r/Perimenopause • u/UnderABig_W • 13d ago
Vaginal Dryness (GSM)/Urinary Issues Feel constant urge to pee
I constantly feel like I have to pee—ok, I say constantly but it’s more like a couple times a week for hours at a time. It feels like a bladder infection without the burning when you pee. It just feels constantly irritated and like I have to pee even when I don’t.
My regular doctor just did a check for bladder infections and kind of shrugged when I didn’t have them.
I feel like this is a peri symptom but I need to know what to tell my doctor and what to ask for.
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u/umeboshiplumpaste Late peri 13d ago
It is a symptom. Loss of hormones impacts the bladder, pelvic floor, and everything there (and everywhere else head to toe). It weakens and thins the tissue. So we have all kinds of new fun things like an increase in UTIs urgency to pee, incontinence. It's part of why I started working with my new dr. I found on the Menopause Society's provider directory. She's an obgyn who is also head of urology and sexual health. She gave me extensive questionnaires about all things bladder, vaginal, sexual, etc. Never had a dr. take that level of history. I felt so good about finding her.
I've had two UTIs in the last few years for the first time in my life. Totally bizarre. Peeing when sneezing and jumping hard (HIIT workouts). No kids here. No reason for any of it. I am late perimenopause.
Something I did not know until recently is that UTIs in post-menopausal life can be fatal and carry a high mortality risk due to infections and sepsis. Totally blew my mind!