Tips For Holding It

[Fred]

This topic has been posted before, and below is one set of suggestions. In addition to these, what other tricks do you suggest?

http://www.askmen.com/money/body_and_mi ... it-in.html

It happens to all of us at one time or another: You have to take a piss, and it's just not a convenient time to do it — so you hold it in.

You might be at a bar talking to the right girl, but it's an early and precarious situation, so you can't risk losing her attention or allowing another guy an opening by walking off to the bathroom. Or you're at a close ballgame, the clock is winding down, and you'll be outraged at yourself if you walk away now and miss some spectacular play.
In most instances, holding it in won't do you any harm. Yet, if you do it frequently, you can indeed develop some health problems. For example, although the risk is low, holding it in can present a danger that you could develop a urinary tract infection (UTI), although men are less likely than women to develop one thanks to physiology (namely, a longer urethra). However, among the consequences of having a UTI is a rectal exam — reason enough to not make it a habit.
To that end, we present 4 steps to hold it in.

step 1
Relax
The first step to hold it in is to relax. Don't get yourself overly concerned about your bladder bursting or about developing additional potential health problems by holding it in at this moment.

Many stories about exploding bladders are myths, and worrying about them will only exacerbate the urgency. Among the most well-known examples is 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe, who is alleged to have died from a bladder bursting after holding it in for too long. Despite being disproved again and again, this myth persists. Brahe died over 400 years ago; no one in their right mind could possibly accept the contemporary account of his death, considering that medical knowledge in his era was as blind and stupid as it was.
With the exception of sustaining some serious physical trauma, you'll piss your pants long before your bladder bursts, so relax if you want to hold it in.

step 2
Stop drinking
As obvious as this may seem, it's important to keep in mind, especially if you've been drinking alcohol. As Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope made clear, alcohol not only kick-starts the urine production process as a diuretic, but it also contains an anesthetic so you don't know exactly how full your bladder is or how badly you need to go until you really, really need to go.

Bladder capacity varies widely from guy to guy, with the top end being something close to a quart — which in beer terms translates to two pints. However, you'll likely get the urge to go well before that. The bladder is made to expand — just don't keep drinking and ask too much of your organ.
Hold on just a bit longer, there are a few more steps to follow when you are trying to hold it in...

step 3
Eliminate additional bladder pressure
On its own, the pressure is bad enough; don't make it worse by the way you are sitting or standing. The male bladder is roughly located behind the pubic bone, so leaning forward while sitting will put added pressure on it. Crossing your legs seems like an old stand-by but, physiologically speaking, this too is a bad move because of the added pressure you put on your bladder. Leaning back won't do you any favors either.

If you're sitting, your best bet is to sit up straight like you would if you had good posture. The same goes for standing. In short, show as much discipline as you can and keep your torso in a strictly vertical position with regard to the ground if you want to hold it in.
 
step 4
Distract yourself
When push comes to shove and things get desperate, the physical aspect of a full and angry bladder can be bad, but the psychological aspect can be far worse — brutal, even. If you're in a situation where you have to hold it in, the last and arguably most effective step will be to distract yourself with unrelated thoughts. Don't dream of that satisfying moment standing over the urinal or hidden in the dark confines of an alley; don't focus on the bartender as he or she pulls another pint; block out the sound of the waterfall in the lobby. In short: Get your mind as far away as you can from thoughts of water flowing downward, in any context. It sounds cliché until you're in that position, and then there's nothing cliché about it. Rather, it's nothing short of torture.

No matter where you are, there are other things you can focus on to distract your mind. Use those, and hold out a little longer — long enough for you to finally get the chance to let it out.

I'm looking for your additional suggestions.

[Brian]

Maybe a lot depends on the exact circumstances here. Psychology plays a huge role. And the question is: why precisely are you holding it? The examples given (watching a baseball game and not wanting to miss action, or chatting someone up and not wanting to lose their company to someone else) suggest a "voluntary" holding on. In both of those situations, if you are seriously concerned that you are about to wet yourself then you go and pee, don't you? But there are other situations where it is even less desirable, or downright impossible, to excuse yourself and go to the toilet. But it's all a sliding scale. The actions you would take to relieve yourself might be embarrassing, illegal, or dangerous (leaving a meeting in which you are a key figure, peeing in a public place or other inappropriate place, stopping the car where you shouldn't), and whether you actually do any of those things will tie in with just how badly you have to go.

One tip which I think is usually important is: have a plan of action. Don't let it be a situation where you have no idea how long you still have to hold on. Make sure you know how and when you will pee. So be aware, or find out by asking someone, how far it is to the next service station, when the meeting is due to finish, when the train is due at the station and where the nearest toilets are when you get there. Because if things are really bad, you need that knowledge psychologically to get through the pain and to reassure yourself that you will make it.

[Wombat48]

I think in reality most healthy adult men can always hold on however long it takes? It may just be very painful or unpleasant / or pleasent depending on your point of view??

[Fred]

I think in reality most healthy adult men can always hold on however long it takes? It may just be very painful or unpleasant / or pleasent depending on your point of view??

There seems to be a wide range of abilities in healthy young males. Some can hold until they risk damage to themselves, some can hold until pain forces them to release, and some can hold on through a long period of serious discomfort. But others find that their bladders can spasm strongly sooner, and even a small spurt triggers the peeing reflex that they can't stop. There is also a significant psychological factor involved which can either reinforce or overrule the functioning of the bladder and sphincters.
So I'd have to say that many, but not most, can hold on however long it takes.

[Brian]

That psychological component which you mention, Fred, particularly fascinates me.

One aspect of it, i think, might be due to the guy simply not knowing in which of those categories (how long he can hold it) he actually fits. He's holding back a bursting bladder and simply not knowing if he can hold it any longer or not. And in this situation, maybe he's trying to decide whether releasing an outwardly undetectable spurt or two will have the effect of relieving some of the pain or of merely losing control entirely and doing all the rest in his pants. So if he doesn't "know himself" he'll be having to guess, with all the psychological effects of that not knowing.

[Fred]

"Knowing yourself" can also get you into greater difficulties. If you are confident that you can hold it and pass up an opportunity to pee (example: car trip, sign says 'rest area one mile", and you don't request that the driver make the stop), you may discover that you can't hold it after all. It can be just a small difference in your usual liquid or food input, or a small delay in the normal routine, that tips the scale. "I thought I could wait" may be Famous Last Words.

[Wombat48]

Have a couple of sightings from over the years where guys have pissed themselves ( young in 20s ] so clearly it does happen

[Sam70]

Interesting comments!

Two points:

1. Nobody can really hold it in as long as they wish if lots of fluids have been consumed and/or the wait for a toilet has lasted hours and hours.

The reason that most people lose control of their bladders is they lose control of the voluntary bladder muscles. When the contractions get to a certain point and it varies from person to person, some people start leaking which often leads to a huge waterfall.

2. There is a point where the automatic brain sensors that monitor breathing and heart rate also monitor the state of the bladder. If a person has enough control over their voluntary muscles to avoid losing control of their bladders, there will come a point when the bladder reaches its most stretched out state and there is no room more drop more urine in the bladder. The kidneys do not stop producing urine.

This means that the urine will start backing up into the ureters that are tubes from the bladder to the kidneys. If it weren't for the automatic brain center, the urine would keep on backing up into the kidneys slowly destroying them.

The automatic brain center doesn't give a flying ***** if the person wets his pants. To prevent a possible death, the automatic brain center sends messages to the bladder muscles that paralyzes them. As the all the muscles are temporary paralyzed, the flow of urine begins and every drop of urine in the bladder is released. If there are 50 oz of urine in the bladder, than 50 oz of urine will be released.

Therefore, a healthy lad will not have his bladder explode.

I deliberately did this when I was about 25. I wanted to know for sure just how much I could hold and what the symptoms would be before I totally pissed my pants. As all the tummy from the navel felt like it was literally being paralyzed, my penis began to sorta itch or fell very funny as if the piss was already there. Then the torrential piss flow started.

The other factor is that a few elderly people may have a bladder that now only holds a few teaspoons. A person who has over time expanded his bladder may have just over 50 oz. The bladder will not explode at that size. However some nerve damage can occur over time. And most importantly the elasticity of the bladder may have stretched so thin that the bladder will only contract enough to piss out as little as 5 oz when the owner of the 50 oz bladder tries to take a piss.

I know. I have some nerve damage in the spinal cord. It affected my bladder. I was having trouble pissing out the urine when I went to the toilet. Over time my bladder continued to expand itself while the amount of urine I could piss out became less and less.

A new medication saved my from having to be catharized permanently! I had to try to pee every two hours and then go back ten minutes later and try again.

I did manage to shrink my bladder down significantly over three months. I was able to piss out all but 4 oz when I took a piss.

The doctor said that as long as I did not get a bladder infection I was OK.

Today the size of my bladder appears to vary due to a significant changes in how the bladder muscles respond. I did hold about 25 oz. Now it is 16 ounces the average size of adult bladders that have not been stretched out beyond the normal state.

Our colon does pass out a significant amount of water each day. We perspire a significant amount of water each day. So not all of the 32 oz of fluids we drink in a day makes it to the kidneys. I haven't a clue what percent of fluids actually gets to the kidneys. It is a majority of the fluids for sure.

One more point. We can have an medical emergency that affects the bladder and kidneys. If for some reason the urethra leading out through the penis should get blocked by a growth, a colon stretched way to big or a swollen prostate bear down on the urethra this is a medical emergency. If the bladder can't drain itself, than the urine will back up into the kidneys. I know of a man in his 90s that had that happen. He was in severe pain when his granddaughter found him. Emergency surgery removed the blockage.

It was not the elderly man's bladder that was in danger. It was his kidneys. He did have some kidney damage, but not enough to keep him living well for a few more years.

It would be very, very rare for a young lad to have a blockage in the urethra/penis. It is the older men that have a higher risk for this.

For most older men it is the prostate that swells so large that it sits on the urethra/penis reducing the urine flow. From what I have read most of the time it is a partial blockage allowing the piss to flow more slowly, but the man may have to piss every hour or sometime even more frequently

There are medications that will shrink the prostate. There are treatments and medications that do clear out an overstretched and full colon. I would not advise anyone to take the medication for cleaning out the colon and go to a place where there are no toilets available. Pissing your pants would seem mild to what might happen if there were no toilets available!

Sometimes men in their forties do start experiencing prostate issues. Most men don't have prostate issues until the late 50s and sometimes much older.

One treatment for prostate issues can began as early as a man wants to do it. It involves some activity which we would not normally discuss here in the Open Forum. Think outside the box and you should figure it out!

Over all it appeared to me from reading from some top medical centers that total blockages in the urethra draining urine out of the body are rare.

No one can hold their urine for days on in unless there is some major physical issue that may be life threatening.

[Bigdog]

The best way to reduce a wetting accident, is don’t drink any juice or caffeine products as these irritate the bladder

[Brian]

The best way to reduce a wetting accident, is don’t drink any juice or caffeine products as these irritate the bladder

I'm glad you mention juice. I've always found apple juice particularly risky to drink if I'm going to be in a situation where I can't pee for any significant time.