Bladder miracle

Everyday living
1

Well the title says it all a bladder miracle has occurred for me and I wanted to share just in case it helps anyone else.

I like many have a sensitive overactive bladder. I am on tolteridine and self catheterise. I visited my continence nurse and kept an input output diary for her. My main problem was going too often with volumes out of only 50-100mls.

she wanted me to bladder train saying Min your poor bladder can only really hold 50 mls when the average is roughly 300mls. So I want you to drink 1500mls of decaffeinated fluid daily and when you feel you need to go just hang on and hang on to try to stretch your bladder.

so like a good patient I had 350mls normal coffee at breakfast then 1200mls squash at work hanging on and on. Ok not really following th rules but who does!!! Result was a lot of discomfort and wetting myself several times. I gave it a few days then thought b.g…er this no more enough is enough and I went back to my 350mls of lovely proper coffee at breakfast and no more fluid during the day - don’t really go to the loo too much with this at all - there’s a surprise!!

yikes not enough the doctors cried saying drink more Min you’ll damage your kidneys - well no I’m fine on my 350mls of lovely proper coffee at breakfast. Bloods as I’m on Tec were OK no signs of dehydration. Tiredness not a problem.

keep reading as the good bit is coming up!!! I got horrible horrible tooth pain you know so bad that you just want to pull the tooth out. So I hunting around for painkillers any I can find- codeine and ibuprofen are my usual. But then I found another bottle of pills - don’t know what they’re for but anything to get rid of the pain.

well pain went and the miracle is that these unknown tablets made me thirsty. So I started drinking decaf tea at work. 3 mugs I had and where was the urge to pee? gone!!! It was just such bliss to be able to drink mugs of lovely decaf tea and not need to dash to the loo every 5 minutes.

When I did go after 3 mugs I measured and just laughed and laughed when I peed 350mls - YES 350mls. So thank you very much lovely continence nurse my bladder is not dried up and shrivelled up to a 50ml volume but is a normal 350ml. Such joy at being able to drink freely - so ok not caffeine drinks but decaf tea is passable.

so for you who are still awake what was my miracle tablet that I thought was a pain killer for my awful tooth ache? It’s NORTRIPTYLINE not a pain killer at all but an antidepressant with side effect of bladder relaxing.

So I am just so thankful for my ignorance of tablets as if I had known I wouldn’t have taken an antidepressant for toothache.

Bonus of taking Nortriptyline for my bladder is I get a shot of happiness thrown in!!!

my problem now is trying to persuade an MS ignorant GP to prescribe an antidepressant for my bladder. I might see if my MS nurse can help - she is a bit elusive though. I do have quite a supply as I’m a medication hoarder

That is the end of my happy bladder tale and I really hope it can help others.

Cheery

Min xx

1 Like
2

hi min

thanks for sharing this.

is nortriptyline like amitriptyline (which i’ve been taking for years)?

if not, i’ll ask to switch.

carole x

3

I was curious so consulted google…!

Here is the NHS leaflet - which covers both amitripyline and nortriptyline so assume they are similar.

http://www.iow.nhs.uk/Downloads/Patient%20Information%20Leaflets/Chronic%20Pain%20Relief%20-%20Amitriptyline%20Nortryptiline%20Tablets%20for.pdf

" The main side effect of Amitriptyline/Nortriptyline is drowsiness/hangover; therefore the best time to take it is in the evening. This has the added advantage of helping you to sleep. The other most noticeable side effect that people find is a dry mouth. A glass of water beside the bed at night will help and during the day sugar-free lozenges or similar can help. Other rare side effects are vision blurring and urine retention. "

So feeing thirsty (dry mouth) and causing urine retention are both side effects. Who knew?

Good to know as I do take amitriptyline albeit I use it as a sleeping aid :slight_smile:

4

I seem to remember (don’t know where from) that amitriptyline is sometimes used to help with bed wetting. It makes sense that it would help if that’s the case.

Sarah

5

Yeah - I’ll take the urine retention - works for me. Dry mouth reminds me to drink my lovely decaf :coffee: tea!

Did take amitriptoline once at night but had to take the next day off sick at work as was so sedated so never took it again!

Maybe each works differently for different people - we are all individuals!

Good luck

min xxx

6

Hi Min,
Just read your post from Jun 2017 interesting read, are you still using Nortiptyline for your bladder? Looking for something to help mine.

Thanks
Meriel xx

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Amitriptyline is sometime given to children who wet the bed. It doesn’t have the same effect on all who use it but it does stop me getting up during the night to empty my bladder.
Jan x

8

Hi Tabitha - thanks so much for you interest. It is very useful for me reading back what I did as quite often I don’t remember!!!
So no I no longer take noritryptiline. BUT by coincidence I have had some bladder Botox today. Yes it slightly hurts but after a couple of weeks I can drink more and pee more.
Hugs
Min :purple_heart:x​:purple_heart: