Question: Hello...I am experiencing a very recent urinary problem. I have occasional, but also not infrequent, urinary urgency that can come on from feeling nothing to __extreme__ urgency and have a couple of times not been able to control it. It feels as though my parts are working - as in, I can control the "shut-off" muscle or sphincter I think it is, but the urgency is so strong, the stream just pushed by, no matter how hard I try to hold it. Sometimes, it's been just a little, but I've had a couple of accidents. I have not had any problems with this in the past and this onset has been fairly fast - perhaps over a period of 4-6 weeks. I work from home, so I am able to get to a toilet at the slightest hint that I may need to go, and so have not had to hold it very often. Sometimes, there is barely any urine passed, but it had felt like I was going to burst, with severe bladder cramping and possible loss of control to some extent. Other times a stream will result. As a curious observation, I have noticed that if I am lying down in bed on my right side, the onset of the need to urinate seems to feel more gradual or normal until I decide to get out of bed, which requires me to turn on my left side to the site up and then stand. However!!!! The instant I turn on my left side the extreme urgency hits me immediately if not sooner, and I am then in a mad rush to hold it while I quickly make my way 10 feet to the toilet. This is very repeatable. Right side, somewhat more normal onset to urinate. As soon as I turn to my left side, the race is on. I thank you in advance for your thoughts on how I should proceed to address this as it is painful and difficult to manage.

Thank you - I will follow your advice.