I’m not sure if this is a birth control side effect or correlation, but I’m on day 2 of my regimen. I started before my period ended. Today, I drank more water than I usually do and I’ve had to go to the bathroom all day to pee. Not unexpected for my water intake. However, at night, I experienced something for the first time ever I’ve never dealt with before and am not sure how to deal with: I have that feeling of urgency in my bladder to void, but whenever I sit down, I can’t pee. A little dribble will go out and I wait there for a while and a little more comes out but there’s no relief. I get up because I can’t sit in the toilet forever but that feeling of needing to pee persists and some pee will dribble out onto my pad yet even if I sit down on the toilet and try to push more out, only a little dribble comes out. Whenever I try to finish up and go to bed, I can’t sleep because that feeling of “I need to pee” keeps me up. I finally relented and ran a bath so I can pee without having to get up from being comfortable. I’ve pushed out dribbles and drops at a time over the last few hours but that feeling of needing to empty my bladder. It’s not painful, but the pressure of the urgency of needing to empty my bladder is incredibly uncomfortable and I am unable to sleep. Please help.

Addit: Some clarifications and possible related factors:

1. It doesn't hurt to pee. I can't tell if there's blood in my pee because I'm still in the middle of my period so when a dribble comes out, it drips down and likely mixes with my period blood so I can't tell the difference.

2. It's not like I'm unable to pee. It's that I can only seem to push out drops at a time, yet that pressure of needing to pee has been sitting consistently on my bladder for the past few hours and never goes away. I feel like the feeling of needing to pee has been there all day yet the urgent "I need to pee now" has only been around for less than 5 hours. I feel like I've been straining to push it out for the past 2-3 hours yet only a small dribble comes out every couple of minutes at a time and there's no relief. The urgent need to pee persists consistently. I can't sit on the toilet forever but every time I move, my bladder screams at me to go pee. I am unable to sleep this way. I just constantly feel like I need to pee. My pad is like a mini-diaper at this point there to catch the dribble.

3. I've had a venti cup of White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks and a regular-sized Zero Sugar Original Monster. It's more caffeine than I usually have in a day and I'm not sure if that's diuretic enough to make me pee so often. I also drank 1L of regular water today. I'm usually pretty dehydrated, so that's more water than I usually drink in a day. I just assumed this was the reason I had to go to the bathroom so many times during the day today before this urgency to void increased and lingered.

4. I've started a new relationship and have been having a lot of orgasms recently. I'm not sure if the frequent clitoral and vaginal stimulation has irritated my bladder muscles or given me a UTI. I wouldn't be able to recognize what the latter feels like and my vaginal muscles do feel a little sore.

5. I took my second birth control pill (ever) about 5 hours ago, after I got home from work. I've never been on birth control before and I started my birth control regimen after I started bleeding (on day 4 of my period; i usually bleed 7-10 days.) This medication is new to me so I don't know if this is an emerging symptom or a result of the pills. I'm taking Loryna (Drospirenone and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets, USP) at 3 mg/0.02 mg.

All I know is that it is now 2:31am. I have been on a constant state of "pushing" trying to get rid of that feeling of needing to pee and despite many dribbles and multiple soaked pads, there is no relief and the feeling persists. I just want to sleep. I haven't had enough sleep the past few days and I really want to sleep. Please help. My boyfriend has suggested I try to relax but that’s next to impossible when I can’t get rid of this pressure on my bladder of an urgency to pee.

I’m a 30-year-old woman.

About 7–8 years ago, I started experiencing overactive bladder.

At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but several years ago it started interfering with my sleep. It isn’t just at night, any time I try to sleep, I simply can’t. The urge is unbearable. And during the day I also go to the bathroom all day. I’ve had issues at work for stepping out to go pee too often.

The worst part is that I can be absolutely exhausted, but the urge to urinate keeps me from falling asleep. And to make matters worse, when I finally get to the bathroom, nothing comes out.

I’ll sit there, breathe, walk around for a bit, move my hips around, and once the urge gets stronger I sit down again and nothing comes out. (at this point i usually start crying)

When I finally manage to pee, it’s only a few drops, and the urge doesn’t go away or lessen whatsoever. I get up from the toilet after having just peed a second ago and I still feel the same.

I’ve had bladder, kidney, and uterine ultrasounds. I’ve had urine tests, kidney function tests, and even liver and hormone tests. all normal, no infection, no nothing.

At this point i think my bladder is just broken.

I’ve been going to bladder and pelvic floor physical therapy. I use TENS every day as instructed. I took Numencial and Myrbetriq for a month, then switched to tamsulosin and Cisterex, and i’ve seen no improvement at all.

I barely drink the minimum amount of water possible. I stopped drinking soda, tea, coffee, and juice.
I’ve gone to every physical therapy session, every medical appointment, and nothing seems to help. I was told this would be a slow process, but it’s been months, and i expected something to happen, not immediately or drastically but something. anything that would indicate we’re getting somewhere

What’s affecting me the most is that I genuinely cannot sleep. Every night I cry and cry and cry in frustration and anger and i don’t even let my bf sleep with the constant coming and going to the bathroom, silent cries and shakes (sometimes not so quiet). The sleep deprivation has me completely effed up.

if anything has helped you please share with me. i wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy

My daughter has Coeliac Disease - she has 0 gut issues but she immediately has bladder issues when she has gluten. She only got tested becuase her brother has it too.

She went from completly dry to constantly having accidents and leakage almost overnight. It stopped so quickly on a gluten free diet.

When i have looked into Coeliac its not an uncommon symptom, especially in women, but its not a recognised one

I looked in this sub and saw nothing on it so I thought I'd point it out, just in case there is even 1 person who finds the information useful

I am a PG Student in a reputed and leading institution in Kerala. I was surprised today when the management specified that you are expected to pee only during the break. Unless it is an emergency you should train your body to hold on to the urge of urinating. I understand it is common in colleges across the place. I find absolutely absurd that students who are 21+ need to seek permission to use the restroom out loud in the class. What do you think of the same??

We were also briefed on how you get judged and punished for using the loo if you are in a meeting. Is this even for real??