Bladder Training

Keeping a Bladder Diary

Keeping an accurate and thorough diary of your bladder weakness will allow your doctor to gain insight into the severity of your condition and enable them to develop a bladder training program specifically for you.

Try to keep your diary for at least a week before you see your doctor, then take it with you to your appointment.

Based on the results of your bladder diary, your doctor or continence advisor have detailed insight into the severity of your bladder weakness and be in a better position to develop a bladder training program that’s right for you.

Download the Blank Bladder diary Form

Instructions for Bladder Diary

• Make at least seven copies of the blank bladder diary form (see above) so that you can keep the diary for a week.
• Record the date and time of day when you urinated in the toilet or have leakage.
• Note your health and general wellbeing, if applicable – Cold, hayfever, PMT etc
• Record (yes/no) that you urinated in the toilet in the “Toilet” column.
• Indicate the degree of leakage (none/damp/wet) in the “Leakage” column.
• Indicate if you changed your absorbent product or had to change your clothing.
• Note the activity you were undertaking at the time of any leakage – Driving, exercising, coughing, working, relaxing etc
• Measuring the amount you drank or urinated may help the doctor or nurse assess your condition. If possible, record these measurements in the “Fluid Intake” and “Fluid Output” columns.

(Note: Instead of measuring, you can count the time it takes to urinate. Ten seconds of constant urine flow is approximately 300 ml. Make sure to count evenly i.e. one 1000, two 1000, three 1000, etc.)

The next step is working out a bladder training program with your Doctor.