# Bladder Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 4, 2002, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341 "2002-07-04T10:40:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@A1C\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A1C_Joe)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/1 "2002-07-04T10:40:23Z")
How much urine is the human bladder capable of holding? Going the bathroom is such a hassle. How can I get my bladder to hold the most amount of urine physically possible? :wally
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/2 "2002-07-04T10:50:19Z")
How do you feel about pain?
The human bladder can hold a remarkable amount of urine when forced to, but the pain can be excruiciating.
There are drugs that force the bladder to relax, allowing it to hold more yet, but they are not normally prescribed for those finding normal urination rates a “hassle”.
Of course, we could strap a 2 galloon bag to your leg and catherize you, which should allow you to go all day with a trip to the can, although you’ll look sort of funny with that bulge around your ankle.
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### Author:  [@A1C\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A1C_Joe)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/3 "2002-07-04T10:58:38Z")
are there bladder exercises to make your bladder strong?
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### Author:  [@Go\_alien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_alien)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/4 "2002-07-04T11:06:23Z")
Drink more beer?
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### Author:  [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/5 "2002-07-04T11:11:06Z")
Don’t get carried away, or you might end up like **Tyco Brahe**.
Quoting from an interresting thread: [Tycho Brahe’s Death](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83719)
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bonzer \*
> \*\*“On 13 October, Tycho Brahe, in the company of Master Minkowitz, has dinner at the illustrious Rosenberg’s table, and held back his water beyond the demands of courtesy. When he drank more, he felt the tension in his bladder increase, but he put politeness before his health. When he got home, he was scarely able to urinate …
> After five sleepless nights, he could still only pass his water with the greatest pain, and even so the passage was impeded. The insomnia continued, with internal fever gradually leading to delirium; and the food he ate, and from which he could not be kept, exacerbated the evil. On 24 October, his delirium ceased for several hours; nature conquered and he expired peacefully among the consolations, prayers, and tears of his people.”
>
> This is as quoted by Koestler in _The Sleepwalkers_ (Hutchinson, 1959), who’s in turn quoting from Dreyer’s 1890 biography of Brahe.
\*\*
Personally I find that retaining more than 1 litre gets frustrating.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/6 "2002-07-04T11:25:00Z")
If you are finding yourself visiting the toilet for ‘number ones’ very much more often than your peers, you might want to see a doctor; it can be one of the signs of diabetes
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### Author:  [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/7 "2002-07-04T12:05:39Z")
[bluffing ‘hard-man’ pretence]
**Ha! I can drink five pints before needing to piss! Can you?**
[/bluff ends]
What a thing to boast about…!!! I’ve actually heard this.
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### Author:  [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/8 "2002-07-04T12:19:45Z")
According to my anatomy professor, it’s about 12 ounces.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/9 "2002-07-04T12:29:56Z")
My father, having recently undergone surgery for prostate cancer, suffered a blockage of the urine tract a few weeks ago. When they finally catherised him in the emergency room, over 400 ml came out (.4 liter). The doctors proclaimed that this was a LOT of urine, and he was also in considerable pain before he could relieve himself.
I don’t know what this information says about the maximum capacity of the bladder. For one, urinating does not empty the bladder completely, catherised or not. Also, frame size will be a factor.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/10 "2002-07-04T12:30:49Z")
Bob Scene, that would make sense. A can of coke is 12 ounces, right? That’s 330 ml., so my dad was WAY overdue for a leak indeed. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/11 "2002-07-04T12:43:10Z")
Perhaps the next fashion wave will be bladder extensions?
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### Author:  [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/12 "2002-07-04T15:57:38Z")
I once tested this. It’s the only real way to know, of course. I had a 500cc water bottle that I filled up 1.5 times. So that would be about 750cc, .75 liters, or what, about 26 ounces?
Yes, I was very full. But I do drink a lot of water, so my bladder gets a lot of stretching!
The things I do for science.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/13 "2002-07-04T16:05:44Z")
Well, ski, that’s hardy accurate, of course. What about the following things:[ul][_]Not all the liquid that goes in your mouth ends up in your bladder. Your digestive tract extracts energy, nutrition from it.[_]You might sweat half of it out for all I know.[_]How much was in your bladder when you started? Had you just spend 4 days in a desert without fluids, or did you spend the last night in the pub drinking 20 beers?[_]How much was left after you peed?[/ul]We need more science to this experiment. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/14 "2002-07-04T16:18:20Z")
I think **ski** was saying that the bottle was filled \ **after** drinking the water, if you get my drift.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/15 "2002-07-04T16:19:53Z")
Dammit, **Coldfire** … you couldn’t fix that coding could you?
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/16 "2002-07-04T16:23:26Z")
Sure I could. 🙂
Ah, uhm, OK. I get it. Yup. Carry on, ski, disregard my comments.
:eek:
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### Author:  [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/17 "2002-07-04T16:35:54Z")
Darn me for thinking people can read my mind!
Yes, sorry, meant that I filled the bottles up with the “liquid” in question AFTER having consumed copious amounts of water.
I have no idea how much I had to drink to produce that much, though.
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### Author:  [@Anomalocaris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomalocaris)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/18 "2002-07-04T20:50:21Z")
Your bladder is a muscular sac, and it can be trained to hold more. By drinking large quantities of water, that resisting the initial urge to urinate, you can increase its capacity gradually. Buy, as stated above, don’t overdo it.
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### Author:  [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2002, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/19 "2002-07-04T21:10:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Anomalocaris \*
> **Your bladder is a muscular sac…**
Er, is that accurate? I’ve skinned and gutted quite a few deer, and thus held a few bladders in my hands. They didn’t look like muscles at all. Minor nitpick…
I think the muscle involved is a valve muscle (sphincter?) in the ureter to let it all drain. The bag of the bladder itself is just a stretchy baloon-like organ.
And the pain of holding back your urine is there for a reason. Nature’s way of convincing you to do your duty, so to speak.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bladder-question/117341/20 "2002-07-05T02:38:41Z")
no, **Anomalocaris** has it right. It’s 3 layers of smooth muscle. Next time you hold a bladder in your hand, slice some thin sections thru it, fix them in preservative, stain them, and examine them under the microscope. You’ll see classic smooth muscle. Not to be confused with striated muscle, which makes up the structure of flexors and extensors.
Guess what? Intestines are lined with smooth muscle too!
[http://wwwmgs.bionet.nsc.ru/mgs/gnw/trrd/thesaurus/Ur/passage.html](http://wwwmgs.bionet.nsc.ru/mgs/gnw/trrd/thesaurus/Ur/passage.html)
QtM, MD
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