Buspar

[Carlton Higgins]

Has anyone here taken Buspar for anxiety? I used to take Effexor but could not handle the side-effects (which are awful).

[webslave]

I tried and stopped. It increased my appetite too much. I'm going to try a benzo next time I see my MD. Benzos apparently also relax muscle spasms, an interesting and possibly useful side effect.

[Bill in NH]

Has anyone here taken Buspar for anxiety?

Carlton, I found Diazepam (Valium) to be extremely effective at relieving anxiety and helping me sleep through the night. If you haven't previously used it, as little as 2 mg is very effective. Only downside is that you can't take it indefinitely because of tolerance and addiction. For this reason, I have only used it sparingly - not more than 2mg on 3 consecutive nights, last dose 2 weeks ago. However, I have probably erred on the side of being overly conservative.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but are you still asymptomatic with regard to CPPS?

[Carlton Higgins]

Bill,

yes, I'm still symptom free save for an day here and there in which I urinate more than usual. No pain, discomfort, urgency.

Is Buspar in the same catagory as Valium?

[MS]

I, too, had problems with Buspar -- dizziness, increased anxiety, and insomnia.

Buspar is chemically unrelated to Valium.

Valium is a Benzodiazepine, similar to Alprazolam (Xanax) and Klonopin. They act to slow down the nervous system.

Buspar works by decreasing the actions of serotonin in the brain, producing an anti-anxiety effect.

Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo

MS

[MastCells]

I tried and stopped. It increased my appetite too much. I'm going to try a benzo next time I see my MD. Benzos apparently also relax muscle spasms, an interesting and possibly useful side effect.

I've considered trying Buspar. How long were you on it, and did it help with anxiety?

[webslave]

Yes, made me feel "spacey" at night when I took it. No great improvement though. My wife said I was less tense, but I didn't notice a lot of difference.

[Bill in NH]

[yes, I'm still symptom free save for an day here and there in which I urinate more than usual. No pain, discomfort, urgency]

Carlton,

I'm glad to hear you are still symptom free!

What do you mean by 'more than usual'? I think there’s a lot of confusion on frequency, specifically, the notions that voiding more than 10 times per day or more than once within two hours is necessarily abnormal. Although frequency of voiding does depend on bladder capacity and irritability, frequency also depends largely on how much fluid you drink and over what duration. The best source I found on this was a recent article on voiding in healthy young adult male volunteers (Schmidt F, Shin P, Jorgensen TM, Djurhuus JC, Constantinou CE. Urodynamic patterns of normal male micturition: influence of water consumption on urine production and detrusor function. J Urol 2002;168(4 Pt 1):1458-63). In this study, the average number of voids per day were 6 for those who consumed 30ml/kg per day (about 70 ounces for a 70kg man) and 10 for those who consumed 60ml/kg per day (about 140 ounces). More importantly, the average voided volumes were about 290cc and 330cc, respectively.

In the beginning of March (two months after my onset of symptoms), I started tracking my own voiding patterns because of my concern that I might have IC (did I read somewhere that chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome sufferers tend to be obsessive compulsive?). Since March, my frequency has decreased from about 10-12 per day to about 8 per day and my volumes have increased from about 300cc to about 350cc. So today I would consider my voiding frequency and volumes completely normal.

However, I know my urinary track is not completely back to normal because I usually have some discomfort in the distribution of my bladder base and urethra and get a mild burning sensation in my urethra after voiding concentrated urine, especially after exercise (presumably because of high potassium concentration and acidity).

My guess is that it is good to drink lots of water (because it decreases any burning sensation and may help the urothelial lining repair itself) and that there is nothing wrong with voiding 10 or more times per day if your volumes are around 300cc.

[Carlton Higgins]

Bill,

interesting study! Right now I average about 6-8 times a day with "decent" volume. That is an improvement over 10+ times a day with low volume. I find that I have to urinate more in the morning hours between 5am-noon, but this also may be the result of decaf coffee, etc.

Algonot+ and any accredited quercetin product seem to help with the urgency and frequency, and I find that if a don't take these supplements for a few days, urination increases. Also, if I don't exercise, frequency also increases.

The burning sensation you are experiencing almost sounds more like IC than Prostatitis. Have you tried Vistaril? It helped my sister a great deal (although I haven't tried it).

I am still convinced CPPS/Prostatitis and IC are closely related disorders and may have a very similar etiology.

[Bill in NH]

Carlton,

[if I don't exercise, frequency also increases]

That may be because exercise consumes a lot of fluid. I usually drink about a quart of water per 30 minutes of aerobic exercise to maintain normal urine volume.

[The burning sensation you are experiencing almost sounds more like IC than Prostatitis]

According to one 2003 AUA abstract and a study of potassium sensitivity (Parsons CL, Albo M. Intravesical potassium sensitivity in patients with prostatitis. J Urol 2002;168(3):1054-7.), the majority (70-85%) of men diagnosed with CP have some features of IC. Fortunately, my bladder capacity and frequency are normal and the burning sensation is mild and infrequent. Was your sister diagnosed with IC? Is she OK? I've seen one other case report of IC and CP in the same family.

I haven't yet tried Vistaril because of its sedative effects but I have it on my list of things to try in the future.

Can you remind for how long you were symptomatic? One of your previous posts suggests 3 months, another 6 months. I'm just over 4 months but still hoping to follow in your footprints!

[Carlton Higgins]

Bill,

my sister suffered from IC for about 3 years, and it was BAD! Almost to the point of suicide -coudln't sleep at all, searing pain, urinating 20-30 times a day, etc. After taking Vistral for about 6 months her symptoms mysteriously vanished. It is difficult to say why.

My brother also has frequent urination, but no signs of CPPS.

There is no doubt in my mind that there is a genetic componant to this disorder, and I believe it to be an autoimmune problem (from what I have read).

I have been symptom-free since early January. My Prostatitis first appeared (if I remember correctly) in September 2002. So I was suffering for about 4 1/2 months.

I find that diet has very little to do with my symptoms. The only thing I avoid is caffeine. Also, I eat almost no red meat, and rarely eat chicken. Still, I doubt there is a connection.

[webslave]

I think that allergy plays a part, or can play a part. I read somewhere that the mast cells can proliferate in an area undergoing a lot of mast cell stimulation, and that's what Dr Theo found too. Now if you have an abundance of mast cells in your urogenital tract and your are allergic to something you are eating/drinking, good luck! The food/drink antigens are going to do a number on the mast cells just the same way the nerves did. That may be the ineradicable legacy of pelvic myoneuropthy (PM): an abnormal concentration of mast cells where you don't want them.

BTW, mast cell proliferation is also involved in asthma, chronic pancreatitis, MS, and a lot more. It is a gene regulated disorder.

Interesting page:
http://www.albany.net/~tjc/mastcells0.html

[Bill in NH]

[my sister suffered from IC for about 3 years]

Carlton,

Your sister’s story sounds awful, but I’m glad she’s gotten better. Is she still taking the Vistaril? Was there any other factor that seemed to cause or cure her condition? How long has she been asymptomatic?

Your family history is certainly very suggestive of some type of genetic susceptibility to CPPS/IC, possibly due to an altered immune responses or defective glycoglycosamine layer or nervous innervation of the lower urinary tract. Even though I know of no CPPS/IC in my family, my symptoms make me suspect that I have a similar genetic susceptibility. (I used to have severe allergic rhinitis, but it has completely disappeared over the past 10 years - perhaps those mast cells decided to migrate south and party!).

Assuming that your family and I have some genetic susceptibility to CPPS/IC, the key question is: can we sufficiently control our environments to offset our genetic susceptibilities to stay well (assuming I do eventually get there)? Of course, I am still hopeful that the answer is YES and that we will soon learn how if we haven’t already.

BTW, I plan to stop the Flomax on June 19th (after a 14 week course). Did you stop abruptly or taper? Did you have any problems when you stopped?

[webslave]

my symptoms make me suspect that I have a similar genetic susceptibility. (I used to have severe allergic rhinitis, but it has completely disappeared over the past 10 years - perhaps those mast cells decided to migrate south and party!).

This could be more accurate than you imagine. Atopic individuals often exhibit a history that includes eczema, rhinitis, asthma etc, each occuring sequentially at different ages.