Overactive Bladder

I am a 45 year old woman who has suffered from “overactive bladder” for all of my life. My symptoms consisted of severe daily frequency and urgency. I also have a history of multiple UTIs as a child and young woman, but did not have as many after my early 30s. I started taking Ditropan in 1977 and found that over the years the dose needed to be raised as my symptoms increased. I was on the maximum daily oral dose (30 mg) for many years. Last year I developed worsening symptoms where I would sometimes have to use the bathroom every 15 minutes for several hours per day. I also developed almost constant pain and burning in my bladder. I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis. I was switched from Ditropan XL to the Oxytrol patch to help alleviate the cholinergic side effects that I had been experiencing from the oral form of Ditropan. While this did diminish the side effects, it wasn’t strong enough, so I was prescribed an additional 15 mg of Ditropan as kept on using the patch. This still did not fully control my frequency and urgency. I still used the bathroom about once an hour if I was lucky. I was able to partially relieve the pain and burning and some of the urgency by modifying my diet, but after a while the symptoms came back no matter what my diet was like. It was at this point that I saw Helen Law. After my first acupuncture session, the constant pain and burning in my bladder disappeared and my former frequency diminished remarkably and I had almost no urgency. I felt like a normal person who is not controlled by her bladder. I stopped taking the Ditropan and the frequency and urgency did not worsen. The pain and burning started coming back after several days, but they were much milder. At this point, I had my second acupuncture session. Almost immediately my bladder discomfort went away. I tried to stop using the Oxytrol patch, but found that the urgency returned, so I resumed it. I am looking forward to my third session and will again try to stop using the patch. I am still fine without the Ditropan. Even if I am not able to manage without the Oxytrol patch, I consider the acupuncture to be a great success. The overactive bladder preceded my interstitial cystitis by decades, and I believe complicated it. It is wonderful to no longer have constant pain and burning and not to make many urgent trips to the bathroom each day.
– Susan