UTI or urinary retention and inhalers

@jcold5619, you're quite right that the link from WebMD is no longer valid.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/

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.

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.

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.

I get it, Just FYI my friend. I also know (but forgot to mention) that Albuterol neb solution is available without Ipratropium Bromide, and this is what I will use when and if needed moving forward All the best to you!

Thank you. More reading for me. Pulmonoligist is not ready for me to stop nebs treatment. No other options

Hello, Although I have not experienced an actual UTI, I tend towards serious bronchitis if I'm not proactive. I recently made the connection between nebulized Ipratropium and urinary retention, which can present like a UTI or the beginning symptoms of one. I do not have a catheter, so this may not be helpful in your case, but here's my experience: A common solution is Albuterol with Ipratropium Bromide, and It dawned on me that the last time I experienced urinary issues (strong, frequent urge and low yield) was when I was frequently using the nebulizer. So, I looked it up and there it was, "Ipratropium (inhaled) can cause urinary retention in elderly males (I am extremely active 70) with moderate benign prostate enlargement." Pretty common in my age group. I got shut off the nebulizer and my symptoms cleared right up. When I experienced this about two years ago, I went to the urologist (no regrets, better safe than sorry) and got a clean bill of health in that respect, but none of my docs nor I myself made this connection until I personally looked it up like two weeks ago. Love my docs and they can't be expected to read ALL the tea leaves, but I'm Glad I'm a pretty strong self advocate.

Wow. I have a suprapubic catheter and severe uti's about every other month. I have asthma and gave been doing the nebulizer duonebs treatment about every 4 to 5 hours. This conversation had me wondering if the nebs is causing my uti's. May need to study up on this. Cranberry juice is no help. Inhalers don't help me so doc has me doing nebulizer.

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…

My 5 year old uses Albuterol for asthma for the last couple years and also get UTIs and frequent urination with it. This happens when she uses the pump with or without the spacer as well as the nebulizer. If anyone has found any relief with this or know of alternative inhalers that don't have this side effect, any information would be greatly appreciated.