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

Having had 10 surgeries to my pelvic floor, over 10 years, I was having troubles ... one of the investigations (and I don't recommend it!) was a 'Tilt Table Test', usually done with people with heart issues, but is also used for people with bladder issues. They make you evacuate the bladder, then insert a catheter to remove any remaining. They then use the same catheter to insert a measured amount of fluid, which they keep increasing until it is 'painful' and beyond the 'laughing' stage! They then tilt the table until you are upright, and ask you to HOLD ON as long as you can! You can manage for a little while, then the pain gets too much and you just have to let it go, or as I shouted, 'get the bucket'! Anyway, turns out I have an unstable bladder and my bladder can only hold 395mls, whereas the average bladder usually holds 500mls plus.

Roll on a further 10 years and I am finding that I need to go very regularly (although I drink a lot for other medical reasons, although stop at 6pm other than for taking my medication) and I am waking often during the night. But, I just cannot hold it and can't get to the loo in time! Partly because my mobility is poor so running is out of the question, partly because everything down there is obviously altered, and also as soon as I stand up, because I have a massive abdominal hernia, my guts literally bounce on my bladder!. I have a downstairs loo, but it is a macerator type, and in the last 6 months it definitely sounds as though it is about to fail, and I have had to 'bail it out' a number of times - not an easy task for me! The cost to get anyone out to even cross the threshold is £119.40 (probably more now?) which would have been a months food money, (as the DWP were paying me wrongly all winter) so that was a non-starter. Asked for help from SS. The OT eventually comes out, the toilet played a blinder and groaned beautifully, so she suggests that (as I can't access my bathroom) that she gets me a stairlift! I can't wait for a lift to come, I would be peeing all the way up the ruddy mechanism! Asked her for a plastic or disposable bed pan thing just in case it did fail so that I could pop it on the loo and wouldn't be hovering over a bucket and carers could empty it, and she said "we don't do those" but offered me a commode to put in the kitchen!! Well I am not an OT, just a nurse, but what on earth goes beneath said commode, my mop bucket?? She rang my GP who told her what I told her, but nothing's happened .... and I am still bailing.

Anyway, my GP has given me a medication called BETMIGA, which has helped no end, I still wake up, but am nowhere near as desperate to go as I was, and can generally make the trip to the loo.

Regarding UTI's my mum had them regularly - touch wood she hasn't had one in around 18 months since she has been having a small glass of cranberry juice per day, so that's worth a try if anyone struggles with that. Cranberry extract is also available in a tablet form if you don't like the juice, lots on Amazon certainly.

Had endless problems & was eventually given Myrbetriq 25 mg
It’s been a miracle,so far.Understand what your going through,definitely an allergy,good luck.

I’ve had trouble with my bladder for years, was told to give up caffeine, alcohol and anything spicy. It helped for a couple of years but I now have to have Botox injected into my bladder every 18 months. Having it done in 2 weeks time as I’m back to needing to pee a couple of times every hour.
Hope you find something to ease your visits to the bathroom. x

Would decaffeinated coffee be an irritant to the bladder?

NotAGran55

I think my GP would disagree with you Georgesgran

GPs know nothing about nutrition. Tomatoes are from the nightshade family and well known for causing inflammation.

I understand tomatoes and potatoes are of the nightshade family, I wonder if this has any bearing on things?

Wonder how many of you have undiagnosed Lichen Sclerosus. The not talked about auto immune complaint? I itch like mad when it flares, almost always leads to urinary infection. Some with it have interstitchial cystitis too. Need to keep moisturised,I usually use Aveeno, and also can require a steroid cream.

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.

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.

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.

The other thing to look for is type two diabetes x

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

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.

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.

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 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

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 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?

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.

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

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!

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

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

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)

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