I’m on a new medication for my condition, and it has an anticholinergic effect. The medication is necessary for my mental health condition, so this is not an option of whether I can or cannot use it. It is highly effective at treating my condition. However, It has caused me to be unable to hold my urine longer than 45-60 minutes before I cannot hold it in and then I end up peeing myself. Not even a little dribble, but instead it is almost my whole bladder that empties. It makes going out in public without a diaper impossible now. I’m getting ready to order more stock of diapers (molicare slip maxi, they work the best for me) so that I don’t have to worry about running out.
I’m not an expert, but I would check that with your doc again. There are a couple of drugs that have this effect, but there are two major groups (despite from emergency medication): Drugs against morbus parkinson and drugs against depression. In any case the side effects are really risky and have to be wighted carefully against the core benefit. Especially the drugs against depression are pretty dangerous in a long run and shall not be used over a longer period of time. More over it is important that a couple of parameters are regularly controlled and that the dose of the medication is set-up in the right way. If they are used in an uncontrolled way they can cause even live critical situations.
So I would definitely check this with your doc again, because this side effect is not acceptable.
This reminds me of the time my Dad was in hospital beause of his deep depression. The guy in the next bed was severely incontinent due to the meds he took
I’m on clozapine, an antipsychotic used for treatment resistant schizophrenia. Unfortunately it has been the only medication to work at controlling my symptoms out of several different meds my doctors and I have tried on me. They are closely monitoring the situation weekly with blood work and such to make sure my blood levels are normal.
Bladder voiding is what that is called. High capacity diaper that is designed to contain flooding is the best choice … many good options to choose from .
I’m medically incontinent, and end up voiding quite a lot. BetterDry is a good economical medical diaper that is great for containment and capacity .
I to agree with what rob and others said, sometimes you have to choose between the lesser evil and if you already tried a lot of medication and this is the one that helps best, it is best to stick with this and not switch to something that might cause an instability in your mental condition.
Having to wear thicker diapers to take up floodings is not as bad as having serious mental breakdowns (i’m generalising here but just replace it with your worst nightmare here) and possibly even causing harm to yourself or others.
If , on the other hand, the medication would cause other life threatening side effects, then its a good idea to try something else though.
I think I’m in a similar situation — I’m on a high dose of Zoloft and believe that’s contributing to my incontinence. It’s the only antidepressant I’ve ever been on and it helps a lot, and I’ve tried lowering the dose before but with bad outcomes. I don’t have the time or resources (that being a stay in a psych ward) to switch meds so it can’t be helped, for now at least.
I don’t really have much to say besides that I hope you can be discreet about being padded, I know it’s mentally rough out in public and at work.
Thanks everyone for your replies. <3 Yes, unfortunately I think I have to pick the difficult decision to stay on the meds because my mental health is paramount to my functioning. I will try and order BetterDry samples to see if they work well for me with my incontinence. I need to have something reliable that will prevent embarrassment. I hate having to do this but it is what it is. I’ll communicate it tomorrow with my therapist to talk to my doctor about it.
I talked to my therapist today and we agreed that me staying on Clozapine was a good idea, despite the incontinence. She assured me there is no reason to feel ashamed of it, needing diapers for it. I see the doctor in April, so we see where I am at that point in time.
Thank you everyone again for your replies and insights.
Thank you both for your recommendation of BetterDry diapers. I got a couple sample packs from Dreamcare.fi, and so far they took the flooding without any issue. They swell up a LOT, though, so I have to dress appropriately to keep them as hidden as I can.
Your therapist is correct there is no shame in needing to wear a diaper, I would also recommend a onesie it will help keep your diaper snug and hidden when you bend or stretch. I really like the Tykables Plain colour onesie they look like a regular shirt and are comfortable I also tried the one they call a romper it definitely holds the diaper inplace and cuts down on the crinkle sounds.
They may be directed to an AB but some times when dealing with incontinence issues you need to think out side of the box I have no interest in a printed onesie but the plain coloured ones are perfect for help hide and support a diaper and no one can tell you are wearing one.
I’m going to the health centre tomorrow…it’s getting really concerning. Twice today I wetted myself despite wearing a diaper. The flooding was too much for my diapers to handle both times. First time I was at my program, and the second was in freaking public on my way to a tattoo shop. I was so embarrassed and am afraid of going out now…
