Brought to you by Astellas 

What little things have you wanting to tear your hair out?

Everybody has a pet peeve that makes them scream internally (or externally if it happens enough). Some of us hate when people are constantly humming at the work desk, some of us go ballistic when people start video chats on public transport (no one wants to hear your conversations, Bob), and some of us just cannot handle it when people use the last teabag and don't bother replacing the packet (it's rudeness is what it is). No doubt about it - we all have our own things that get us riled up. However, there are a few universal annoyances that a pretty big chunk of us seems to find particularly annoying. Astellas did a little survey to find out what the general public find most disruptive at work, at home, or out and about and they came up with some interesting (but very relatable) results¹. Of course, fun people that we are here, we decided to make it into a little quiz to see if you can guess what daily disruptions most of us would really rather live without. Yes, with a quarter of women aged 40-70 experiencing overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms², that's a pretty significant daily annoyance. A huge 62 percent of sufferers feel agitated and annoyed by their OAB symptoms but wait a whole year from the onset of symptoms before seeing a doctor about it. 20 percent don't see a doctor at all because they don't think anything can be done about it.³ OAB is a medical condition that affects how your bladder behaves. It causes your bladder to feel overfull and start contracting more frequently and sometimes without warning, leading to an increased urge to relieve yourself and can sometimes cause accidental leakages. Astellas wants to stress that OAB sufferers need suffer no longer. There are plenty of steps that can be taken to vastly improve OAB symptoms. Make sure to visit your doctor as soon as you notice symptoms starting up, try some pelvic floor exercises, learn about bladder training, and discuss treatment options with your doctor as medication may be an option. There are always going to be daily disruptions in life but OAB does not have to be one of them. Make sure to follow the steps above and, before you know it, the only thing making you mad every day will be Karen's out-of-tune singing in the middle of work. If you think you may be experiencing OAB symptoms, head over to OAB.ie now and organise a visit to your GP. Brought to you by Astellas The 2019 #InControl national campaign has been launched by Astellas to improve public awareness of the medical condition overactive bladder (OAB) and encourage more women and men aged 40+ in Ireland to stop tolerating the daily disruption of OAB symptoms. For more information about OAB, visit www.OAB.ie or consult your local GP.