I have cut down on my tea intake, and am now operating in a fug. I didn’t realise that I had become such a tea addict. It was incremental, adding “just another” cup into my routine, and somehow suppressing the knowledge that it was a caffeinated drink.
In my quest to overcome a weak pelvic floor, I sought medical assistance. (In cases of low motivation to change, I find it helps to invest time and money in a professional to whom I then have to answer as to whether I actually made any changes. Sad I know.) I was diagnosed with both stress and urge incontinence. I won’t bore you with the details, but the upshot was I had to get going on my kegels, and also measure all drinks and urine for 48 hours. You see where this is heading. I had to write down *all* the cups of tea I was drinking.
The health professional involved was then able to comment on my high level of caffeine intake. Her interest in this was that apparantly caffeine can irritate the bladder muscle. My interest in this was that I am a lactating mother and someone with a (misplaced) pride in my healthy lifestyle. She recommended that I *notice* whether I had an urge to pass urine about 20 – 30 minutes after a caffeinated drink. I determined that I would immediately cut down to two cups of tea a day.
Well, I can report from the frontline that caffeine is a very powerful drug and it appears that my whole lifestyle was dependent on it. Without mother’s little helper, I drag myself around looking for any opportunity to nap. The upside is, my waterworks problems are pretty much gone. Who knew. I’m still doing my kegels. I can lift my pelvic floor 6mm, and I need to aim for 10mm to be safe, and 15mm if I want to go trampolining. Given my current lethargy, this is unlikely.
