“Urologist or Gynecologist?”

See first a urologist to evaluate the bladder activity.

Gynecologist

Either one should be able to help you. Your area may also have urogynecologists, which are gynecologists with extra training in urinary leakage, frequency, etc. Good luck!

Actually, the first question I’m going to ask you is do you have swelling in your ankles and your lower legs? The biggest reason the women experience your symptoms is that they have varicose veins and spider veins that become leaky and you end up with increasing amounts of fluid in your feet/legs that should’ve ended up passing through your kidneys, ending up in your bladder as urine that you pass. When you keep increasing fluid in your legs, you see ‘sock marks’ from tighter socks pressing on the tissues; then when you go to bed at night, what will start happening is you will get up not just once, but some women get up every 2-3hours as they mobilize that fluid in their legs by raising their legs to heart level while sleeping; THEN they pass that fluid through their kidneys and to their bladder which wakes them up because otherwise they’ll pee in their bed! And you may say ‘I don’t have varicose veins!’; but most of us do! So press your finger against your shin on your leg; if you leave a dent, then you have fluid in your legs. My usual approach with patients is to wear a knee high compression stocking; it doesn’t have to be ugly and white like the kind hospitals give you with surgery. Some of the best compression stockings are quite stylish and look just like pant socks but they are tight enough to compress the fluid back into your veins; and then your urinary system will go back to ‘normal’. Check with your primary care or GYN; the most cost effective brand is from a company called L&R who also specialize in lymphedema garments for cancer patients and post-operative patients with limited mobility. A knee high stocking from L&R can cost as little as $30 retail; not the $150 that a Jobst stocking could cost. And see if your insurance company will pay for it; after all, it’s treating a medical diagnosis of ‘peripheral edema’ which has a diagnosis code; of you may have an HSA or Health Savings Account that pays for ‘medical expenditures’ not covered by your insurance. At any rate, this is usually the most common reason that I see in my patients and it will keep you out of specialists offices that will do expensive tests to tell you your bladder is fine and send you back to your primary doctor without an answer.

Urologist.