My irritable bladder…..I may have found the culprit!

I find tea, ordinary black tea, and tomatoes do cause frequent trips to the loo. Is there an age limit on using Vagifem? It has been suggested but I am worried about starting it at over 75!!

Thank you all for your concern and suggestions.
I am not diabetic, I use Estriol/Ovestin.

I have had major problems with UTI’s etc over the years, I had a severe problem with a staghorn kidney stone, it could not be removed surgically until I was clear of an ecoli infection that was caused by the stone!

I took antibiotics for 18 months, I eventually had surgery after months of trying with stents and am left with only one fully functioning kidney.

For this reason I try to make sure I stay healthy, I take D-Manoose daily and only drink alcohol occasionally.
My problem is definitely caused by food/drink.

Last nights dinner with tomato paste was fine, only one 2.00am visit!

luluaugust

I find tea, ordinary black tea, and tomatoes do cause frequent trips to the loo. Is there an age limit on using Vagifem? It has been suggested but I am worried about starting it at over 75!!

My Mum is 80 and she started on it a year ago. There is no age limit and it does make a difference to the nether regions but I don't know about frequency of urination because she is catheterised!

Catterygirl

A GP prescribed me D-Manoose. Unfortunately it isn’t available on the NHS. Buy it online but never had a bladder infection since. They are so painful. It should be available on prescription but worth every penny if you can afford it. Roughly £20.

I have been taking D-Mannose on a daily basis as have had a series of bladder infections. If my bladder starts niggling and I feel things are not right I take a couple of extra doses over a couple of days. I have had trouble with excessive toilet visits at night despite not drinking after 7pm. Went to a bladder clinic and measured wee over several days. Showed that I was expelling more wee at night than in the day. Still the same. Awake every hour and a half. Blooming nuisance but was offered some medication which I refused as am pumping too many tablets into my 82 year old body.

I have had bladder problems for several years now and have to avoid anything acidic, so tomatoes are definitely a no go area and I love them too. It's so annoying!

Thank you Icanhandthemback I did use it years ago so will give it a try

Just wanted to say that the information in this thread has been very useful and indeed an eye opener. I knew caffeine stimulated the bladder but I’d not considered other food stuffs doing the same thing. Thank you Sago and everyone who has posted. And I’m another supporter of Vagifem. I think it improves dryness and skin elasticity in that area which can only help with bladder problems.

When I was borderline for diabetes I was going to the toilet several times at night. Ask your GP for a test as it's a possibility HTH

I’ve just had a consultation with a urologist. He said caffeine was the biggest culprit and said to avoid Coke and tea (unless decaffeinated)

It could be due to the histamine in the tomatoes. Do get hay fever?

As an ex continence nurse we realised that tomatoes can be a bladder irritant. However there are many reasons for irritable bladder and I would suggest asking your GP to refer you to a bladder and bowel service in your area. They are run by nurses and physios with expertise in diagnosing the cause of irritable bladder

I am taking Amlodipine for high B/P and was getting up to wee at least 3 times a night. I just happened to read that the drug can cause ‘excessive urination at night’ so after consulting the pharmacist I now take it at night instead of in the morning. At the same time I read that wearing socks in bed helps you to sleep better! So I am trying that too which means I’m not sure which remedy is helping! But the last few nights I have only had to get up once!

The urethra can became inflamed with different types of food but it can vary from person to person. Tomatoes are a well known one. For me apples

It would be instructive if you tried taking Buscopan which is a smooth muscle relaxant and can be bought over-the-counter. I have found it useful for this problem. It is mainly marketed for IBS symptoms, but is also effective for other conditions where excess muscle tone is part of the problem. Just take one and see whether it helps. Obviously, you must pay attention to the Patient Advice Leaflet. Whether or not it works, you should see a GP.

I think pelvic exercises help cure incontinence. They are recommended by NHS - easy to do , tighten, hold and relax about 6 times or whenever one fancies. Incidentally I used to suffer from cystitis and found that pouring warm water from a jug between my legs after weeing solved that problem. And while we're on the subject is a Lota difficult to use?

I really like fizzy water and bought a soda symphony’s so that I could make my own. I was also having to get up too often in the night and finally read that any carbonated drink can be an irritant. I now avoid ant fizzy drinks and am not so bad.

I have back to backe UTIs and am immuno- suppressed. I’ve recently come across (on NHS site) a suggestion that something called D-Mannose and Cranberry can help. H&B have a D-Mannose and Cranberry extract. I haven’t tried yet because I am waiting to hear that it won’t interfere with my medication. NHS also suggest Estriol, a topical low hormone cream for post menopausal women, but that has to be prescribed by GP.
I hope you’ll find something here to be helpful. x

Tomatoes are highly acidic (by the time they reach the bladder) and so often not tolerated by anyone with an already irritated bladder. Taking sodium citrate and or bicarbonate of soda can help reverse this. There is a particularly good d-Mannose tablet that is effervescent in a small glass of water, that also alkalises the bladder - you can get it from Boots (lucovital) or H&B do exactly the same as an own brand, online only.
Vagifem is not bad, but may not be enough, in which case, ask your Dr for eString, which provides a higher continuous dose. Once any atrophy has been dealt with, the whole area is much more conducive to lactic acid, which will be naturally produced by lactobacilli locally and it is thought this will keep the whole area healthy and help eliminate a lot of bladder issues when we get older.

I’d also like to add a warning for ladies prescribed a prophylactic antibiotic called Nitrofurantoin, to make sure that their GP monitors liver function, because it can trigger a rare condition called Auto-Immune Hepatitis - you may have to alert GP to this. Mine did no monitoring for years, and I ended up with AIH - it’s for life and life changing.

d-Mannose is often very helpful and worth a try. It is thought that it works better in a alkaline environment - so you can take it along with sodium citrate if you wanted, or try the fizzy tablet one I also suggested. If you are going to take cranberry, that must have at least a PAC 36 to be effective and works best in an acidic environment, so the two don’t really go together.
If you suffer from frequent uti’s, it might be worth trying Hiprex (methenamine hippurate) which is available (very expensively!) OTC, but your GP can prescribe it.
Oestrial cream (Ovestin, and similar) is very good IF you can tolerate it,but many women get horrific burning with it - others, none at all, so it’s worth a try. Otherwise, Vagifem or eString.

Oh no. That’s awful for you. Nitrofurantoin is indeed a horrible chemical in my opinion.

The other thing to look for is type two diabetes x

I don't have a problem keep getting up during the night, my problem is the evening whilst watching TV. Some evenings I'm like a yoyo & does tend to start after tea & I do tend to eat a lot of baby plum tomatoes. I'll have to see if cutting them out makes a difference. Bit gutting if do as I absolutely love baby plums. Quite often go to the fridge & grab a handful as a healthy snack.

Georgesgran

I suspect the OP wants ideas/tips to try before medication. I can’t see where Vagifem would help though as it’s not for bladder problems.

Vagifem does indeed help irritable bladder and stress incontinence as a lack of oestrogen can cause loss of bladder control and incontinence. It's a very low dose tablet of oestrogen delivered locally (vaginally). It also helps with vaginal atrophy. Been using it for years and would highly recommend.

Yes I found D Mannose quite good, although as you say expensive.I have to be careful though as it has lots of natural sugars and I am diabetic…sends blood sugar through the roof.