4 Medications That Can Cause or Worsen Incontinence

If you are showing signs of urinary incontinence or if your incontinence problem seems to be getting worse, take stock of your medicine cabinet. Not for a new remedy, but to find overlooked causes of incontinence, or the explanation for your worsening symptoms.

Commonly recommended medications could be the cause of your incontinence, or at least contributing to them.

Medications affect people differently, so one person with incontinence may not notice worsening symptoms, while another person does.

If you suspect medications may be worsening or the cause of your urinary incontinence, describe your incontinence symptoms to your doctor and let him or her know about all the medicines you take, both prescription and over-the-counter. That way, your doctor can help determine whether these medicines should be adjusted or stopped, or if a treatment should be modified.

Here are the most common medicines that can worsen or cause urinary incontinence:

1. High Blood Pressure Medicine as a Cause of Urinary Incontinence

Also called alpha-adrenergic antagonists, these medicines -- including Cardura, Minipress, and Hytrin -- work by dilating blood vessels to reduce your blood pressure.

In women, alpha blockers can relax the bladder. "So, if they cough or sneeze, they might lose urine," says Rodney Appell, MD, director of the Baylor Continence Center at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

If you are a woman on an alpha blocker and you are experiencing urinary incontinence, Appell has this advice: "Go back to the internist who prescribed the alpha blocker and ask if there is something else you can be treated with."

In men, these medications actually are prescribed to help with urination problems. In men with an enlarged prostate, a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, alpha blockers can help relax the muscles in the bladder neck, letting urine flow more easily and improving symptoms of BPH.

2. Antidepressants as a Cause of Urinary Incontinence

While a few antidepressants actually help urinary incontinence (Tofranil and Elavil), most can worsen symptoms of urinary incontinence, at least in some people, Appell tells WebMD.

Antidepressants can impair the contractility of the bladder, and that can worsen symptoms of overflow incontinence, in which the bladder can't empty completely. Other antidepressants may decrease your awareness of the need to void.

If you think your antidepressant is worsening your incontinence, talk to your doctor about switching to another medication.

3. Diuretics as a Cause of Urinary Incontinence

Commonly called "water pills," diuretics work in the kidney to reduce blood pressure by flushing excess water and salt out of the body.

"If you take your diuretic, you are making more urine," says David Ginsberg, MD, a urologist and associate professor of clinical urology at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

That translates to more bathroom visits and a worsening of incontinence symptoms, he says.