Help with anti spasm medication info?

[mrsrmont]

Can anyone out there there share their experiences and results with any prescribed antispasm bladder meds? I take AZO standard like candy everyday of my life, usually 3 a day for bladder spasms, and after reading the cautions, that large doses caused intestinal carcinoma in lab rats, this has scared me to death, I cannot deal with the daily bladder spasms without this medication and nothing else over the counter works!!! Prescribed pyridium causes way too much nausea and gas (is okay during a bladder infection) but not a daily basis. :help:

Thanks

[traceann]

Hey there mrsmont! Has your doctor put you on anything like Detrol or Ditropan? Those are Rx's for spasms, Ditropan was one of the first meds I was given, as I had horrible urethral spasms then later some bladder spasms.

The Ditropan helped me out sooooo much. It didn't help with frequency for me, just the spasms. I was warned by my doctor not to take Pyridium (AZO Std is the OTC version) too often or too regularly. Did your doctor give you the ok to take it so often? If not, I would chat with him/her about how often you can use it safely and whether or not there may be something better for to take (like Detrol, Ditropan etc)

Now, there is an Rx for Pyridium Plus that has an added antispasmodic, but I know the regular and the AZO are just straight bladder analgesics. Have you tried taking the Rx (or even the OTC) Pyridium with food? That used to help me as I have actually, um, thrown it right back up, lol. Not good. But, it did numb my tongue...lmao!! ;)

Hope this helps a little bit!!! :)

[mrsrmont]

I took ditropan years ago, and it helped some, I may ask to try the ditropan xl, have you tried that? Yes I have used the rx pyridium and with food that is the one that makes me sick.

Thanks for your reply

[ICB]

Kathy:

Many healthcare providers prescribe Valium 2mg. three times per day. It helps to relax the pelvic floor muscles and the bladder, preventing spasms. Additionally, if you are drinking a lot of liquids (more than 4 ounces) at one time, you may want to take small sips every 5 to 10 minutes to prevent the bladder from going into spasm.

As Tracey mentioned, many IC patients do very well on Ditropan or Detrol. I've found them to have more side-effects than valium, but each patient is different.

Discuss your options with your healthcare provider and ask which medication is appropriate for you.

Best wishes, ICB :flower:

[mrsrmont]

ICB does the 2mg 3 times a day of valium make you drowsy at all?:cat:

Thanks

[ICNDonna]

There are several different antispasmodics that can help --- my preference is hyoscyamine, but I have also taken urispas and sanctura.

Donna

[creatingkarma]

I have found that Levsin (Hyoscyamine) works very well for my bladder spasms. There are several kinds, but I take the sublingual ones (you put them under your tongue & let them melt).

[ICB]

ICB does the 2mg 3 times a day of valium make you drowsy at all?:cat:

Thanks

It may cause drowsiness in the first week or two; after that you get used to the dose and you can't even tell that you're taking it. If it bothers you at first; you can cut it in half until you get used to that dose, then go to a full pill.

Check with your healthcare provider to see what he/she believes is the best treatment regimen for you.

Best wishes, ICB:flower:

[Elle]

For me, Ultram works the best for dealing with constant, daily spasms. B&O suppossitories are great for super-strong spasms.

[traceann]

I haven't tried the Ditropan XL, to help keep costs down (I didn't have insurance at the time) my doc put me on the regular stuff, 5mg 3x's a day. Which, I really liked - I could adjust as needed (down, not up, lol) instead of being stuck with it in my system, if that makes any sense!! ;)

As you can see, there's lots to choose from, lol!!

Hugs!

[mrsrmont]

Traceann why would you have to adjust it, was it because of dealing with side effects? What really aggrevates me is if you read in my earlier post of how many AZO standard that I take, and how scared I am of doing that, I did tell my urologist and he stated "thats okay"!

So many times we have to be our own doctor!!!! (Most of the time)!:cussing:

Thank you

[Sarojini]

I believe you are right to worry about taking that much AZO -- yes, it has been shown to cause cancer in lab rats, but that isn't my concern really as a cancer biologist (the rats were fed even higher doses than you're taking). However, the longterm use of azo dyes is hard on the liver, and can also alter your red blood cell function so after a while you may note you aren't getting enough oxygen. Finally, my uro has had several patients who took so much of the stuff they actually turned orange themselves!!

Have you tried something like Urised? It has the antispasmodic hyoscyamine in it, as well as a safer blue dye to soothe the lining of the urinary tract. It helps a lot of patients.

In addition, Levsin is good (it's hyoscyamine alone), as is the Valium regimen. I find that the Valium works best for me personally; the Levsin is actually better for the intestinal spasms I get with my IBS.

I did try things like Ditropan and Detrol, and neither worked for me -- I experienced the side effect of severe urinary retention. Yuck...

I hope you find some relief soon!!

[traceann]

For me I discovered that I could eventually use it "as needed". The better things got, I was able to cut back the dose, like just take morning and evening and skip the midday dose. My worst complaint with it was the dryness - of everything. Mouth, vaginal, my skin - my hands looked awful. But I started taking flaxseed oil and that made a HUGE improvement in the dryness issue, so it wasn't so bad to deal with. But, I hate taking meds (lovely for an ICer eh? LOL), so if I was able to take less, and do well, I was happy!! ;) I was fortunate and didnt' have retention issues with it, but it can be a problem for some like Sarojini said. Seems like every medication somewhere has some kind of drawback...ugh. So, for a lot of us it's trial and error in what works well for us, as you can see - we are all different!