I’ve blogged on this issue before but I wanted to revisit it again. I HAVE BLADDER ISSUES. I can have both hesitancy and incontinence. However my incontinence is more that I get the feeling I have to go to the bathroom and have a very short amount of time to get there.  What happens, and this I’ll never understand, is as I get closer to the bathroom that’s when my bladder starts to release, thus the accident. I wanted to bring this issue up again is for a two reasons. First, because it’s an embarrassing issue and people who have it need to know they are not alone. Second, because I started taking my medicine again for it and it’s made such a difference.

I was taking on average 12-14 prescription pills a day.  These were all to treat various MS symptoms. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to get through the day. When I finally stopped working I found that I didn’t need to medicate myself daily to function. Not pushing my body past its limits relieved some of my MS symptoms. I stopped taking many prescriptions. One was Toviaz.

Toviaz is a Bladder relaxant.
It can treat overactive bladder symptoms such as loss of bladder control (incontinence) or frequent need to urinate.

At first, I didn’t really have any problems with stopping it. I’d have some small issues that but I was mostly home. When I’d go on a trip, I’d notice that I’d have to stop frequently to make bathroom breaks. Everyone was very supportive, as usual stopping, at least once an hour or more. But it was a lot. It added so much extra time to the traveling plus the amount of steps it would take to get to the bathroom were either exhausting. By the time I got to the bathroom, sometimes the release would start. At the time I wasn’t traveling, but my sister moved 3 hours away. I needed to do something. I talk to my doctor and he agreed, I NEVER should have stopped that one drug.

I restarted taking Toviaz consistently a little over a month ago. It has made such a HUGE difference. First,  I’ve had no accidents, WHOOP WHOOP. Second, I don’t have the urgency, THANK GOD. We’ve had two separate drives at 3 hour intervals and we’ve stopped twice for my mom, but not because I was the issue. I still plan accordingly and watch my fluid intake before I leave, but I know it’s the medicine. It does create the hesitancy side effect for me but I’d sooner deal with that then incontinence any day. Once again I’m glad I was honest and had the embarrassing talk with my doctor because as I said, I not the only one with this issue and there is help.