![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 16 of 16. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 12:45:12
Ever since I started Effexor, I've had a very slow weak urine flow. I mean, I have to go, I have a full aching bladder, but it takes forever to come out, and it comes out very slowly as if it was plugged. It takes awhile for it to come out initially too. I know this is gross, and personal information, but does anyone else have this problem with AD's, and is it something to be concerned about? Does this lead to prostate problems?
Posted by Racer on September 17, 2004, at 13:37:07
In reply to slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 12:45:12
This is actually a known side effect of some ADs. It's usually referred to as "urinary hesitation", and can include what's called "urinary retention". UH is just what it sounds like, and seems to be caused by a lack of muscle tone in the urethra. What that means is that, yes, it's a bugger to live with, but it's not all that unusual. UR, on the other hand, can be a problem -- although more so for women than for me, because of the shorter urethra. The incomplete emptying of the bladder can lead to a greater susceptibility to urinary tract infections.
Other than talking to your doctor about it, in case there is something that can help, I think it might be in the "learn to live with it" catagory of side effects. Not a lot of fun. (I've had a bit of UH on Cymbalta, by the way, and have experienced in on other drugs. I can't remember if Effexor did it for me, though. I think it is listed as a side effect for Effexor, but can't remember that, either.)
Hope that helps.
Posted by tanner257 on September 17, 2004, at 15:14:25
In reply to slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 12:45:12
Oh my gosh - I never heard of this, but it might explain why I developed a UTI a few days after starting Lexapro - - not once, but twice within the past year. Nobody could offer an explanation and I thought it might just be a coincidence. The UTIs were really nasty ones.
I decided that maybe ADs weren't for me and decided to grit my teeth and tough it out. Still gritting........
Posted by iris2 on September 17, 2004, at 15:20:52
In reply to slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 12:45:12
I had a very bad case of urinary retention with Effexor. Later in life I ws diagnosed with a bladder desease which no doubt contributed.
ANyway there are a couple meds your doctor can give you to counteract this if it is too much to liv wiht. I do not remember the names. One worked very well for me with Effexor.
Posted by cache-monkey on September 17, 2004, at 15:43:12
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor » artemiss, posted by iris2 on September 17, 2004, at 15:20:52
> I had a very bad case of urinary retention with Effexor. Later in life I ws diagnosed with a bladder desease which no doubt contributed.
>
> ANyway there are a couple meds your doctor can give you to counteract this if it is too much to liv wiht. I do not remember the names. One worked very well for me with Effexor.Out of curiousity, for the people (esp. males) that had urinary hesitancy, did you also experience problems delayed or absent orgasm?
cache-monkey
Posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 15:51:59
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by Racer on September 17, 2004, at 13:37:07
It is listed as a side effect of Effexor. I was just worried it may cause long term effects on the bladder or prostate that someone else may have encountered, and if there was anything I could do about it. It's not so bad during the day, a little, but it's really bad at night. It's annoying because sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I have to pee so badly, and it takes so long to come out! It doesn't hurt or anything, but I fall asleep on the toilet sometimes. Torture for women with overactive bladders! I always have to pee. I drink alot of water too. Isn't this fun, sharing our most personal intimate problems with strangers? At least you don't know what I look like, or my real name!!!
I'll talk to my doctor to see if I should be concerned, and see if there is anything I could take.
Thanks!
artemiss
> This is actually a known side effect of some ADs. It's usually referred to as "urinary hesitation", and can include what's called "urinary retention". UH is just what it sounds like, and seems to be caused by a lack of muscle tone in the urethra. What that means is that, yes, it's a bugger to live with, but it's not all that unusual. UR, on the other hand, can be a problem -- although more so for women than for me, because of the shorter urethra. The incomplete emptying of the bladder can lead to a greater susceptibility to urinary tract infections.
>
> Other than talking to your doctor about it, in case there is something that can help, I think it might be in the "learn to live with it" catagory of side effects. Not a lot of fun. (I've had a bit of UH on Cymbalta, by the way, and have experienced in on other drugs. I can't remember if Effexor did it for me, though. I think it is listed as a side effect for Effexor, but can't remember that, either.)
>
> Hope that helps.
Posted by KXo on September 17, 2004, at 17:07:10
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor / Sexual s/e's?, posted by cache-monkey on September 17, 2004, at 15:43:12
> > I had a very bad case of urinary retention with Effexor. Later in life I ws diagnosed with a bladder desease which no doubt contributed.
> >
> > ANyway there are a couple meds your doctor can give you to counteract this if it is too much to liv wiht. I do not remember the names. One worked very well for me with Effexor.
>
> Out of curiousity, for the people (esp. males) that had urinary hesitancy, did you also experience problems delayed or absent orgasm?
>
> cache-monkey
>I am male and have urinary hesitancy and delayed orgasm on SSRIs/SNRIs. Did you find any relation between them?
==KXo
Posted by cache-monkey on September 17, 2004, at 20:00:38
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor / Sexual s/e's? » cache-monkey, posted by KXo on September 17, 2004, at 17:07:10
> > > I had a very bad case of urinary retention with Effexor. Later in life I ws diagnosed with a bladder desease which no doubt contributed.
> > >
> > > ANyway there are a couple meds your doctor can give you to counteract this if it is too much to liv wiht. I do not remember the names. One worked very well for me with Effexor.
> >
> > Out of curiousity, for the people (esp. males) that had urinary hesitancy, did you also experience problems delayed or absent orgasm?
> >
> > cache-monkey
> >
>
> I am male and have urinary hesitancy and delayed orgasm on SSRIs/SNRIs. Did you find any relation between them?
>
> ==KXo
>I had delayed/absent orgasm on Celexa, which is the only med in the class that I've tried. I don't seem to remember any problems with urinary hesitancy, though...
cache-monkey
Posted by King Vultan on September 17, 2004, at 23:56:33
In reply to slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 12:45:12
This is a "pseudo" anticholinergic side effect from Effexor's blockade of norepinephrine reuptake. Men who have difficulties urinating because of this kind of side effect can take an alpha-1 blocker to deal with the problem. My own experience is that these drugs work extremely well in this regard, but for men who actually have enlarged prostates, they can still have problems.
The tricyclic AD nortriptyline has low "true" anticholinergic effects plus a built in alpha-1 blockade that may negate the pseudo ACh effects from its blockade of NE reuptake; this was actually my experience on it, but I do not know if or how things are different for the half of the population without a prostate gland.
Todd
Posted by iris2 on September 18, 2004, at 8:19:50
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor / Sexual s/e's?, posted by cache-monkey on September 17, 2004, at 15:43:12
>
> Out of curiousity, for the people (esp. males) that had urinary hesitancy, did you also experience problems delayed or absent orgasm?
>
> cache-monkeyI am female, and was not on Effexor long enough to know.
I have had this experience on other meds but not necessarily concurrent with the urinary hesitancy. Sorry I could not be more help.If the Effexor provides significant benefit to you I would suggest asking about taking a medication for the urinary hesitancy that is if the delayed or absent orgasm does not preclude your going off of it.
I wish I felt well enough to have this problem:):):)Irene
Posted by iris2 on September 18, 2004, at 8:24:32
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by King Vultan on September 17, 2004, at 23:56:33
Todd,
I took meds a few times for urinary retention /frequency. I was curious do you know any of the names of themedications as I cannot remember them?
Irene
Posted by iris2 on September 18, 2004, at 8:37:26
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 15:51:59
> It is listed as a side effect of Effexor. I was just worried it may cause long-term effects on the bladder or prostate that someone else may have encountered, and if there was anything I could do about it. It's not so bad during the day, a little, but it's really bad at night. It's annoying because sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I have to pee so badly, and it takes so long to come out! It doesn't hurt or anything, but I fall asleep on the toilet sometimes. Torture for women with overactive bladders! I always have to pee. I drink a lot of water too. Isn't this fun, sharing our most personal intimate problems with strangers? At least you don't know what I look like, or my real name!!!
>
> I'll talk to my doctor to see if I should be concerned, and see if there is anything I could take.
>
> Thanks!
>
> artemiss
>
> > This is actually a known side effect of some ADs. It's usually referred to as "urinary hesitation", and can include what's called "urinary retention". UH is just what it sounds like, and seems to be caused by a lack of muscle tone in the urethra. What that means is that, yes, it's a bugger to live with, but it's not all that unusual. UR, on the other hand, can be a problem -- although more so for women than for me, because of the shorter urethra. The incomplete emptying of the bladder can lead to a greater susceptibility to urinary tract infections.
> >
You should be able to get something from your doctor that will help with this. I had it on cogentin for three years (not as bad as I get it now) I do think it has any long-term side effects. As someone wrote not emptying your bladder can cause you to have urinary infections. As a woman I had many of them from this. I do not think this is as much of a problem with men.
It does sound like you are having frequency problems at night. For some reason I get frequency more at night and early morning than any other time of day. I think it is because I am trying to sleep and I am more conscious of having to go then and perhaps lying down puts more pressure on my bladder.
Drinking more of less fluid will not have any affect on any of this. Believe me I have tried. Ask your doctor to make sure but given I now have a disease that causes these problems most of the time regardless of meds, although some medications make it very bad, I think I have a lot of experience in the last seven or eight years with this. I cannot take most antidepressants because of it.
p.s. do not worry I am not suggesting you have interstitial cystitis. It is very rare and your symptoms would be much worse most likely.
Irene
Posted by HappyGirl on September 18, 2004, at 9:20:55
In reply to slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by artemiss on September 17, 2004, at 12:45:12
Hi:
I have always 'bladder/urinary' problem most of my life, my mother has one too. I'm neither 'too' young, nor older. For this problem, I drink 'Cranberry Juice,' often 'Grape and Cranberry Juice Mix' two or three times a day instead of drinking soda. Because, somewhere I read 'Grape Juice' is good on 'blood vessels/flow' that might work on my 'poor' blood-circulation during winter or cold-morning hours. Also, Cranberry Juice is well-known on Bladder/UR Problems.It seems to help me in regard to 'urinary' problem as seeing I do not need to make an appt. with Urologist. In the past, I almost needed to 'surgery' to correct my UR problem.
In my personal experience in Grape/Cran remedy,
I'm fairly happy, but I have no idea whether this is any help to your problem.
H.G.
Posted by iris2 on September 18, 2004, at 9:34:00
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor, posted by HappyGirl on September 18, 2004, at 9:20:55
> Hi:
> I have always 'bladder/urinary' problem most of my life, my mother has one too. I'm neither 'too' young, nor older. For this problem, I drink 'Cranberry Juice,' often 'Grape and Cranberry Juice Mix' two or three times a day instead of drinking soda. Because, somewhere I read 'Grape Juice' is good on 'blood vessels/flow' that might work on my 'poor' blood-circulation during winter or cold-morning hours. Also, Cranberry Juice is well-known on Bladder/UR Problems.
>
> It seems to help me in regard to 'urinary' problem as seeing I do not need to make an appt. with Urologist. In the past, I almost needed to 'surgery' to correct my UR problem.
>
> In my personal experience in Grape/Cran remedy,
> I'm fairly happy, but I have no idea whether this is any help to your problem.
> H.G.Cranberry juice or any citrus can help a lot with bacteria in the bladder or urethra I do not think it is of any help if the problem is not caused by infection in fact in my case I am not able to eat or drink anything citrus or that would cause my urine to be acidic> it inflames the bladder walls< creates irritation and I get a lot of pain and frequency or urgency it really depends on what the cause of the problem is
Irene
Posted by King Vultan on September 18, 2004, at 10:43:02
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor » King Vultan, posted by iris2 on September 18, 2004, at 8:24:32
> Todd,
>
> I took meds a few times for urinary retention /frequency. I was curious do you know any of the names of themedications as I cannot remember them?
>
> Irene
I know that imipramine is one of the standard meds for female urinary problems, particularly incontinence, but I don't know if a doctor would use it in this kind of situation, which is really kind of the opposite sort of thing. For men with slow urine streams from prostate issues, the standard drugs are Flomax/tamsulosin, Hytrin/terazosin, and Cardura/doxazosin. These all blockade alpha-1 adrenergic receptors in the prostate, and I believe also in the bladder neck.Todd
Posted by iris2 on September 18, 2004, at 11:06:00
In reply to Re: slow urine flow with Effexor » iris2, posted by King Vultan on September 18, 2004, at 10:43:02
Thanks,
Did not recognise them. Perhaps they use different ones for females.
irene
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.