If you experience this circumstance, you probaly have two of the following indicators: frequency of urination (usually more than 8 times in 24 hours), urgency (an immediate and strong urge to urinate) and leaking or involuntary loss of urnine. Although the changes in urinary anatomy - the result of normal aging - do not cause urinary trouble, they do create a situation that allows this to occur more easily. Aging results in a reduced size of the bladder, producing a decreased bladder volume and a need for more frequent bladder emptying.
Urination involves physiological processes within the urinary tract and the brain. Our brain normally suppresses the urge to urinate until we initiate urination. Neurons in the brain and in smooth muscle of the bladder involuntarily govern the detrusor (layered, smooth muscle that surrounds the bladder) muscle. This muscle contracts and relaxes based on the volume of urine in the bladder and the initiation of urination. The desire to urinate ussually starts when the bladder has reached about half its physiologic capacity. This desire is suppressed by the cerebral cortex until a suitable time and place has been chosen.
Butterbur relaxes the detrusor muscle, which reduces pressure on the bladder and thus relieves the urge to urinate. Each capsule contains 50 mg of standardized butterbur, yielding 7.5 mg of the active ingredients petasin and isopetasin. Our extract has been specially processed to remove undesirable pyrrolizidine alkaloids found in some brands.
