From being told to never hold in your urine, how many times you should aim to go each day, to why you should never pee in the shower– there are a lot of tips experts have dished out to us.
However, there’s something else you need to know about peeing, and this little-known fact could save you from painful infections one day.
Dr Sara Reardon, a pelvic floor physical therapist, recently appeared on Girls’ actress Allison Williams’ podcast, Landlines.
Dr Reardon, aka the Vagina Whisperer, shared that there are things you need to stop doing if you want to avoid bladder problems or UTIs.
Now, if you’re lucky enough not to know what a UTI is, here’s what you could be in for if you continue to go against the doc’s advice.
If you urinate wrong, it could impact your health (Getty Stock Images)
They are Urinary Tract Infections, an infection in the (you guessed it) urinary system.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the urinary system includes the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. Most infections involve the lower urinary tract, which is the bladder and the urethra.
Symptoms of this can be painful, including a strong urge to urinate that doesn’t go away, a burning sensation when peeing, needing to pee often but only passing small amounts, cloudy urine, red or pink urine, pelvic pain and more.
While easy to treat with antibiotics, if the infection spreads to the kidneys, it can cause serious complications.
UTIs and muscle issues can become problems if you push when peeing (Getty Stock Images)
There are many reasons why you could get a UTI, but one of those includes what Dr Reardon is advocating against.
“Don’t push when you pee,” she told the podcast hosts. “You need to sit and chill and just let it flow, and only go when you have the urge to go. Your bladder is a muscle that pushes the pee out for you, you can just sit and chill.”
The doctor also explained that you need to steer clear of doing a pesky ‘just in case pee’ or ‘anxious pee or pee every time you cross a bathroom’.
This is because it can cause your ‘bladder to shrink and then you’ll have to pee all the time’.
While peeing every ‘two to four hours’ during the day, and up to twice a night is fine, if you can’t do this, it’s a problem.
According to the National Associate for Continence, there is a right way to fully empty your bladder, and it includes changing how you sit.
The NAC recommends sitting on the toilet with your knees above your hips and your palms on your knees as it ‘helps to relax the pelvic floor making the process easier’.
“You can wait on the toilet an extra minute after you’ve already urinated then relax and try again,” the website reads.
“Or you can get up, walk around for a bit, then sit down and try again. The most important thing is to not strain during the process.”
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
A doctor has shared a shocking video of the ‘worst’ skin cancer he’s ever diagnosed.
Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in the US with the American Academy of Dermatology Association estimating a whopping one in five Americans develop the condition in their lifetime.
Melanoma is the deadliest form of the cancer, though makes up around one percent of all cases in the US with the vast majority determined as basal and squamous cell carcinonmas.
According to the NHS, the main symptoms include changes to the skin, moles or appearance of new moles.
Now, doctor John O’Bryen, who goes by ‘skincaredoctor’ on TikTok, has been diligently raising awareness to the disease – and how people can spot the signs, even when they aren’t so obvious.
Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in the US (Getty Images)
The specialist at Body Scan Skin Cancer Clinic in Australia has been raising awareness to the fact not all melanomas appear as freckles or moles and revealed in a shocking video the ‘worst’ type of skin cancer he has ever diagnosed.
The doc said in his video: “A man came to me last week, concerned about a new lump on his arm. It was red and had been quickly growing in size.”
Horrifyingly, O’Bryen showed a close-up video of the cancer with a ‘dermatoscope’, which revealed the spot was pink and white in color.
He said it measured 4mm on the Breslow thickness scale, which is used to measure the depth of a melanoma from the top of its granular layer to the deepest point of the tumor.
On the outside, it looked like a slightly elevated red lump, but under the microscope had ‘white polarising lines’ and ‘polymorphous vessels.’
The cancer under the microscope (@skincancerdoctor/TikTok)
The doc quickly diagnosed the patient as having a nodular melanoma, a dangerous type as he said they ‘grow quickly and cause the greatest fatality’.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, nodular melanomas present as a ‘firm, raised, discolored growth’ on the skin that can appear like a blood blister and may be itchy, sting or bleed.
They can look like a dome-shaped growth and can have either smooth texture or a ‘crusty’, rough feel, which the Clinic describes as like a cauliflower.
It can also grow both above and below the skin, yet most of the cancer sits below the surface – ‘like an iceberg’.
Nodular melanoma is the second-most common type, making up about 15 to 20 percent of diagnoses.
This type of skin cancer is also behind around 50 percent of all melanoma-related deaths.
How it looked from the surface (@skincancerdoctor/TikTok)
Writing further in the caption of his viral video, he said: “Scary! Not all melanomas are brown and black!
“I performed an excisional biopsy of this and the patient will see a melanoma surgeon and medical oncologist.”
He added how his magnifying tool, the Heine Delta 30 Pro dermascope, ‘continues to assist me in diagnosing skin cancers’ and has helped him to find and treat 1,000 people last year.
Featured Image Credit: @skincancerdoctor/TikTok
