Overactive bladder on antipsychotics

Are you taking Azo caplets? I am not on anti-p, but i get frequent irritation and they help.

I am about to start Gemtesa, using the samples the urologist have me. It is a new medication he recommended. I took one AZO OTC product right before the new year, when I had a UTI. It helped then, but then the presentation was different, with burning. I will ask him about AZO if Gemtesa doesn't do the job.

I have OAB. I've been on meds for it in the past but we stopped them over a year ago because of some health issues. I really don't notice much difference off it. I've not been on Gemtesa. I don't even know what med of med is my cause but assume it's one of them.

Interesting question. I saw my gp about an over active bladder. Had ultrasound done and they couldn’t find anything. She attributed it to meds. I force myself to hold my bladder for 2 hours at work but it’s difficult

Same here. Had ultrasound many times to test how the bladder is emptying. Every time, normal results. Very little left in the bladder after emptying, well within normal limits.

It was actually AI in my case that suggested that OAB can be from antipsychotics. My urologist then confirmed that it is quite likely and the only way to test is go off antipsychotics, but I need something for stability. The urologist confirmed that antipsychotics mess with bladder signaling. I often pee very little, and with normal signaling between the bladder and the brain I would be able to go several hours until the bladder is actually full and signals properly. But mine signals as if full and then... a few droplets.

When I can, I also hold and usually it is fine, especially if I can distract myself with something, but I cannot fall asleep due to those phantom signals. Y

Gemtesa is a new drug. I do not know if I will be able to afford it, as my insurance won't pay for it. It will be through the manufacturer's savings program, and I have not looked into exactly what it means. The urologist gave me enough samples for four weeks. I have just taken the first tablet. It won't be effective immediately but only cumulatively over time (if at all).

It is not an anticholinergic drug, unlike older medications for OAB. We will see how it goes. It can cause headaches.

I saw something over the counter at the chemist for an overactive bladder but I don't know if I'm keen on taking anything that inhibits my natural urine flow. If you need to go, you need to go.

I hear you. In my case, I do not "need" to go. One doesn't "need" to go when only a few droplets come out. It is broken signaling that makes me feel I absolutely have to go, but a normal bladder would have been able to wait another couple of hours, if not more. Sometimes I even feel phantom urges, when I think I need to go, but nothing comes out at all.

I started Gemtesa three nights ago. It seems to be helping already in reducing nocturia, although it is not supposed to become effective until at least two weeks in. During the day, the same frequency so far.

I had nausea on it the first day, bad enough to make me take Zofran. Yesterday I had faint nausea and didn't need Zofran. Today I have a weird headache. It is not my typical migraine; it is different from the headaches I had from Caplyta... it is focused on one oddly shaped area of my right hemisphere. Weird. Hopefully it will go away soon. Nausea and headaches are common side effects of Gemtesa.

The urologist said that Gemtesa can raise the BP, on average by 4 points, which is fine with me, as my baseline is low normal. Yesterday at the weight-loss medicine doctor's office, the reading was 93/68. I walked uphill in warm weather, then rested while waiting for the nurse, so the reading may have been affected by adjustment to exertion and heat. Typically, I have 100-110 over 60-78. So if it goes up by 4 points, it will still be perfectly fine. I talked to Gemini about it, and it said that Gemtesa didn't raise BP in clinical trials and is the first medication for OAB without hypertension warnings.

I hear you. In my case, I do not need to go, but I feel as if I did. One doesn't need to go when only a few droplets come out. It is a false perception, broken signaling that makes me feel I absolutely have to go, but a normal bladder would have been able to wait another couple of hours, if not more. Sometimes I even feel phantom urges, when I think I need to go, but nothing comes out at all.

I started Gemtesa three nights ago. It seems to be helping already in reducing nocturia, although it is not supposed to become effective until at least two weeks in. During the day, the same frequency so far.

I had nausea on it the first day, bad enough to make me take Zofran. Yesterday I had faint nausea and didn't need Zofran. Today I have a weird headache. It is not my typical migraine; it is different from the headaches I had from Caplyta... it is focused on one oddly shaped area of my right hemisphere. Weird. Hopefully it will go away soon. Nausea and headaches are common side effects of Gemtesa.

The urologist said that Gemtesa can raise the BP, on average by 4 points, which is fine with me, as my baseline is low normal. Yesterday at the weight-loss medicine doctor's office, the reading was 93/68. I walked uphill in warm weather, then rested while waiting for the nurse, so the reading may have been affected by adjustment to exertion and heat. Typically, I have 100-110 over 60-78. So if it goes up by 4 points, it will still be perfectly fine. I talked to Gemini about it, and it said that Gemtesa didn't raise BP in clinical trials and is the first medication for OAB without hypertension warnings.

Gemtesa was intolerable. Nausea and low-grade headache to no end. Almost four weeks and I couldn't adjust. The urologist took me off it. He then tried to get a prior authorization for an older medication of the same class as Gemtesa, but my insurance wouldn't budge. I am dealing with it using elimination methods. I already learned that tomato juice causes exacerbations, so I will stay off of it, even though I like drinking it a lot. I will use what I have in making soups, stews, chili, to avoid wasting food.

I also learned today via an expanded blood panel that I am postmenopausal. I didn't notice a change in bleeding patterns because I have been having occasional faint spotting on Mirena for the past 20+ years. No change. But OAB started several years ago, right when I was at the median menopause age. So I went into menopause not realizing it, because, fortunately, I do not have symptoms such as hot flashes. But OAB can be a symptom of menopause, so I have only one symptom, but it is very pronounced.

The timing makes sense, because I had already been taking antipsychotics for years by the time OAB set in. The menopause explanation makes sense, while the AP explanation doesn't.

I am so relieved to learn that I am already postmenopausal and have been for several years, because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for various symptoms to begin. Instead, I learned that my body has long adjusted to low estrogen and is still doing completely fine, with one big exception, OAB.

I have cut out coffee and OAB improved. So for now I know coffee and tomato juice are two culprits. There might be more. I also learned that grating fresh ginger, brewing it with boiling water for 10 minutes, and then adding a little honey and a little lemon juice is not only not irritating to the bladder, but is actually soothing. And the taste is good.

I understand that there's no single definitive list of bladder irritants that fits everyone, so we are left to use "elimination" diet to figure it out ourselves. (I didn't intentionally come up with "elimination" as a pun; I like when it appears from nowhere.) It seems that the primary irritants (coffee and soda) are acidic, so perhaps an alkaline diet (lots of vegetables) might offset them.

My wife drinks ginger tea every morning. I think it's one of the many anti-inflammatory foods.

Also we buy fresh turmeric root and add it to nearly every cooked food we make. Onions and garlic, too, of course.

I will try adding turmeric! I have already figured out that ginger tea is soothing to the bladder. I started drinking it to quell nausea (it was effective) and noticed that it also worked to reduce the OAB symptoms. I have ground turmeric, but I have not tried adding it.

Commercial tomato juice turned out to be a major irritant for me. I need to use up the leftover juice, though, so I am now making soups with it. Much diluted, it is less irritating.

I am curious how adding turmeric will turn out for me.