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"omo disease" concept


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Much in the same way one can catch the runs from contaminated water/foods, what if our body's way of dealing with these harmful things was not through watery stool but by rapid urine-making, such that someone has to go every 30 minutes or less (can a doctor here explain why this can't be the case hahaha)

Variations i thought of:

The pathogen is spread not through ingesting contaminated food and drink, but more virulent as an airborne particle, spread by coughing, etc.

The pathogen doesn't cause diuresis, but urge incontinence/overactive bladder

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Variations that to me feel less "logical" and more like genuine omo stuff:

Bladder "sensations" are disabled, and one only feels an urgent need to pee just a few minutes away from an accident

bladder control is weakened, pelvic floor muscles weakened too

No other ideas come to mind that feel 'original' enough

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Hmmm, I've seen similar concepts in a few old omo stories.

Though here's another one that I actually haven't seen written anywhere. What if this virus would strengthen bladder control by tensing sphincters until the pressure from inside gets close to critical? Basically, people who carry this pathogen wouldn't be able to pee even if they want to until they're absolutely dying to go. So the idea would involve lots and lots of desperate to pee people every day who are not able to go until they fill up their bladder to the absolute maximum.

I know some people will find this idea pointless because 'whats the turn on if you can't wet yourself' etc., I heard that feedback several times, but hey, not everyone is into wetting and accidents. Some of the omo enthusiasts like myself are into desperation so we don't care much about wetting. And this idea delivers desperation in every place you go and lots of opportunities to make it worse.

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I was thinking of a similar concept for a novella or novel that I thought I would call Peedemic about a pandemic that has the side effect of causing women affected to urinate excessively and get desperate quicker. But now I am thinking if I decide to do that maybe I will combine it with my other dystopian idea about a world without ladies rooms and only urinals to make it doubly terrible. Also when you have thousands of story ideas combining story ideas into one story is a better way to get more story material written without having to give everything its own book.

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I’m not a doctor but I am a student healthcare worker who has taken physiology, so I can explain at least some of why it doesn’t work this way (since you asked).

Our digestive tract is basically a complicated tube that runs through our body. It has enzymes that break down food and membranes that selectively absorb the food once it’s broken into pieces small enough to pass through (basically, individual molecules). Because the tube is essentially *external* to our body, the easiest thing to do when you get pathogens in there is just to flush it out. Thus, diarrhea.

Our urinary tract is *ultra* complicated and serves a number of purposes, mostly maintaining the correct composition of our blood and removing waste products from the breakdown of certain molecules in our cells. Our kidneys filter out the fluid from our blood and then selectively reabsorb molecules from that fluid, depending on what we need to keep. To filter out this fluid, the blood is squeezed through a bundle of vessels called the glomerulus, which has gaps large enough for water molecules, electrolytes, and some organic molecules, but too small for the solid components of our blood, like red blood cells and platelets. Because of this, the kidneys are poorly suited to filtering out other cellular life, like bacteria. In other words, once pathogens have entered the blood, it’s too late to just flush them out. They need to be attacked and broken down by our immune system. The only time it’s worth it to flush the urinary system out is when pathogens get into the urinary tract itself, which is why UTIs do cause increased urine production.

Additionally, our kidneys are so good at conserving water that even if we could filter out pathogens from the blood, it probably wouldn’t require a huge increase in urine production to do it. Aside from a very small amount of water needed to produce urine at all, we basically only lose water through urine as necessary to maintain the right fluid balance, unless we have other chemical interventions (e.g., something like alcohol that blocks the hormone that causes kidneys to reabsorb water).

So, that’s why diarrhea is more common than hyperuria. But that’s no reason not to fantasize about it or depict it in stories! Go for it and use your imagination!

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PS, I realized I got into extra detail but didn’t quite answer your question. You asked why our response to contaminated food and water is diarrhea instead of increased urine production. The short answer is because the urinary system is not part of the digestive tract. In order to respond to contaminated food with increased urination, we would have to absorb the contaminants through our digestive tract walls and allow them to enter our bloodstream, which would give them lots of opportunity to do all kinds of damage before filtering them out. Better to get rid of them before absorption if possible.

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1 hour ago, kochel428 said:

The only time it’s worth it to flush the urinary system out is when pathogens get into the urinary tract itself, which is why UTIs do cause increased urine production.

@kochel428, neither am I a physician but I am a PhD in molecular and cell biology, and have been long fascinated by kidney function. Also, due to my spinal cord injury I have been very conscious of uti related issues. My understanding is that a uti can cause either greater urgency or urinary retention. Clearly what is the better situation  for long term health is the increased urgency. I know from experience the urgency can be quite sudden, and for me, uncontrollable. On the other hand the retention situation can lead to urine unable to leave the kidneys causing kidney damage. 
I have never seen any indication that a uti itself causes increased urine production. It is however very important to increase fluid intake if on has a uti.

I would welcome input from any physicians etc. who can add to or correct anything I have posted.

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I've toyed with something sort of similar in one of the books I've written. There are some light sci-fi elements and one of the characters doesn't have a typical digestive system. (There's a lot more to it than just that, but I won't go into detail here.) So, if he drinks something expired/something he's allergic to and it makes him sick, it will "flush out" quickly and he'll have to pee right away.  

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