1. < Kidney & Bladder

UTI or urinary retention and inhalers

Posted by mchristmas @mchristmas, Dec 5, 2020

Anyone experience having re occurring utis due to starting inhalers. I was diagnosed with asthma this year and I’ve tried 3 different inhalers with long breaks in between and each time I get an awful uti or urinary retention symptoms. At this point my utis are becoming antibiotic resistant. On research studies it says it happens with inhalers containing ipratropium and salbutamol. My pharmacist believes it’s because of the steroid in the inhaler but my urologist and allergist haven’t run into this problem before. Does anyone know of names of inhalers that I could use that won’t cause this problem?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Kidney & Bladder Support Group.

rowun4 | @rowun4 | Feb 2 8:07pm
In reply to @rowun4 "I’m on Trelegy.. max dose. Rarely had uti issues, but back in April all sorts of..." + (show)
@rowun4

I’m on Trelegy.. max dose. Rarely had uti issues, but back in April all sorts of bad things started, requiring pulmonologist and allergist/immunologist. No one knows what’s happening or at least isn’t telling me. I’m a Veteran, so I think they feel I was exposed to something. With the added smoke from the wildfires. I’m stuck. I think I have another uti, but just got off of antibiotics in July/August for a sinus infection. They’ve tried oral steroids, low dose antibiotics in April. Then the Ready Care gave me a mega dose. I don’t smoke or drink..
Has anyone else had issues with Trelegy? It’s worked well in May, but if it’s going to get me into antibiotic resistance.. it’s not worth it.
New doctor time? They want to try Tezspire injections but won’t tell me much about what can happen…

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Update: Tezspire injections started. But took 5 months after insurance prior authorization went through. No one told me that insurance would pay for it. Why? The doc’s practice didn’t want to pay for it first & get reimbursed. So all the infections & steroids during the summer were because of MONEY. I was told quietly by a nurse that if it didn’t kick in by 6 months it might never will. I just had my 5th dose. O2 keeps going down. No recent steroid use. But now it’s been 2 months since he tried to push through a script for a new rescue inhaler.
OY!! Word of advice to anyone: chase it. No one at the insurance company gave me the direct response (started in May ‘23) until August. Had to squeeze everyone & play dumb at judicious times to get to a supervisor type to explain.. I have another “situation” that is going to make things worse, gotta get surgery. Oh, & try a sleep study. They’ve tried helping my breathing (sarcasm here), & just finished figuring out my O2 levels were dipping into low 80s when I slept. After 6 sleep studies. Sorry for TMI.. just tired.
Thanks for reading this all if u did. Hopefully something helps someone.

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labloverfl | @labloverfl | May 10 4:46pm

I have asthma since childhood, and have enjoyed many years without anny major issues until I had Covid 2 years ago. Since then, I've had chronic bronchitis and asthma issues. Over the past 2 years I've been taking Albuterol plus various inhalers and medications. Nothing effectively works long term. Last fall I was put on Breo (200/25) and it worked for about 5-6 months, then it didn't. I was recently put on Trelegy and it works great except for the side effects that started 16 days later with bladder pain and urinary frequency. I was told to stop it and go to my primary care to make sure it wasn't a UTI. Interesting. I'm 75 yo and have had very, very few UTIs, so I can't wait to see how this turns out. I just thought I'd share my experience with inhalers.

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jcold5619 | @jcold5619 | May 14 11:19am
In reply to @amandajro "Hello @mchristmas and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I understand you have been experiencing a frustrating..." + (show)
@amandajro

Hello @mchristmas and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I understand you have been experiencing a frustrating side effect of UTIs as a result of your inhaler use and would like to learn if others have had a similar experience.

Because of this, I've also included your question in the Lung Health group to increase the number of members with experiences with inhalers. Members like @sueinmn @windwalker @thumperguy have experience with inhalers as part of their lung health and may have information to share with you regarding your concern.

Are you currently still using an inhaler and do you currently have a UTI that you are dealing with?

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Best I can tell, your link takes me to a very long article related to reproductive rights. I see nothing about COPD and urinary issues.

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1 reply
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | 3 days ago
In reply to @jcold5619 "Best I can tell, your link takes me to a very long article related to reproductive..." + (show)
@jcold5619

Best I can tell, your link takes me to a very long article related to reproductive rights. I see nothing about COPD and urinary issues.

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@jcold5619, you're quite right that the link from WebMD is no longer valid. I have removed it.

Here is a study looking at the relationship between inhaled, long-acting anticholinergic medication (LAA), commonly used for moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and urinary tract infection (UTI),

- Inhaled Long-acting Anticholinergics and Urinary Tract Infection in Individuals with COPD https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27732117/

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1 reply
jcold5619 | @jcold5619 | 3 days ago
In reply to @colleenyoung "@jcold5619, you're quite right that the link from WebMD is no longer valid. I have removed..." + (show)
@colleenyoung

@jcold5619, you're quite right that the link from WebMD is no longer valid. I have removed it.

Here is a study looking at the relationship between inhaled, long-acting anticholinergic medication (LAA), commonly used for moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and urinary tract infection (UTI),

- Inhaled Long-acting Anticholinergics and Urinary Tract Infection in Individuals with COPD https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27732117/

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Thank you for the follow up.

Have a great afternoon.

Jim

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