:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:15Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 19:16Speaker 01

  It's engaged.

• 19:17Mel Robbins?

  It's engaged. Okay. And it's holding organs in place. It's helping with the proper function of all the organs in that region of your body. And what happens in a woman's body when your pelvic floor muscles are weak?

• 19:33Speaker 01

  Well, so why do they get weak? First of all, let's talk about that, right?

• 19:36Mel Robbins?

  Great. Cause we, we work hard to like lift weights and all of a sudden you see definition in your bicep. And so, ooh, I got like strong bicep muscles. Are we born with strong pelvic floor muscles? Or is this something that we're supposed to be working on?

• 19:49Speaker 01

  So because you're using them all the time, right? You're activating them with steps. You're always using them, right? But it's a matter of like, are they going through their full range of motion? Or are they tight? Or are they weak? And you can't really put them through their full range of motion. So there can be causes that can make them too tight. And there's causes that can make them too weak. Let's start with weakness. So weakness most commonly happens because of childbirth, right? So you're carrying a baby, whether you have a vaginal delivery or a C-section, you're still carrying that extra weight for nine months, right? So that can put strain on those muscles. Also, if you have a vaginal delivery, that's another yet insult to the pelvic floor that can cause weakness. And then say you have a job where you stand a lot, right?

• 20:32Speaker 01

  Say you're like on your feet, like a hairdresser, a nurse, you're on your feet all day long. Or you have a chronic cough, or you have a neurologic condition, or you have a genetic condition. All these things can affect the pelvic floor and cause it to be weak. Now, what does that mean, right? Who cares if it's weak, right? So the most common thing you'll see is that women will have leakage. So they'll leak with cough, with exercise, with bending over, with standing up. Um, or even as little as very small exercise, depending on how weak their pelvic floor is. I want to reassure you that it's not dangerous, but it can be very uncomfortable and inconvenient.

• 21:07Mel Robbins?

  And what I would love to talk about is how does childbirth impact the functioning of the pelvic floor?

• 21:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. So when I describe the pelvic floor, sometimes think of it like a boat, right? A boat that's held up by rope and then you've got the water below it, right?

• 21:24Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  And so think about the muscles as the water below it, holding it up.

• 21:28Mel Robbins?

  Oh, hold on. Let me just see if I'm tracking.

• 21:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:31Mel Robbins?

  So the boat is actually like your bladder and your vagina and your rectum and all that stuff that's in there?

• 21:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:38Mel Robbins?

  And your pelvic floor is the water it's floating in?

• 21:40Speaker 01

  Right. So, so think about that when the water goes down, everything's coming down. Or the water can stay reasonably strong, but those ligaments can stretch, those ropes that are holding from having childbirth. Those ligaments can stretch and get weak and that can then cause problems. So sort of, there's two different ways you can see pelvic floor problems. They're both related to childbirth. One is your muscles get weak because they've been carrying this heavy thing around. And then you have a traumatic childbirth. I'm glad you talked about forceps and vacuum deliveries. Those things can also increase your risk, maybe even episiotomies. You know, back in the day, they used those routinely, right? Everyone got an episiotomy. And so that can weaken the pelvic floor as well. So all these things can affect your strength of your pelvic floor.

• 22:25Speaker 01

  And for those people who have these issues, strengthening your pelvic floor, as you mentioned, can be very helpful. But people are like, okay, how do I do that? Right? So people will hear about kegels and they'll be like, how do I even do that? Right? We think that as women, we know how to do that. Right? But I will tell you, nine times out of 10, I'll have a woman come in and I'll be like, this is how you do a kegel. And she's like, oh my God, I didn't, I wasn't doing it right. Right? Sometimes it's very helpful to see a pelvic floor, certified pelvic floor, physical therapist. It's like going to the gym with a trainer, right? They're going to actually guide you on how to do these exercises and monitor your progress. But basically what it is, is you're squeezing up and in those muscles. So it's sort of like if you were peeing and you stopped the flow of urine.

• 23:05Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 23:05Speaker 01

  Or if you're holding in a fart, right? Those are sort of the muscles you're contracting. But you don't want to squeeze your belly and your butt. You just want to focus on those vaginal muscles.

• 23:15Mel Robbins?

  See, I just tried one and I squeezed my butt. It was like butt cheeks. No, okay, but that's not a.

• 23:19Speaker 01

  It's very hard to do, right? It's not that easy. And so it actually requires some training and to make sure you're doing it correctly. And people think, oh, I did hundreds of them, right? When you go to the gym, you don't do hundreds of bicep curls on the first day, right? So I tell people, do it lying down first.

• 23:35Mel Robbins?

  And what do I do? So I'm lying down?

• 23:36Speaker 01

  You lie down, you focus on trying to contract those muscles, like visualizing like, oh, I'm squeezing, you know, holding fart in, but I'm not squeezing my butt.

• 23:44Mel Robbins?

  How the hell, how do you hold a fart in without squeezing your butt?

• 23:47Speaker 01

  Well, I mean.

• 23:48Mel Robbins?

  Doesn't your butt like block the, like, it's a, I know, but what about like? If is there, because you mentioned something about as a doctor, when you're doing an exam.

• 23:58Speaker 01

  So yeah, I put a finger in the vagina and I have them squeeze it. So if you put your own finger and you can actually feel the squeeze and the relax.

• 24:04Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 24:05Speaker 01

  Right? So you can do that. You can also like when you're peeing, just to get a sense, stop the flow of urine. Don't do that all the time. I don't want you doing kegels every time you pee, but just to understand where the muscles are.

• 24:15Mel Robbins?

  Gotcha. And then you can go to your back because now you understand the motion that you're asking us to do.

• 24:20Speaker 01

  So start lying down.

• 24:22Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 24:22Speaker 01

  Don't focus on standing, sitting. You're not using any other muscles or you're just really focusing on those. Five seconds squeeze, five seconds relax. Five seconds squeeze, five seconds relax. Do like 10 to 15. And then, you know, do maybe once a day, then go to twice a day, then do a couple sets of it, right? Once you get really comfortable, then you can start doing it sitting, right? And then again, once you get really comfortable, you can do it standing, but it's just like going to the gym. It takes progression. You're not just going to be a skilled, amazing kegeler just because you heard about how to do it. If you have access to a physical therapist, they are like, they're gold. Like they're so helpful.

• 24:56Mel Robbins?

  Well, you know, I implore you to take Dr. Rena's advice because it was too late for that kind of intervention for me because I had gone a decade and a half and everything was so far destroyed from that birth drama and a lack of any kind of intervention on my part, that I think it's really important. I want to ask quickly though, because I know that women who have had a childbirth experience or carrying a child can have leaking issues and pelvic floor problems. But younger women who are in their twenties can also have issues with leaking. Why does that happen?

• 25:38Speaker 01

  So either it can be they have a weak pelvic floor because of a genetic issue or because of some other thing they've been doing. But more often what happens is that their pelvic floor is very tight or very tense. Like we see this often in like gymnasts or like very active young women where the pelvic floor is very tense and they actually can't squeeze those muscles when they need to, right? Because it's already so tense. So say they're going to do. With stressful activity like jump on a trampoline, their muscle can't squeeze because it's already super tense. It can't move anymore. And so then they leak because of that. And so it can be either weakness or too tightness, but it can present in different ways. And sometimes they can just be like, yeah, they've, they've smoked and they cough a lot, or they're getting other, it can

• 26:20Speaker 01

  be non-childbirth related, but they could be getting a lot of stress from other things that are going on in their life, whether it's a health condition or cough, chronic cough, or things like genetic issues. So it's always needs to be evaluated because it's not, it's not like all young people have tight pelvic floors and all old people have weak pelvic floors. It's very unique to the individual.

• 26:39Mel Robbins?

  Got it. So do you see a tight pelvic floor more with athletes?

• 26:43Speaker 01

  Uh, yeah, probably, probably. I mean, I think it's, it's sort of a function of like, they're doing a lot of exercises that sometimes may also be contracting the pelvic floor. A lot of times we'll see like people are not breathing well when they're exercising, right? They're holding their breath. Usually elite athletes know how to breathe and all that, but it's like usually people who are not elite athletes and they're breath holding a lot. So when you exert, you know, why trainers teach you when you exert, you need to exhale, it's because your pelvic floor stabilizes when you exhale. And so you need your pelvic floor to be strong when you're lifting. And then when you relax, you can then inhale. And so you actually have to actively do that so that you're not straining your pelvic floor every time you lift.

• 27:24Mel Robbins?

  So we've talked about the exercises, but are there ways to strengthen your pelvic floor to also reduce pain that you may feel in this part of your body?

• 27:33Speaker 01

  So if you have pain, I think before you start any exercises, please see someone who's an expert in female pelvic medicine or urogynecology, because you may have a tight pelvic floor. And if you have a tight pelvic floor, Kegel exercises are going to make it worse. So it's really important. Yeah. So if you have tension in your pelvic floor, you're just squeezing muscles that are already too tense, right?

• 27:55Mel Robbins?

  How would you know if it's tense versus loose?

• 27:57Speaker 01

  It's really hard for you as an individual to know. Like you can actually, like I said, like I do an exam, I feel the muscles. You can feel the muscles and see if they cause tension. So I think ultimately, it's really important to get evaluated appropriately because Kegels are not for everybody. And there's more than just kegels. Let me just preface that. We talk about kegels a lot, but there's many exercises you can do to strengthen the pelvic floor. A lot of like yoga work and Pilates work is actually quite good for the pelvic floor. But if you have tension in the pelvic floor, you want to focus on muscles that stretch and elongate those muscles. So some of these can include things like happy baby pose, or child's pose, or like a really low, deep squat. So on my podcast, we interviewed a pelvic floor physical therapist and made like

• 28:42Speaker 01

  a pelvic floor day. And so that was sort of like what we came up with in terms of these are things you can easily do at home, a few sets of them, you know, 10 of them, and that will help you relax the pelvic floor as well. And so I think it's really important in those cases that this can treat a lot of different issues. Also, one I didn't mention is recurrent UTIs. So it's not that they're actually getting UTIs, but they're feeling pain when they urinate, which is very similar to a UTI, but the cultures keep coming back negative. And that could be due to an overly tight pelvic floor.

• 29:16Mel Robbins?

  Wow. I have somebody in my life who's coming to mind.

• 29:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:20Mel Robbins?

  Who I think has a very tight pelvic floor.

• 29:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:23Mel Robbins?

  And I think it's why this person struggles with constipation and urinary tract issues.

• 29:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, I hope that everyone can identify one person that they can tell to get evaluated because that you could change their life.

• 29:34Mel Robbins?

  Dr. Rena, this feels like a great time to take a quick break, and we will be waiting for you after a short word from our sponsors. So don't you dare go anywhere. Stay with us.

• 29:53Mel Robbins?

  Welcome back. It's your friend Mel. And Dr. Rena and I are waiting for you. We're going to keep digging into the science, the medicine, everything that you need to know about improving your sexual health. And you know what I want to talk about next, Dr. Rena? How do you know when leaking is something that's just like incidental versus something that is a problem?

• 30:18Speaker 01

  So again, it's usually not a huge issue. It's more of a quality of life issue. But when you're starting to have recurrent infections, it may be a sign that you're not emptying your bladder well, and that's part of why you're leaking. So that's one sort of thing. And two, like, your quality of life does matter. So what I worry about a lot in my patients is them waking up at night to pee. Because if you wake up at night, it's dark, you're navigating to the bathroom, something's in the way you fall. If you fracture your hip and you're a little bit older, your risk of dying in that year after a hip fracture is like 20%. So it is a big deal to wake up at night. It's not only just interrupting your sleep, but it puts you at risk for falls.

• 31:00Speaker 01

  And so I think it's really important if you're having a very challenging quality of life because you're waking up a lot at night, or you can't even do your job because you're in the bathroom every 30 minutes. These are important things. It's not just a nuisance or something incidental. It's important.

• 31:14Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, I mean, for me personally, it got to the point where I stopped doing things like dancing. I didn't want to dance at a wedding because the spinning around and all that stuff, which I love to dance with my husband, I would have to change the maxi pad that I was wearing. And the other thing that started to really bother me is, you know, I could tolerate, okay, I'm gonna go climb a mountain and on the descent, it's gonna be an absolute nightmare. I could tolerate that, knowing it was just a day of dealing with it. But what started to really bother me is I would go to get up out of my chair and I'm leaking. And I'm like, that's it. And every time I would go to go to the bathroom, I would

• 31:55Mel Robbins?

  empty the bladder and then I'd have to stand up halfway and do a squat and get in a totally different physical position in order to empty it the rest of the way. And I'm like, okay, there is something profoundly wrong here.

• 32:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, so what you're describing is people do end up having to do certain maneuvers to help them empty. Sometimes they'll have to splint, which is like they'll actually put their fingers in the vagina and either push down the rectum to poop or push up their bladder to urinate. Again, this is not like life threatening, but it is a huge quality of life issue. And I think in society, like people are, especially doctors, they have so much to do. They're like, If you're not having a heart attack or diabetes or high blood pressure, you're okay, but I don't think you're okay, right? I think your quality of life matters a lot. And I see the far reaching effects of it, not just physically, not just the risk of falling, but the emotional toll it takes on people. It is really remarkable.

• 32:45Mel Robbins?

  Should you be worried if like you're jumping rope or you hop on a trampoline or you're going for a run and you find yourself leaking when you do those things?

• 32:54Speaker 01

  Yeah. So again, very common, as I mentioned, not normal. So what can you do, right? You can do nothing. You can be fine with it. You can buy things over the counter, like some people will put a tampon in because it'll put some pressure on the urethra. You could even buy a product that is made for incontinence. It's like a tampon. It's a bit wider.

• 33:11Mel Robbins?

  I used to use that.

• 33:12Speaker 01

  Yeah. And so that can help.

• 33:13Mel Robbins?

  Cause it's like lifting everything up. It's sort of like, if you think about it this way, your muscles are supposed to be doing that job. But when you use that product inside yourself, the muscles then activate to clench that thing.

• 33:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:26Mel Robbins?

  Which then, you know, snatches it all right up.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  So you can buy that over the counter or you can get a pessary, which is like a pessary.

• 33:34Mel Robbins?

  Pessary.

• 33:35Speaker 01

  Silicone dish and they come in different shapes and sizes. The most common is like a dish shape. So if you remember diaphragms from like back in the day, it's sort of like that. You put it in the vagina and you get fitted for one at your doctor's office and it lifts things up. And it also in people who leak sometimes has a little knob on the end that pushes against the urethra. So there are options like that available. And then there's surgical options, which I think, you know, people get really scared when they hear surgery, but there are now procedures that are quite effective that are like done in a day in the office and you go home the same day and you don't have any downtime. So there's like what's called bulking agents where you inject, the most popular one is like a water based gel into the wall of the urethra that then acts like a cushion, the urethra again being the pee tube,

• 34:17Speaker 01

  that acts like a cushion so that when you cough, sneeze, lift heavy things, there's a little bit of resistance there now when you do those things. And so that's sort of like a very quick and easy procedure that you can try. And it doesn't burn any bridges in terms of like, if you want to have surgery later down the road. And then there's slings, as I know you've had, which is either you can use mesh or you can use your own tissues to put underneath the urethra. That acts like a backboard so that when you do these activities where you cough, sneeze, lift heavy things, there's now this support there that prevents the urine from leaking out.

• 34:50Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, the sling changed my life and I avoided that surgery for five or six years because I was terrified. I was scared something would go wrong. I was scared like that, I don't know, there would be some complication and it was so easy. And as soon as I was done with it and I got over my shame and my embarrassment and just frustration and I finally, like you're talking about, went to see a specialist and understood that this is common, but not normal. I didn't need to live with this. It was a procedure that was literally in and out, two days of rest and my whole life changed. My whole freaking life changed. How do you know if you have an overactive bladder? What are the surprising signs?

• 35:32Speaker 01

  So we talked about some of them. So it's usually you're going more often. So like more than eight times a day. Eight is considered technically normal. So if you're going more than eight times a day. Now, of course, I caution that with if you're drinking a ton, like a lot of people are drinking a gallon of water, they're walking around with that big water bottle. You're gonna go a lot, right? So like sort of use your judgment in terms of like, okay, maybe if I cut back my fluid, it'll save you a trip to the doctor, right? Maybe if I cut back my fluid and see if it's still a problem, then you can make a decision like I love my water intake. I'm going to keep doing it. Fine, but you're gonna go a lot, right? So that I think a lot of people, sometimes it's like, hey, you know, look out at your fluid intake going urgently. So usually you get an urge, everyone gets an urge to pee, right? But can you delay it?

• 36:13Speaker 01

  Can you actually like take a second, finish what you're doing, walk calmly to the bathroom? Or is it so strong that you gotta go, gotta go and you can't wait? And is that becoming a problem, right? Of course, occasionally we've all held our urine, right? You're in a long car ride. You've done something and then that urge does become very strong. But say that becomes very bothersome, very problematic, that's another sign. And then waking up at night to urinate and that's sort of more complex because a lot of factors at nighttime that wake you up. But certainly waking up at night to urinate and that's usually one or more times. If you're above the age of like 55 to 65, usually people will wake up once. Before that, usually not. And the reason for that is because your body starts making about a third of your urine at night

• 36:57Speaker 01

  because of changes in your hormones and things and signals from your brain. And so you'll start making about a third of your urine at night. And so you will have to wake up once because your bladder just can't hold that much.

• 37:08Mel Robbins?

  So how often?

• 37:11Mel Robbins?

  Is it normal to pee at night or should you not be peeing at night?

• 37:14Speaker 01

  None if you're younger than about 55 and once after about 55.

• 37:18Mel Robbins?

  And if you're drinking though?

• 37:20Speaker 01

  If you're drinking a ton either before bedtime or you, some people will like have a glass of water at their bedside and they'll wake up to pee. Yeah, absolutely. You're gonna have to wake up. So you sort of manage your quality of life versus how thirsty you are and like how bothered you are, right? But if you're like, man, I really need my sleep, then you gotta quit that glass of water by your bed or stop drinking a couple hours before bedtime.

• 37:40Mel Robbins?

  How does alcohol impact the bladder?

• 37:43Speaker 01

  So alcohol and caffeine, which we're drinking today too, is like, is a bladder irritant. And there's a few other bladder irritants I'll name, but basically what, these are probably the most popular or most common culprits of bladder irritation. And so what they do is they change the sensitivity of the bladder. So it had its spasms and it gives you that urge to go more often. Also caffeine and alcohol are diuretics. So you make more urine than you put in. It's not a lot. It's not a huge amount of change in, in volume, but it is a little bit more. And so both those things can affect you and it can change over a lifetime. So somebody can be like, I've been drinking the same amount of coffee my whole life. And now I drink that cup and I gotta go. And I tell people, look, I would never stop drinking coffee. So I'm not going to tell you to stop, but I would say, hey, why don't you drink one cup caffeinated and one cup not?

• 38:28Speaker 01

  Or have half caf or, you know, just experiment with it just so you know that that's what's causing it. And once you know, you make a decision, right? Because I'm not going to tell you what to do. You make a decision. It may not bother you at all. Some people do develop a tolerance. And same thing with alcohol. Some people, depends on the type of alcohol, but certainly people will notice they're going more often with alcohol.

• 38:49Mel Robbins?

  Are there things that you should avoid eating or drinking if you struggle with constipation?

• 38:55Speaker 01

  So yeah, with constipation, in terms of what you should do is increase fiber intake. So that's really helpful. And of course, if you're increasing fiber intake, you need to drink more fluid, walk more, move more. That helps your bowels move more. And then you can also try things like dates or kiwis that can help sort of move things along a little better. I have this little recipe. I'll sometimes give my patients. It's like applesauce, prune juice and like a little bran fiber mix. And they make this little concoction, you just eat a spoonful. I mean, it works for some people and for some people it doesn't. But I think ultimately there are things you can incorporate in your diet. And then things that are sort of going to stop you up are like cheeses and meats and those sorts of things. So if you, all the good stuff. So like, you know, if you're going to have a bad weekend and eat a bunch of crap, like you're probably going to get a little backed up.

• 39:40Speaker 01

  But as long as you go back to the good, healthy, sort of fibrous, nutritious foods, you should get back to normal.

• 39:45Mel Robbins?

  Can you talk a little bit about UTIs?

• 39:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'd love to. So urinary tract infections are essentially infections of the bladder. And what you often see in terms of symptoms are pain with urination. You'll have pain in the lower abdomen. You'll have sometimes pain in your lower back or upper back because sometimes it can cause kidney pain. It can cause more of that urgency frequency we've been talking about so much. And sometimes people will, they'll describe it very sort of textbook. They're going a lot, but when they get there, very little is coming out and it hurts. That's sort of the very textbook thing, but it doesn't always have to just be that.

• 40:19Mel Robbins?

  Why does it hurt?

• 40:20Speaker 01

  So there's always some bacteria, there's this like misnomer that's urine is sterile. We know now that urine's not sterile. There's always some bacteria, but you're getting a high concentration of bacteria that's causing your bladder to have pain. Right? So it's causing pain. So when you have a lot of bacteria, think of any infection, right? You cut your hand, you get infections, it hurts, right? So you get an infection, it hurts, and then typically it's treated with antibiotics. And so very commonly, women get UTIs. Usually you'll get one in your lifetime and then, you know, it's common to get more than one. But when it becomes a problem is if you're having what we call recurrent urinary tract infection. So that's defined as two within six months or three within a year. So one thing you can do for your recurrent UTIs is increase your fluid intake.

• 41:03Speaker 01

  So they've actually shown that if you drink two to three liters of water a day, it will reduce your risk of UTIs by 46%.

• 41:12Mel Robbins?

  Wow. So just drinking two to three liters of fluid a day decreases UTI risk by 40 plus percent?

• 41:19Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 41:19Mel Robbins?

  Wow. Okay.

• 41:20Speaker 01

  So that's an easy one, right?

• 41:22Mel Robbins?

  We can do that.

• 41:22Speaker 01

  You're diluting the bacteria and our bodies are pretty amazing that 40% of the time, if you have any bacteria, your body will just take care of it, right? And you don't have to treat it if it goes away, right?

• 41:32Mel Robbins?

  Does cranberry truly treat it too?

• 41:34Speaker 01

  So yeah, cranberry, there's some data on cranberries, actually in our American Urological Association Guidelines for recurrent UTIs that you can use cranberry. The evidence is solid enough that cranberry may help prevent recurrent UTIs. Now, what kind of cranberry, right? If you're buying the sugar filled cranberry juice, that's like 5% juice, that's not going to work.

• 41:53Mel Robbins?

  Right. The cranberry cocktail.

• 41:55Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 41:55Mel Robbins?

  We're not, we're not talking about that, everybody.

• 41:57Speaker 01

  You can try concentrated cranberry juice, although I find it to be very difficult to drink and like it's very unpalatable.

• 42:04Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 42:04Speaker 01

  So usually you want to look for a cranberry supplement that's made from the berry itself, not, you don't, actually you don't want a whole berry product because they're using the skins and the stems of the berry. You actually want it from the fruit of the berry itself. It needs to be in a soluble form and it needs to have 36mg of proanthocyanidins. So you'll see that on the supplement itself, 36 PACs is a short nomer for it. So that has been shown to help. I use it all the time for my patients. I think it's, it's successful in helping a lot of people prevent UTIs. And then the other thing is we talked about constipation, but commonly that's an issue. And then, you know, we want to make sure there's nothing else going on. So if you try those things and you're still getting UTIs, you want to make sure you don't have a kidney stone.

• 42:48Speaker 01

  If you've had a surgery down there, like say you've had a sling, you want to make sure there's no stitch or anything in your bladder. So you want a urologist to look in there and make sure there's nothing going on.

• 42:56Mel Robbins?

  So if I'm hearing correctly, is there a connection between being constipated and getting a UTI?

• 43:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely. So when-

• 43:03Mel Robbins?

  Why?

• 43:04Speaker 01

  I mean, we don't know the exact reason, but likely it's because it's full of stool and there's more bacteria from the stool that are more likely to get into the vagina and into the urethra. And the reason women get them more often is because our urethra is shorter. It's about two to three centimeters long, whereas men's urethra is significantly longer. So, men don't get UTIs that much. And if a man gets a UTI, he shouldn't wait for two or three. He should see a urologist because men shouldn't get UTIs. So, there may be something really going on. Maybe he's not emptying his bladder, maybe his prostate is inflamed, whatever. But just to get evaluated to make sure there's nothing else going on.

• 43:37Mel Robbins?

  Dr. Rena, do you also recommend that after sex, you go to the bathroom right away?

• 43:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, so that's a great question. I think that people think that you have to. And I say, there's no good data saying that if you pee after sex, like you're, you know, you're definitely preventing a UTI. But you bring up a good point that UTIs after sex are common. Now, it doesn't mean that you're dirty or your partner's dirty. It just means that the actual action of sex is going to make it so that you're having this thrusting motion, bacteria are more likely to get into the urethra and have a urinary tract infection. And, you know, if you're having specifically infections after sex, there are sort of techniques that we can help you with in terms of like, you could try maybe a cranberry supplement on the day of sex and on the day after. You can try increasing fluid intake. You could

• 44:24Speaker 01

  even take like a very low dose antibiotic after sex if it's really an issue, but ultimately get evaluated to make sure nothing else is going on. And then we have some sort of tools in our toolbox to help.

• 44:34Mel Robbins?

  Is cranberry really that effective to prevent it? Because, you know, I think a lot of us have had an experience where you had an amazing weekend, you went away with the person that you're crazy about. You have sex all frickin' weekend long. You come home, you're exhausted, you're a little sore. Next thing you know, UTI. Like textbook, yeast infection, boom, UTI. And so, simply that cranberry with the 36, like that's powerful enough if you kind of do it before and after?

• 45:03Speaker 01

  You know, there's no data on that. But that's sort of something that like, if you don't want to take an antibiotic, like say, you know, you definitely don't want to do that. It's something we can try.

• 45:10Mel Robbins?

  Got it.

• 45:11Speaker 01

  And what I would say is, you know, if you're having a crazy wild weekend, you're probably the Dehydrated, right? So that's probably part of it. Or you're traveling, you're not drinking as much. You're not moving as much. Like, there's a lot of factors. Very often, we see it around travel. So because people are dehydrating themselves around travel, you don't realize it, right? You're just like having a great time. You're not thinking about how much fluid you're taking in. And so those are usually part of it, too.

• 45:33Mel Robbins?

  And the hydration is important because it helps you flush any bacteria that you've picked up out of your system.

• 45:38Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 45:39Mel Robbins?

  Amazing. You make this so easy to understand.

• 45:42Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 45:43Mel Robbins?

  Which then makes me feel very empowered to be able to take care of myself.

• 45:48Speaker 01

  That's wonderful. That's the goal.

• 45:49Mel Robbins?

  And I understand that you say that men should pee sitting down, Dr. Rena?

• 45:55Speaker 01

  I don't think you have to pee sitting down. So there's, where this came from was there was like this study done where they interviewed like 7,000 men around the country, around the world, and they found that German men sit more. And like 40% of old German men sit to pee, whereas like obviously in the US and other countries like UK and Australia, no one sits, right? And so then people were like, oh, sitting is better, sitting is better. So when you're sitting, you can really relax your pelvic floor. So it will allow the urine to flow better. So what I tell women when they're struggling to pee is like, sit down, open up your legs wide, lean forward, and sort of just relax and try to let the urine flow. Similarly, men can do those things to help urine flow through the pelvic floor. If they have something like an enlarged prostate,

• 46:37Speaker 01

  or, you know, that's usually the most common cause of difficulty is urinating. They may actually have a better time or be more effective emptying their bladder, sitting down. Now, if they don't, it doesn't matter. Stand, sit, whatever you feel comfortable with. But sometimes people do find benefit for going twice. So if you feel like you're not emptying, what I tell women to do is sit, pee, relax, like open your legs wide, really bend forward, and then stand up, walk around, sit back down and pee again. So if you have like a little bit of prolapse even, sometimes that urine can sort of shift and it'll help it come out. And with men, I'll say the same thing. Like, if you stand to pee, stand to pee, walk away, do a little walk, come back and try to pee a little more. And sometimes it'll get a little bit more out.

• 47:18Speaker 01

  If you're having issues like, you know, you're maybe going a lot to the bathroom or you're having UTIs, you might have a little leftover there. And so when you come to the urologist, we actually scan your bladder. So after you pee, we'll put a little scanner on there to see how much urine is left so we can get a sense of what's actually going on.

• 47:33Mel Robbins?

  So why do men have trouble peeing as they get older?

• 47:37Speaker 01

  So the number one cause is the prostate. So the prostate is essentially this walnut shaped organ that sits underneath the bladder, sits around the urethra, the pee tube, and it enlarges. So if you think about, it enlarges in almost everybody. Eighty percent of eighty year olds will have an enlarged prostate. So it's very common. So it's like when you're drinking from a straw.

• 47:57Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 47:57Speaker 01

  So say you go and get your bubble tea and you have a big wide straw.

• 48:00Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 48:00Speaker 01

  Very easy. So that's a normal urethra. Think of that.

• 48:02Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 48:03Speaker 01

  Then say you get a coffee straw, those little tiny ones, and you try to drink through that. It's extremely hard.

• 48:08Mel Robbins?

  That bubble will not go up into that straw.

• 48:10Speaker 01

  So that's what's happening. As your prostate gets larger, that straw is getting thinner and thinner. And so it's more and more difficult to pee. And so that's usually why they have problems. And so we usually treat that prostate, whether it's with medication or with surgery if needed. And there's so many different options for surgery now. So definitely see a urologist because there's like so many options that we'd be here all day talking about it. But ultimately, there's, there's tons of even minimally invasive options that can help.

• 48:37Mel Robbins?

  And if that's happening, you should go talk to somebody.

• 48:39Speaker 01

  Absolutely. I mean, it's a quality of life thing, right? You go to the bathroom every time you're struggling. Can you imagine like what that would be like?

• 48:45Mel Robbins?

  Just standing there like, come on.

• 48:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:46Mel Robbins?

  Let's go.

• 48:47Speaker 01

  It's very difficult. And especially a lot of them will wake up at night more often because they're not emptying as well, you know, because they're, that straw has gotten so narrow. And so they'll wake up at night to pee a lot. So their, their whole night is disrupted. It's really impactful for their quality of life.

• 49:02Mel Robbins?

  So is it normal for a guy to have like a little urine dribble out at the, like when they're done peeing?

• 49:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's very, very common. So we call that post void dribble. And it's actually sort of a challenging problem. So sometimes it can be because of the prostate, right? So some urine gets stuck in the, in the pee tube and then it dribbles out after. Sometimes it can be because there's maybe a narrowing in the urethra, like a stricture that's more rare, like you've had some trauma or something and there's a narrowing and then that needs to be fixed. Sometimes it's because you're just, you know, it, it's sort of like just the way your anatomy is and some people always have a little dribble. So it's a little bit challenging and, or the stream is so weak that it does not come out. And so then there's like, you can maybe try to do some strengthening of the pelvic floor to help that urine come out.

• 49:48Mel Robbins?

  Dr. Rena, what tools do you recommend for somebody who's listening to you going, "I think I have an overactive bladder"?

• 49:54Speaker 01

  So we talked about some. I think the avoiding bladder irritants, watching how much you drink. So I actually encourage people to take a diary. You can even Google OAB diary and you can find one, like Urology Care Foundation has one, and you can write down what you're drinking, how, when you're peeing, how much you're peeing, and it'll sort of give you an idea, like what's going on, right? And it can be diagnostic, you can take that to your doctor, but it can also be therapeutic. You're like, "Oh, my God, of course I'm peeing a lot because I'm drinking all this," or "I always pee very much after I have that coffee," right? So that's one thing. I think it's very helpful for a lot of people. I'll often joke, like, "It's not homework. If you mess up, it's okay." Like, just do it and just sort of figure it out. If you're smoking, quit smoking. Smoking is a bladder irritant. So we talked about bladder irritants. Smoking is another one. Constipation, manage that.

• 50:37Speaker 01

  If you're overweight and you reduce your body weight by about 8%, which is not a huge amount, depending on how much you weigh, it significantly improves your urinary issues. So weight loss can be helpful for people who are overweight. So those are sort of the things that we generally recommend for everybody, and they're easy and they're free and things you can sort of figure out on your own. Now, if those don't work, then there's medication options, and there's even surgical or third-line options, like you can Botox your bladder. You can-

• 51:04Mel Robbins?

  What?

• 51:04Speaker 01

  You can have acupuncture. Yeah, there's a whole bunch of things that we have in our arsenal that can help.

• 51:09Mel Robbins?

  Does acupuncture help?

• 51:11Speaker 01

  So it's called percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation. So it's based on acupuncture. It's a little acupuncture needle that goes into a nerve in your ankle that actually, if you follow that nerve all the way up, it goes to the nerve root of the bladder. You come to the doctor's office. We put that little acupuncture needle in. It's attached to a little device that sends a little electric stimulation there. And so it stimulates that nerve, and it sort of restores normal nerve function.

• 51:35Mel Robbins?

  Wow.

• 51:36Speaker 01

  And so you go to the doctor's office 30 minutes, once a week for 12 weeks, and if it works, you'll sort of see by about the sixth week, and then every month after that. You know, it's time-consuming. I tell people there's very little risk, except for you might get in a car accident on your way to the doctor's office, but it's pretty safe. And then, yeah, you can Botox your bladder, too. So if you inject Botox into the wall of the bladder, it can actually relax the wall of the bladder so that you have less urgency, less frequency. Now, there's obviously risks with all these things, but this one has a little bit of risk of not being able to pee afterwards.

• 52:10Mel Robbins?

  Can we just talk a little bit about pooping?

• 52:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:12Mel Robbins?

  Like, what's normal? What should cause alarm? What should you be looking for? Should you be looking? Like, what do you want us to know?

• 52:19Speaker 01

  You should always look, right? You should look at your urine, look at your poop, right?

• 52:22Mel Robbins?

  Okay, what am I looking for when I look at my urine? Because I used to be obsessed, this may sound like a weird little thing, but I used to be obsessed with having urine that was clear because I'd look and be like, oh, I'm really hydrated. But now I take all of these supplements and I'm like, okay, that's expensive urine because that's like bright, bright, bright yellow.

• 52:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:39Mel Robbins?

  But what should we be looking for when we're looking at our urine? Let's start there.

• 52:43Speaker 01

  So for urine, what I tell people is you don't need it to be clear. You don't need it to be dark yellow because dark yellow means that you're probably not drinking enough. If it's clear, you're probably overdrinking a bit. And it's usually not an issue, like unless, like what we've seen in marathon runners, for example, who do these really long distance runs, they drink a ton. Some of them get sick and you check their blood and their sodium is actually low because they drank too much. And that's a rare occurrence, but you don't need to drink to clear. What I tell people is drink to lemonade yellow, right? Everyone knows what lemonade looks like. It should be about lemonade yellow. If it's darker than that, drink more. If it's lighter than that, you can stand to drink a little less. You want to make sure there's no blood in the urine. There are usually bubbles from the force of the stream, but if you're starting to see really foamy urine, that could be a sign that some, there's a problem going on.

• 53:28Speaker 01

  So blood in the urine, foamy urine. What I also tell people is if it's cloudy or stinky and you have no symptoms at all, you don't need to worry. Just drink more water.

• 53:37Mel Robbins?

  So Dr. Rena, if the person listening to us were to really just focus on one takeaway that you think is the most important place to start, what would it be?

• 53:50Speaker 01

  I think the one takeaway I would have for you is, one, if you are struggling, ask for help. Ask for help. Even bring it up to your primary care doctor, but don't get discouraged because a lot of people don't have the tools. They don't know what to do. That doesn't mean they're a bad doctor, they just don't treat it. And so you need to find someone who can help you with those things. There are plenty of really well-qualified doctors all around the world who'd be happy to help you. And so please don't give up hope. Please make that appointment, talk to your doctor, and use some of the tips I gave you in this episode because It could change your life for the better.

• 54:29Mel Robbins?

  And what are your parting words?

• 54:32Speaker 01

  That you're worth it and you deserve to take time for yourself, to take care of your body, invest in yourself so that you can invest in others like you want to.

• 54:42Mel Robbins?

  Dr. Rena, I'm literally going to go to lay down on my floor and start doing those pelvic floor exercises, even though I have a sling, because in describing it the way that you did, I now understand why this is important and that my bladder and the rectum and vagina, like it all deserves to have that pelvic floor strength in place because I want to live a long and vibrant and healthy life.

• 55:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:08Mel Robbins?

  And taking care of that now and making it something that I care about will help me do that.

• 55:16Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 55:16Mel Robbins?

  And so, thank you, thank you, thank you for explaining it in a way that I can understand it. Thank you for giving us tools that we can start using immediately and thank you for empowering us to not feel so ashamed about these things that are so common.

• 55:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:31Mel Robbins?

  And you can do something to improve your quality of life. So I just so appreciate you hopping on a plane and being here with us. We love you.

• 55:38Speaker 01

  Thank you for sharing your story because that's so important.

• 55:41Mel Robbins?

  My pleasure. And for you, thank you for tuning in and listening to this because it's not the sexiest topic, but having struggled with this personally for more than a decade and knowing the way that it can rob you of your dignity and your quality of life, this is so important for you to empower yourself to address and to face and to stop feeling ashamed about because it's common, but you don't have to live with it. And so I hope through my story and through the expert advice, you feel empowered, you feel inspired and you feel equipped to take better care of yourself and to get the expert help that you deserve.

• 56:22Mel Robbins?

  And in case no one else tells you today, I wanted to be sure to say I love you, I believe in you, I'm proud of you for listening to this and empowering yourself and the people that you love. And I hope that you use every single word that she shared with you to improve your life. Alrighty, I'll talk to you in a few days.

• 56:46Mel Robbins?

  And I'm not talking about dribbling on the back of the basketball court. I'm talking about dribbling after you go to the bathroom.

• 56:52Speaker 01

  Say that again.

• 56:52Mel Robbins?

  That sounds like a UTI, if you ask me.

• 56:57Mel Robbins?

  Your pelvic floor and your... Okay, how are we gonna get out of this? What's the closest? I don't know what the... Okay. Okay, there we go. I'll do that later.

• 57:06Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 57:07Mel Robbins?

  Wow, that was so good.

• 57:09Speaker 01

  Thank you, thank you.

• 57:15Mel Robbins?

  Oh, and one more thing. And no, this is not a blooper. This is the legal language. You know what the lawyers write and what I need to read to you. This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. I'm just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist and this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I'll see you in the next episode.