Bipolar Disorder and Incontinence

[DAJ20]

Hi. I was wondering if any psych nurses could give me some guidance. I am a 27 yr old disabled vet with Type 1 Bipolar Disorder, Urge incontinence, and IBS. I take psychiatric medication regularly. I take Lithium, Saphris, and Inderal (for the tremors). I have been tested for the incontinence and tried numerous drugs including Detrol, Vessicare, Enablex, Gelnique, and Imipramine...all to no avail All they did was give me dry mouth, decreased sweating, and extreme painful constipation. None of the medication curved my accidents. I could not tolerate the side effects of the anticholinergenics. So I told my urologist I could not take anymore. I have resolved to wearing briefs for now. They are made by Abena. My incontinence started when I started taking the psych meds and I have been through a full urological workup and the only thing the doctor can think of is that my urge incontinence is caused by my psych meds. He said I retain a little bit of urine and I have a smaller bladder capacity. For some reason, my urinary sphincter is not closing like it should to allow me to hold it. I talked to my psychiatrist about this and she said I'm her only patient presenting with this problem. I asked another psychiatrist at the hospital and he said he had heard of it before. My question is, how often do you see this in the hospitals...people with incontinence caused by their psych meds??? I'm looking to know that I am not the only one out there. So far, I have posted my question on a few incontinence forums and I get no replys. I just want to know that I'm not alone. Thanks for your help!

[lucianne]

I've had one other patient who took lithium and had trouble with nocturnal incontinence. He had a host of other issues besides bipolar disorder so I never felt that the incontinence was entirely due to medication. It also wasn't constant and seemed to flare up only at certain times. I don't know if that helps any. You said you've posted on incontinence forums, how about bipolar/mood disorder forums?

[DAJ20]

Yes, I have posted in different mood disorder forums but I either get people who don't take me seriously, or people don't respond. Some people in the incontinence forums have replied back but only a few. They said they had incontinence and took psych meds but I don't think the two were related. Mine is related to each other. I have been on a host of different psych meds already. I have been through numerous medication changes. I have tried Depakote, Ativan, Xanax, Klonopin, Effexor, Remeron, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Lexapro, Abilify, Seroquel, Saphris, Geodon, and Lithium. All in different combinations and different times since I was diagnosed in April of 2008. The incon started when I began taking depakote, Geodon, and Wellbutrin. It started out as a dribble, now I have full episodes of urge incontinence with complete leakage. I also have bowel leakage due to IBS. I'm going through an IBS workup now. I have had a colonoscopy, endoscopy, stool test, blood test, and CT scan of my abdomen. All have been normal.

[DAJ20]

I have another question. I hope I'm not unwelcome or being a pest since I'm not a healthcare provider. I have been in the psychiatric inpatient a total of 8 times since July of 2008. I started wearing briefs (diapers) in Jan 0f 09. Since I have urge incontinence with sleep wetting, how come nobody has ever checked on me in the middle of the night. The nurses know I wear these things but nobody has ever asked if I needed anything while I was inpatient on the psych unit. Am I just being over sensitive? I can take care of myself and prefer to do so, but I don't like to get a rash either. I guess I just want to know what the standard procedure is with incon patients. I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome by asking questions.

[rn/writer, RN]

Because it's against the AN Terms of Service to request or give medical advice, member was PM'd with encouragement to keep asking docs to research this difficulty until satisfactory answers can be found.

Thread closed.