Overactive bladder can be treated the easy way, or the way that resembles medieval torture

You’re in luck

It seemed like every time Julie and I had lunch, she spent half the meal in the bathroom.

When I asked if she was okay, she admitted that she had an “overactive bladder.”

As I told Julie, if you have a doctor open to alternative medicine, you’re in luck. Herbalists have several botanicals that can help curb overactive bladder symptoms. Acupuncture is also an option.

That’s the easy way.

The hard way starts with drug therapy. But it leads down a dark road.

Tighten up…hope for the best

Several drugs treat overactive bladder. So that’s the route conventional doctors take. But what if the drugs don’t work?

If your doctor didn’t try alternative medicine before the drugs, then he probably won’t try those options as a last resort. And now he doesn’t have to. Because Big Pharma and the FDA just handed him a new tool for patients who don’t respond well to drugs.

But this last ditch option reads like some kind of high tech medieval torture.

It actually doesn’t sound so bad at first. Your doctor injects Botox into your bladder. Simple, right?

But it’s one thing to take a shot of botulinum toxin between the eyebrows. It’s quite another to inject it into your bladder.

To give the injection, your doctor inserts a cystoscope into your urethra. (Yep. It just got serious!) The injection is given via the cystoscope.

Now, IF all goes well, you’re good. But it’s a temporary fix. You’ll have to go back for further cystoscope procedures.

If all DOESN’T go well, then your situation moves from bad to much worse. And the reason is obvious. And infuriating! Once again, Big Pharma has devised a “solution” that can create a much bigger problem than the one it solves.

Here’s the catch… The Botox injection tightens muscles and impedes urine flow. That’s why common side effects include painful urination and urinary retention. In these cases, an annoying problem is traded for a serious medical issue.

In a clinical trial, a number of subjects required catheterization. On average, catheterization lasted 63 days. But some required more than 200 days!

Patients who arrive at this point must wonder why in the world they went down this road. There HAS to be a better way!

And there is.

Let’s go back to square one. You begin having symptoms of overactive bladder. But instead of drugs, your doctor starts by trying acupuncture. In a placebo-controlled clinical trial, acupuncture produced significant symptom relief.

You also have effective herbal solutions, such as horsetail, lindera root, and Crateva nurvala. Herbalists have had success with these botanicals for many centuries.

It’s a textbook case of integrated medicine serving the patient. What a concept!

Sources:
“FDA approves Botox to treat overactive bladder” FDA News Release, 1/18/13, fda.gov

“Botox OK’d by U.S. FDA to treat overactive bladder” Reuters, 1/18/13, reuters.com

“Acupuncture for overactive bladder: a randomized controlled trial” Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol. 106, No. 1, July 2005, journals.lww.com