A 21st Century Remedy

By Kimberly Golladay

Imagine driving on a road trip and you have to pull over to go to the bathroom every hour, disrupting your ride.  When nature calls you have to go, we've all been there at one point or another. For some people, unfortunately, going ALL the time has become a normal way of life. But what Dr. David Shusterman, founder of NYUrology.com, wants them to know is that there is actually a quick fix.

Dr Shusterman's 21^st century solution is acupuncture for the bladder. It helps people that suffer from incontinence – an important bladder issue just made more public recently by actress Kate Winslet. Though urination abnormalities is a taboo subject, it's a common issue that more than half of the population of women suffer from.

If you drink two liters of fluid a day you're supposed to relieve yourself every three hours.  Dr. Shusterman says the best thing to do is to keep a diary to know. "Unless you keep a diary, most doctors dismiss you saying you go to the bathroom a lot because it doesn't really do a lot of harm to you… but when I speak to my patients it's a huge quality of life issue for them." Though you won't die from going to the bathroom too much, your daily life is severely affected.

The even better news is that this painless treatment is only 20 minutes with an 80% efficacy rate with no complications and is usually covered by insurance. "The same needles are used with regular acupuncture," Dr. Shusterman says, "but instead of stabbing the nerve we are stimulating around the nerve and not damaging it." The majority of patients notice a significant difference after one procedure, and sometimes people may need a few more treatments.

"Doctors don't want to talk about this treatment because it decreases their surgery numbers, so a lot a lot of people get surgery for bladder related issues and it's not necessary," Shusterman says. But he is seeing more younger people coming in because they 'google' the issue and see that there is a way to fix it, and that they don't have to accept living with the inconvenience of constantly seeking a bathroom. Though the older generation attributes this issue to age, they are less likely to be aware of this simple remedy.

Nyurology.com