What to expect from urodynamic testing for overactive bladder

Depending on the tests arranged, you may urinate into a flow-measuring device, have your bladder filled slowly through a small catheter, and have pressure readings recorded while you describe sensations. A second catheter may measure pressure in the abdomen. The results can show bladder capacity, involuntary contractions, urine flow, and whether the bladder empties fully; they do not replace discussion of your symptoms.

Follow instructions about arriving with a comfortably full bladder and tell the clinic about pregnancy, urinary infection symptoms, medicines, or difficulty passing urine. You may be asked to keep a bladder diary. During testing, describe urgency and discomfort honestly; the team needs your sensations as well as the machine readings. Drinking water afterward may help, unless your clinician has advised fluid restriction.

Mild stinging when passing urine or a small amount of blood can occur briefly after catheter-based testing. Contact your clinician for worsening burning, fever, chills, cloudy or foul-smelling urine, increasing pain, or inability to pass urine. Seek urgent help if you become very unwell or develop severe lower abdominal pain.

Ask which part of the test is planned, whether you should stop or continue bladder medicines, and when results will be explained. Discuss how the findings could change treatment for urgency or leakage, and what to do if symptoms of infection appear afterward.