Anticholinergics/antispasmodics (bladder medications)

[Don]

I took oxybutynin for about two years. My urinary incontinence was so heavy it helped to lessen it. It did not make it go away. I started taking it because I was wetting so heavily at night. I was saturating my diaper and it was leaking in my bed every night up to my chest. I was miserable. I take Lithium and it makes me incredibly thirsty. So that was against me. I pleaded with my primary doc for anything that would help. I’ve also taken DDAVP, vesicare, enablex, and imipramine. I had problems with dry mouth and constipation on these. While taking the oxybutynin (Ditropan), my dry mouth increased. I was so thirsty all the time. I could not drink enough water. Due to the dry mouth, I started to have tooth decay despite good oral care. Eventually, a new side effect of the Ditropan was noticed. I had a couple EKG’s to check heart rhythm for another condition. The side effect was that Ditropan was causing S-T changes causing a heart arrhythmia. So I came off the Ditropan. And since most anticholinergics have the same chemical makeup, such meds have been labeled a drug allergy for me. So needless to say, I cannot take that class of medications. Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

[Patrick]

Familiar? It does indeed. The anti-cholinergics prescribed for me gave me intense dry mouth, so I inadvertently drank way too much water, with the same result you experienced. My protection was perpetually saturated, and nocturnal leakage was impossible. At the same time my urologist was pushing hard to change me from diapers to external catheters, none of which stayed glued in place. My most memorable accidents happened when I was wearing an external. Never again. I'm sure that anti-cholinergics work for some folks; however, if they don't, get rid of them, and feel no guilt.

[Don]

When I saw my urologist a few months ago, he was discussing alternative modalities to manage my incontinence. We talked about catheters but as he said with my GI issues...what’s the point? We talked about interstem and Botox but I’m not a good candidate for those either.

[Inconinmiss]

Don,

My urologist has tried me on the same drugs that you list. All of them produced unpleasant side effects without having any significant effect on my urge incontinence. And my experience with external catheters has been similar to Patrick’s. The most embarrassing accident I have ever had was when I was wearing one.

[batman381327]

They didn't work for me either.

[WetDad]

Very familiar in deed. Not only were the side effects awful, but the drugs simply lessened my need for diapers, they did not eliminate the need. So I was a nervous twitchy dry mouthed ... and I was still in diapers. I went back to the diapers alone, as I can readily understand and accept the side effects.

[batman381327]

I did some searching on organic supplements for the bladder, and found literature on it. Most of the literature said it takes up to 2 months to see results. I have heard bad things about supplements such as you are not really getting what you think you are buying. As anyone experimented with supplements and what were the results. I have urge incontinence and not sure how those would work for that with out interfering with my current meds for other things.

[Überaktive]

Geez, oxybutynin is quite an unpleasant medicine. It makes me groggy, irritable, anxious, thirsty and nervous. It causes vision blur, fatigue, headache, nausea, diarrhoea (rarely), appalling taste to the mouth and impaired concentration + it makes the already difficult voiding even more strenuous as the relaxation of the bladder allows for more urine to gather but dropping pressure makes it hard to get it all out. Often I end up wetting anyways after urinating under the influence of oxy, as my bladder hasn't really emptied completely. I also sleep heavily -but restlessly- if under influence of it.

I've noticed having more unpleasant urge to urinate and an odd sense of warmth or heat in the bladder area after taking oxybutynin. I take it only when absolutely necessary. Might sound weird, but I rather wet and change a diaper than suffer the oxybutynin side-effects.

[Inconinmiss]

Starting about 4 years ago, my urologist prescribed oxybutynin and other drugs for overactive bladder for successive periods of several months each. They all produced unpleasant side effects, and none but the oxybutynin skin patch had any appreciable effect on my incontinence. The skin patch reduced the frequency of the incontinence, although I still needed to wear a diaper 24/7 and the patch irritated my skin. Eventually, I decided to stop the medications for incontinence (although I still take drugs for my high blood pressure) and reconciled myself to wearing a diaper to manage my incontinence.