Does anyone else have bowel/bladder issues with MG?
Ever since I've been diagnosed with MG, I have developed horrible bowel and bladder issues where nothing seems to want to come out. I've been using catheters on and off for the past couple of years. Does anyone else have similar issues?
Hi, I'm new this group. However, about five years ago I started having the usual bladder problems Urgency, unable to empty the bladder and my favor is when I get up in the middle of the night and my bladder empties without any warning. Also, I'm late onset at 70.
I've visited Urologist from five different medical groups. For three and half years before being diagnosed with gMG one urologist after another told me that there wasn't anything wrong with my Bladder and I didn't need to return.
One important point. Nobody can say it's because this is a side effect of Pyridostigmine. Remember doctors are human just like us and they don't always know everything.
Back in the 70's and 80's I served in the Navy as an Urology Tech. My job was to work with Urologist all day.
Long winded story, but the main piece of the puzzle is that Urologist now have a way to test Bladder function. I recently completed this test and it showed that my bladder muscle wasn't responding to my brian. The muscles in the bladder never engaged while I was trying to empty it. I have to use my abdominal muscles instead.
This is fascinating, and I would like to see some research. The bladder muscles are smooth (or involuntary) muscles and are not supposed to be affected by MG antibodies. But we all know they are. This remains an unexplored area of MG. up until about two years ago, they didn’t have anyway to test the function of the bladder muscle. Think about it this way, if the bladder muscle was an involuntary muscle we wouldn’t have any way to stop the bladder from emptying anytime and anyplace.
My best advice is see a urologist, because they are the one’s that can perform this test.
When the urologist performed this test on me it was clear that the bladder muscle wasn’t responding to any signals from the brain. I had to use my abdominal muscles to empty my bladder. The problem with this approach is the abdominal muscles can’t actually completely empty the bladder and at times I retained up to a half liter of urine in my bladder. This creates new kinds of problems.
Don’t take my word see a urologist and they can run a simple but not always a pleasant test.
I have bladder issues, some days worse than others. I wear pads. The doctor said when I had the mestinon pills that it was a side effect, but it has not gotten better, except some days. I did the exercises for pelvic floor, and was very weak, then one day it went so strong it caused me to bleed. Let off the pressure now so it can heal up, it is improving, but have to be careful or I will tear something again.
You may be interested in these articles: https://myasthenia-gravis.com/living/urinary-incontinence-solutions & https://myasthenia-gravis.com/clinical/bladder-problems 😀
Jodi, Team Member
try Choline & Inositol, it seems to help. Also check to see if you are Ciliac or gluten intolerant
I also have the bowel and urine problem. I wear always all the time now. My eyes go shut on me and my speech is slurry. I’m having problems swallowing. So when I read all these other comments I know I’m not alone. Thank you all and I pray you all get this mg under control as I wish for myself.
Hello, it's been some time since we last heard from you. We just wanted to reach out and let you know that we're thinking of you. We hope you're doing well and we'd love to catch up and hear about how you've been.
-Jodi, Team Member
