08:33 PM PST on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

By JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

Nearly one-fifth of people in the U.S. suffer from overactive bladder, a condition that causes an almost constant urge to go to the bathroom. Seniors are the most affected. Drugs can help, but many people don't like the side effects.  Now there's an alternative therapy. 

KING

A new study found that acupuncture improved the frequent and overwhelming urge to urinate in women suffering from overactive bladder.

Used to be Sharon Vining couldn't go more than a half-hour without heading to the bathroom. 

"We do like to walk, and so, we'd always have to plan a place that would have bathrooms stops along the way," said Vining. 

She and her husband rarely went out. 

"She would have to go to the bathroom almost immediately once we left the house," said Mario Mamone, Vining’s husband. 

Vining isn't alone. About 17 percent of Americans suffer from an overactive bladder.  Sharon told her acupuncturist about her problem. 

"Even after one treatment, I could tell a difference," said Vining.  

A new study found that acupuncture improved the frequent and overwhelming urge to urinate in women suffering from overactive bladder.

The study followed 74 women with overactive bladders and urge incontinence.  The women were randomly assigned to one of two groups, with approximately half receiving acupuncture for bladder control and the other half receiving acupuncture treatments for relaxation. 

After four weeks of treatment, both groups reported improvement in the urge incontinence and urinary leakage, but the women who received bladder-specific acupuncture reported making fewer trips to the bathroom, less urgency to urinate and about 10 percent less leakage. 

“So, that horrible urge that they were going to leak if they didn't get to the bathroom was significantly reduced," said Sandra Emmons, M.D., obstetrician/gynecologist, Oregon Health & Science University. 

In people with an overactive bladder, the layered muscle that surrounds the bladder contracts spastically, which results in the urgent need to urinate.  This medical condition is called urgency. 

What causes the muscle to malfunction is now always known, but some recognized primary causes include nerve damage caused by abdominal trauma, pelvic trauma, surgery, bladder stones, drug side effects, or neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and spinal cord lesions. 

Standard treatments vary.  Some common options are bladder training, drug therapy, and in more severe cases, surgery.   Emmons, who is also an acupuncturist, says while drugs can calm the contractions, acupuncture does too. 

"If you looked at it in Chinese medicine terms, it smoothes the chi that flows through the bladder and harmonizes the system so that there's more balance between the bladder and other organs," said Emmons. 

Medication gave Vining dry mouth and headaches, but acupuncture has only had positive effects. 

"Before I used to have to get up four or five times a night,” said Vining.  “Now, I usually get up one time." 

Vining still goes in for acupuncture tune ups, but now she doesn't have to stop on the way to use the bathroom. 

Emmons says acupuncture appears to have the same success rate as current medications, but without the side effects.  Any qualified acupuncturist can perform the treatment.