
An estimated 33 million people suffer from Over Active Bladder. This very annoying condition can be caused by a urinary tract infection, diabetes, or who knows what. Some of the medications for Over Active Bladder (OAB) can leave you with:
- a dry mouth,
- elevated blood pressure,
- dizziness,
- and once again, who knows what.
The symptoms of OAB are often times repeated by OAB medication. Looks kind of bleak, doesn’t it?
Help for Over Active Bladder Via Implants
But there’s hope: a new, soft wireless implant may someday help people who suffer from OAB get through the day with fewer bathroom breaks. Here’s how — the implant harnesses a technique for controlling cells with light, known as optogenetics, to regulate nerve cells in the bladder. To control nerve cells with the light, researchers injected a harmless virus carrying genetic instructions for bladder nerve cells to produce a light-activated protein called archaerhodopsin 3.0, or ARCH. A stretchy sensor wrapped around the bladder tracts the wearer’s urination habits, and the implant wirelessly sends that information to a program on a tablet computer.
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If the program detects the user going to the bathroom at least three times an hour, it tells the implant to turn on a pair of tiny LEDs. The green glow of the lights activates the light-sensitive ARCH proteins in the bladder’s nerve cells, preventing the cells from sending so many full-bladder warnings to the brain. Don’t smirk — it worked on rats!
It does sound very sci-fi, but you know, at one time the cell phone was very, very sci-fi. 🙂
The RunPee App is an Alternative for Managing Over Active Bladders at the Movies
So, if having tiny LEDs in your bladder sounds scary, the RunPee app is another thing you can try, at least while at the movies.
Say you’ve had that giant soft drink, just waiting to interfere with your movie-viewing pleasure. The RunPee app will quietly vibrate in your lap several times over the course of your movie, letting you know the best times to get up and head to the bathroom. RunPee has Peetimes for every wide release movie shown in the last ten years, and new movie Peetimes are added every week on opening night.
Download the RunPee app available at the Play Store (you get some free Peecoins to try the app out at a few films to get you started), and you’ll never have to miss the really great movie scenes — like “Luke, I Am Your Father.” No wires attached! At over a million downloads, RunPee has become a favorite app for movie-goers world-wide. (Literally. We don’t think there’s a single country that hasn’t seen use!) RunPee won’t fix your bladder, or your OAB, but we’ve heard from many grateful users how it brought the gift of movie-going back into their lives.
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Don’t miss your favorite movie moments because you have to pee or need a snack. Use the RunPee app (Androidor iPhone) when you go to the movies. We have Peetimes for all wide release films every week, including Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume III, Super Mario Bros. Movie, and coming soon Fast X, and The Little Mermaid 2023. We have literally thousands of Peetimes—from classic movies through today's blockbusters. You can also keep up with movie news and reviews on our blog, or by following us on Twitter @RunPee. If there's a new film out there, we've got your bladder covered.
RunPee Mom is our emotional bedrock. Without her, RunPee never would have lasted a decade as an app (which is since the dawn of time in internet years). She’s our biggest cheerleader and an unending source of unconditional love. She works cheerfully and tirelessly, seeing any movie we ask of her, writing interesting reviews, and being our…well…MOM. Her genres of choice: kiddie flicks, animated movies, emotional dramas, historical features, war films, diverse biographies, and even dense, diabolically plotted thrillers. She knows more about famous and infamous figures in history than said figures probably knew about themselves. She’s the Quiz Manager for the RunPee.com blog, and our resident movie celebrity/trivia expert. If you’ve taken a RunPee Quiz, you’ve most likely been given a virtual hug by RunPee Mom.