www.incontinentsupport.org

It's been a few months since I last posted an update, and it's time to vent again... I started taking Myrbetriq this past summer and initially had wondrous results. Efficacy started waning however, after a couple of months and I started wearing a pullup "just in case" if I was out in the afternoon/evening, when urges were more common, and it might be more than a short wait to get to a bathroom. Urges were rare and leaks were even rarer and very small when they did occur, but still having been embarrassed more than once, I felt better being safe than sorry.

Then I started noticing my joints hurt and muscles were unnecessarily stiff, but I thought, we're all getting older and ignored it for a while thinking it would go away. Then I started making stupid mistakes at work, lack of concentration and focus. So back off to my primary care Dr. I went in search of answers. Several blood tests later, nothing out of the ordinary (thank goodness), but still not ruling out all possibilities of some scary stuff for now.

Still, mistakes are expensive, and having learned from Toviaz, these types of drugs have many unintended side-effects including mental, so I decided to stop the Myrbetriq about 2 weeks ago.

The change was slow, with frequency going back up and capacity going back down and urges becoming more common. It's not as bad as it was at it's worst, but this was the first weekend out in a long time that I felt full protection was needed. Two full days out and about with friends; and diapers. I'm glad I had them. It reduced a lot of potential stress and worry. I still feel sorry for myself that it's necessary. But since stopping the drugs, the aches have significantly decreased and I think I'm thinking more clearly. The latter part is harder to be objective about from the inside

So, I guess if it comes down to a choice of wearing diapers when needed (I hope it doesn't come to 24/7), or not being "me", I'll have to find a way to incorporate the diaper into being "me".

Hi MikeInSF

I feel for you having read up on side effects of medication I was offered I was inspired by others here and went for the 24/7 in diapers option and have never looked back.

Greenbank

Hi MikeInSF

I too skipped the meds offered by my urologist, the possible side effects mad the desision easy. its been 2 years now and I do not regret my desision to wear full time to manage my bladder issues.

after being diapered 24/7 for a while you will get passed the worry about being diaperd, and the peace of mind that you get knowing you are protected and you can trust your diaper to do its job makes dealing with bladder issues easier.

unfortunately we can never predict with a 100% certainty when we will need to be protected so 24/7 protection is usualy the only choice.

glad you are feeling better as the meds leave your system

Rob

MikeInSF,

i too struggle with diapers being "me". i guess they are a part of me now and i have to accept that.

Darn, sorry to hear that. Myrbetriq was the only medication that even came close to having a positive effect on me. Of them all, I'd think this one would actually work for some people.

I know the body does adapt to medications over time though. But two months is a too quick bummer. I hope you're coping ok with the return to diapers.

I think we all struggle with having to wear diapers. We might do better with it at some times and worse at others. I've only been 24/7 for a couple months now and some days I feel like "ok yeah I got this, no big deal it's ok" and other days I just feel so low I can't even describe it. I can say though that when I step back and think of it rationally and try to remove all emotion from it, I'd rather wear the diaper than take the pills. Those pills are horrible in my experience. I know they work for some, some they help a bit, some people tolerate the side effects but antimuscarninis/anticholinergics are bad for you. Messing with neurotransmitters is never good. While you might get the desired result it's quite often at the expense of messing up another system somewhere else in your body. I honestly have no use for the pills anymore and I have no interest in things like interstim etc. The diapers suck and I have my ups and downs but over all I do think diapers are the best way to deal with incontinence, at least for me.

Having the same issue, medication is slowely working less. Going back to wetting the bed and im sure I'll be having issues during the day eventually like it always does. Jowever im gonna aim for just pull ups the time around.

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Bob

Oh, ive been there done that... for 4 years i was dry..then BAM!! Started wetting out of the blue.. got it treated..or so i htought..BAM..it happeend again.. then it goes away or decreases, BAM right back to every day flooding.. honestly, the up-down merry go round gets rather frustrating, and basically means i have to wear all the time even when dry or at least keep some on hand just in case of a flare up. I plan to hold onto my diaper stockpile for at least a year after if and when i get dry..assuming this interstim has any effect. The procedure has been pushed back to April. They couldn't get it done in Dec, and im leaving for 3 monnts Dec 27, so.. April it is.


Peace out!

Rob

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"We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" Mother Teresa

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!" - Captain Picard from Chain of Command, Part II

This seems, unfortunately, to be a common scenario, with the efficacy of the drugs decreasing , I am sorry that in addition to that, you had to deal with those heavy side affects.

I stopped because my headaches got worse with mybertique. I had excessive dry mouth with the others and just said forget it, especially when my insurance made these cost prohibitive... the pills were almost as expensive as the diapers, and I still needed the diapers, so what was the point?

I took Ditropan/Oxybyutinin for about two years. I also take Lithium. Both of these drugs made me incredibly thirsty. I could not get enough water. Since I am bladder and bowel incontinent this made my wetting worse. I still had to wear diapers 24/7. All it did was cut down on my urine production just a tad. But after a while, the ditropan lost its effectiveness. I'm still confined to diapers for my bowel incon and I wet the bed every night. I quit taking the med a few months ago. I am less thirsty and still using the same number of diapers as I was before with the ditropan. So what was the point of the drug?