# Overactive bladder caused by meds??



## MandyC (Jun 16, 2010)

warning: TMI on this too long of a novel ahead! (about potty problems, lol)... 

i'd been on various dosages of xanax for years by itself. then i started taking adderall as well for years...no problems. then, my dr. switched me over to klonopin - and i still took the same dose of adderall...all was fine for several months. until one day, i had a sudden, overwhelming urge to "use the facilities"...i almost didn't make it - and i was out in public. :afr yeah, that's a fun memory. 

anywho, i thought maybe it was simply because i'd "forgotten" to go, lol. but i soon learned that wasn't the case - it continued to happen every day from then on...several times per day. i then went to my primary dr., who said that i had stress incontinence - which was extremely common in "older" women (hey, i'm not THAT old, pal:mum). he prescribed one of those pills you see advertised on tv...it didn't work. neither did the *six other* types i tried.

then, after looking up my symptoms on the net and reading all the horrible things that could be wrong with me, i decided to see a specialist...after a bunch of embarrassing tests, he told me that (luckily) i did not have a tumor or need to be cut open to have my bladder hoisted back up or anything like that - and that i also didn't have stress incontinence, *and* that my overactive bladder was NOT due to "old age"  

he said i had "urge incontinence" - which can happen to anyone of any age. but the smile soon faded when he told me that there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it - oh, except for some other type of surgery - a rare, painful procedure that has a poor success rate and occasionally makes the problem WORSE!?!...and even when it is successful, it's benefits don't last more than a few years.

so, here it is, years later - still dealing with it (don't ask...no, i do not wear diapers...yet, anyway).

well, i'm thinking it could be due to the klonopin. it's an uncommon side effect, but it is listed in the literature. although i realize that adderall can cause similar problems, i doubt that's the cause because i'd been taking it for several years with no problem...as well as with xanax. regardless of how much i lower the klonopin to, it doesn't help...i even went off it completely (slowly) for a month - no improvement. i also stopped the adderall completely at a different time for several weeks - no improvement. but if it's involving weakened bladder muscles or an alpha receptor being blocked (those are the things those two meds can cause), maybe it takes a very long time of being off the meds in order to recover? - or maybe, i'm screwed for life...thought so. 

to get to my question (finally) - has anyone experienced overactive bladder with klonopin or adderall, and if so, did it ever go away???? oh, and if the answer is bad, please lie. 

btw, if i go back on xanax, i have to pay like several times what the klonopin costs, as it's shorter acting - and, benzo's are no longer covered by my insurance. also, the severe constipation xanax causes is *almost* as bad as the bladder problem (i actually ended up in the hospital due to the constipation - hey, if you didn't go for over TWO WEEKS, you'd go to the hospital too, eh? (i warned ya this post had TMI!).

thanks for any experience/insight you can offer...and thanks for taking the time to read my novel. 

(oh, and btw, all three dr's seriously doubt that the meds are causing the problem - why? i have no clue - they just think it's "highly unlikely" - but don't dr's have a tendency to be wrong at times? )


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## MandyC (Jun 16, 2010)

hmm, nobody? - well, i'm glad to see that no one else is going through this!

UPDATE: for the past two days, i increased my klonopin again - from .25 1-2x/day to .50 2x/day (i'm actually prescribed 1mg 4x/day)...

well, forget what i wrote in my last post about the dosage not mattering!...as starting last night, i had to go every two hours throughout the night - and my bladder felt like it was going to EXPLODE each time - even though it wasn't full. 

i guess i'd forgotten just *how* bad my problem used to be when i was on a higher dose...the sad thing is that i'd just started to feel "normal" again with taking .50 twice a day.

i really don't want to take xanax again, but since i still have some left, i think i'll try it - if i switch over completely and it solves the problem - i'll have solved the problem, lol...(then i'll "only" have to deal with the severe constipation that xanax causes me).


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## hatepickingnames (May 14, 2010)

I can't speak for Xanax but I do know that I have had this problem with Tramadol before...even though the docs swear it's not possible it has always correlated with a change in dose or starting of the med. 

It does suck how every med creates some new problem.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

benzos can cause this. since coming off xanax i have to pee as soon as any urine gets in my bladder. i hope i dont get arrested for public urination because i do it all the time.


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## hatepickingnames (May 14, 2010)

Recipe For Disaster said:


> benzos can cause this. since coming off xanax i have to pee as soon as any urine gets in my bladder. i hope i dont get arrested for public urination because i do it all the time.


Haha...I live in a suburb now and rarely go out but when I lived in the city I was forever trying to find a hidden alcove or a tree with good coverage when I had med induced bladder issues.


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## Lizb2321 (Dec 2, 2011)

*Overactive Bladder*

Dear Mandy, I have been on Clonazepan for 18 years. In September I had a nervous breakdown which just keeps getting worse. I have been over using clonazepan to calm me down and I have an over-active bladder as well. I have been tested by two Drs and the hospital and there is nothing wrong with my bladder. It hurts all the time but more when I lie down in bed. I googled Klonopin and it said it was the New Zealand term for Clonazepan. My Dr won't give me sleeping pills he expects me to use Clonazepan as sleeping pills. I am trying to change Dr's but it is very hard here in New Zealand. So the pill I thought would calm my bladder down is actually inflaming it.

I am addicted to Clonazepan but I think if I stuck to taking 3 a day my bladder might come right. My bladder wakes me up at night too. And very early in the morning and I try to drink little.

Hope this is of some help.

Regards

Liz


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## reflecting (Apr 19, 2011)

I don't know it for your drugs, but I experienced exactly what you describe with Cymbalta.
With Nardil it also turned up as a side effect at the beginning, but luckily faded away.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

MandyC said:


> i also stopped the adderall completely at a different time for several weeks - no improvement. but if it's involving weakened bladder muscles or an alpha receptor being blocked (those are the things those two meds can cause), maybe it takes a very long time of being off the meds in order to recover? - or maybe, i'm screwed for life...thought so.


Hmm yeah AFAIK Adderall (or anything that enhances norepinephrine) can cause urinary hesitancy/retention, due to pressure on the norepinephrine-alpha receptors present in the bladder. Indeed the alpha- blocker Tamsulosin (Flomax) is sometimes used to treat urinary hesitancy.

As for weakening of the bladder muscles due to ie; chronic adderall use, resulting in urinary frequency I haven't heard of this, but it may be possible. Some norepinephrine enhancers (Cymbalta) are actually used to treat stress urinary incontinence.

The other option for overactive bladder is anticholinergic medication. http://www.globalrph.com/anticholinergic.htm


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## MandyC (Jun 16, 2010)

jim_morrison said:


> Hmm yeah AFAIK Adderall (or anything that enhances norepinephrine) can cause urinary hesitancy/retention, due to pressure on the norepinephrine-alpha receptors present in the bladder.


i'm so glad you wrote this...because i never gave an additional, important update, and some have pm'd me in regards to this thread...

forget whatever mind trip i was on in the past -- my overactive bladder symptoms were indeed, 100% caused by ADDERALL.







that's my final, FINAL answer.

it got even worse than previously stated -- i was having to go every HOUR -- i kid you not. imagine trying to sleep. it took 6 full months of not taking *any* adderall (nor klonopin, in which probably wasn't helping, but wasn't the proximate cause, either) to get to having to "only" go every 3 hours...then, very stupidly, i took an adderall one day, just to see what would happen...back to having to go every dang hour...and that one little adderall pill caused that to continue for another 6 months.









i've just now gotten back to having to go every 3 hours...yay.

needless to say, i'll never be taking adderall again. *however*, i hope that doesn't cause any of you to shy away from (pardon the pun) trying it...as adderall can work absolute wonders for those with SA, and severe overactive bladder is a very rare side effect.


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## MandyC (Jun 16, 2010)

*yet another potty troubles update -- only, this time, it's a fabulous one!*

no, i'm not going to change my story yet again...ok, well, yes i am. :b

i recently quit smoking and switched to electronic cigarettes. i noticed that my overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms improved a bit, and kept improving as i lowered my nicotine level. this past saturday, i finally was at zero nicotine...and 24hrs later, i was at zero overactive bladder. WHAT?

so, i decided to try a little experiment:

yesterday morning, i popped an adderall (and prayed to santa i wouldn't soon be on the road to hell with OAB)...three hours later, no symptoms. so, i popped another (lol)...no symptoms throughout the rest of the entire day or night. OMG!!

repeated the same deal today...still no symptoms. i am completely astonished.

to sum it up:

1. nicotine + adderall = HORRIFIC symptoms.

2. nicotine by itself = symptoms that range from mild to moderate, depending on the level of nicotine consumed.

3. adderall by itself = no symptoms.

therefore, if i can stay off nicotine, i think it's fairly safe to say that i can go back to taking adderall daily -- and back to a life with no overactive bladder and no social anxiety!! :clap


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