A voiding diary is a tool that your doctor may use to help diagnose and treat an overactive bladder or other conditions that may affect your bladder. You will typically fill out this diary for a few days. You will record things like when and how much you urinate, what and how much you drink, and if you have urinary urgency or leaking.
A voiding diary is a way to track when and how much you urinate. You can also record what and how much you drink if you must pee urgently, and if you have urine leakage and when. It’s one tool you and your doctor can use to help diagnose bladder conditions and discover if changing what you drink or eat may help.
Your doctor will likely have a form you can follow, but typically you will record things like:
- how much urine you pass
- what you drink and how it affects you
- if you leak urine and when
- what you were doing when you had urine leakage
- if you have urinary urgency and when
- if you have pain when urinating
- if you have difficulty passing urine
You can use any journal to record the information your doctor requests. Your doctor will likely have either printed sheets or digital versions of a voiding journal table to help you record the information for each day. This sheet will have rows and columns for you to enter information for each day you keep your voiding diary.
Your doctor may provide a voiding diary in paper, a digital form that you can complete from your phone, computer, or other device, or an app.
The organizations listed below also have free, downloadable versions of a voiding journal:
Completing a voiding diary can help you and your doctor determine the factors that may be affecting you if you have an overactive bladder.
Generally, voiding journals have lines for each hour and a place to record when you urinate, how much, and other things like what you drank and when. You may need to fill out a voiding diary for several days or a week.