Botox
Botox is a prescription medicine that is injected into the bladder muscle and used to treat overactive bladder symptoms such as a strong need to urinate with leaking or wetting accidents (urge urinary incontinence), a strong need to urinate right away (urgency), and urinating often (frequency)
in adults 18 years and older when another type of medicine (anticholinergic) does not work well enough or cannot be taken. Botox can begin to reduce daily leakage episodes after just 2 weeks. One Botox treatment for OAB can last up to 6 months.
Botox treatment works by calming the nerves that trigger the overactive bladder muscle. In your body, certain chemicals travel from nerve cells to muscle cells to make your bladder contract so that you can urinate. With OAB, these muscles contract uncontrollably, creating leakage, the strong sudden need to go, and going too often.
Botox is injected into the bladder muscle and works on the nerves to help block the signals that trigger OAB which helps:
- Reduce daily leakage episodes.
- Treat the strong need to urinate right away.
- Reduce the number of times that you need to empty your bladder daily.
Important Safety Information: In clinical trials, 36 of the 552 patients had to self-catheterize for urinary retention following treatment with Botox compared to 2 of the 542 patients treated with placebo. Patients with diabetes mellitus treated with Botox were more likely to develop urinary retention than nondiabetics.
Who Should Not Use Botox:
Do not take Botox for the treatment of urinary incontinence if you: have a urinary tract infection (UTI) or cannot empty your bladder on your own and are not routinely catheterizing. Due to the risk of urinary retention (not being able to empty the bladder), only patients who are willing and able to initiate catheterization post-treatment, if required, should be considered for treatment.
Side Effects
The most common side effects after a Botox treatment were:
- Problems swallowing, speaking, or breathing
- Spread of toxin effects
- Urinary tract infection (18% vs 6% with placebo)
- Painful or difficult urination (9% vs 7% placebo)
- Urinary Retention - Inability to fully empty your bladder, which may require the temporary use of a self-catheter (6% vs 0% placebo)
Risks
Tell your doctor about all your muscle or nerve conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, as you may be at increased risk of serious side effects including severe dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and respiratory compromise (difficulty breathing) from typical doses of Botox.
Serious and/or immediate allergic reactions have been reported. These reactions include itching, rash, red itchy welts, wheezing, asthma symptoms, or dizziness or feeling faint. Tell your doctor or get medical help right away if you experience any such symptoms; further injection of Botox should be discontinued.
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How Does Botox Work? (2.2 MB, Allergan Corporation)
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