Alpha Lipoic to help with incontinence.

Posted by pml @pml, Jul 9, 2022

My incontinence returned after 9 years of a reflux procedure. I can't see my doctor until October. However, I have discovered that 1200 mg. of Alpha Lipoic has helped reduce the urine flow immensely! It has very few side effects. I have taken Alpha Lipoic in the past for leg numbness and it cured that. Has anyone else used Alpha Lipoic for incontenence or any other issue?

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@ldrlaw

Thanks PML - the Doctors explanation of why he took me off of oxybutynin made sense of the time but now I don’t remember what it was. Good to know the Botox worked for you for that long – disappointing it no longer does. When I owned/ran a Group Home I called myself the queen of Deprnds but I agree with you for our situation Poise is very helpful. Thanks for your input; take care.

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Good evening @ldrlaw. I may be sneaking in on your conversation. However, I was also taken off Oxybutin last year and prescribed Mybertriq. My doctor relayed to me that current research has shown Oxybutin to be adding to mental decline and dementia. I sure don't need that characteristic.
Chris

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An update on taking Alpha Lipoic for incontinence:
I have now been taking Alpha Lipoic for about a year for incontinence and it was working well. However, my appetite was almost gone and I was losing weight without trying even though my doctor had discontinued my Furosemide, (water pill). I decided to stop the Alpha Lipoic. My appetite returned and I am now gaining my weight back. Additionally, the incontinence has tapered off a little. It is manageable without the Alpha Lipoic! I think that God has answered my prayers!
PML

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@pml

An update on taking Alpha Lipoic for incontinence:
I have now been taking Alpha Lipoic for about a year for incontinence and it was working well. However, my appetite was almost gone and I was losing weight without trying even though my doctor had discontinued my Furosemide, (water pill). I decided to stop the Alpha Lipoic. My appetite returned and I am now gaining my weight back. Additionally, the incontinence has tapered off a little. It is manageable without the Alpha Lipoic! I think that God has answered my prayers!
PML

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Glad you are feeling better. We all strive for that!
Just a note. I have been taking Alpha Lipoic Acid for 2 1/2 years. My pain clinic suggested I start taking it for neuropathy in my right leg. I had great difficulty getting to sleep because of that pain. After starting it, in about 2 months i could tell a difference. Now i have very little trouble with pain in my legs.
My incontinence never has seemed to be affected by that medication. As far as appetite , i do not think it has effected that either.
It is interesting how different bodies react differently to the same drugs.

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@jjb1225

Glad you are feeling better. We all strive for that!
Just a note. I have been taking Alpha Lipoic Acid for 2 1/2 years. My pain clinic suggested I start taking it for neuropathy in my right leg. I had great difficulty getting to sleep because of that pain. After starting it, in about 2 months i could tell a difference. Now i have very little trouble with pain in my legs.
My incontinence never has seemed to be affected by that medication. As far as appetite , i do not think it has effected that either.
It is interesting how different bodies react differently to the same drugs.

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Hi jjb1225!
That's great that Alpha Lipoic helped with the pain in your legs! I found out about Alpha Lipoic because I had numbness in my legs. It helped immensely with that also. When I became incontinent again after 9 years I decided to try the Alpha Lipoic again since I didn't react badly to it and it worked until it started taking my appetite away. I'm glad it doesn't affect you that way. And yet, it didn't work for your incontinence. Our bodies do react differently to the same drugs like you said.
PML

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I have an update on taking Alpha Lipoic for incontinence. I further discovered that Alpha Lipoic can cause weight loss. I hadn't read that in any of the other side effects that I read about it. However, I started losing weight; about 10 lbs. My doctor stopped the Furosemide, (water pill) which helped some but I still was losing weight. I stopped taking Alpha Lipoic. I'm still losing some weight because of the incontinence but not as much as I was. Also the incontinence has leveled off or I'm getting better at managing it! (Less unexpected accidents.) Does anyone have any suggestions on really fattening foods? Other than the obvious, ice cream and cheesecake! I do know that avocados have 400 calories. I'm waiting for 2 to ripen.
Thanks so much for your suggestions!
PML

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@jjb1225

My pain doctor gave me an option for peripheral nerve pain of either Gabapentin or Alpha Lipoic Acid.
Since i had a very negative reaction to first drug, i opted for the second choice. That was in Jan 2020.
I can say that this drug reduced my nerve pain to zero.
It did take many months to get to zero but just the reduction in pain was evident after @ 4-6 weeks.

I have been incontinent since @ 1998 and I have not seen improvement to that issue from taking Alpha Lipoic Acid over the past 2 years. So, not sure that supplement would help others with incontinence or not
Margaret

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My mother was taking Alpha Lipoic Acid for months to help with sever nerve issues. It has helped with this to a great degree. However recently we have moved to trying the natural form of ALA which is NA-R-ALA. My mother has also had incontinence issues for years. My mother has only taken the NA-R-ALA for three days, and two nights she has had very minimal leakage through the night. This is no exaggeration, she would fill 3 pads throughout the night and would have to change her PJs. Although she got up two times through the night to relieve herself, she had minimal amount in a small pad she was wearing. I have no other explanation other than the NA-R-ALA to have such a drastic change immediately after taking it.

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I have a 12 year old granddaughter that struggles with enuresis (nighttime incontinence). We thought she would outgrow it once she became fully potty trained, but no. I have never heard of using ALA or NA-R-ALA for this. I will mention this to my daughter. Both of these are over the counter (OTC) supplements? Perhaps my daughter / granddaughter can inquire about this with their provider.

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Yes, my mother has had success with the "natural NRA ALA helping with bladder issues at night. Amazing less leakage the very first week of using. The brand she bought was: IMMUNOVITES Stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid ((True)) 600mg per Serving [[High Potency & up to 40x Increased Absorption]] (Na R-ALA) (Na R-LA) (Na R-Lipoate)

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@loraoblack

Yes, my mother has had success with the "natural NRA ALA helping with bladder issues at night. Amazing less leakage the very first week of using. The brand she bought was: IMMUNOVITES Stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid ((True)) 600mg per Serving [[High Potency & up to 40x Increased Absorption]] (Na R-ALA) (Na R-LA) (Na R-Lipoate)

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I should note only the natural version of "NRA" ALA worked for bladder issues in addition to working for nerve problems. The synthetic version (just ALA) did not work for the bladder issue.

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Interesting and worth looking into for anyone suffering from incontinence issues. Thank you.

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