Elmiron is prescribed to patients with painful bladder. According to one study, nearly 25% of people who take it have eye damage.
Almost all drugs have side effects, sometimes some are discovered years after marketing. In the United States, researchers have found a link between treatment for painful bladder and retinal disorders. In their resultspresented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology, they show that the drug could cause age-related macular degeneration or dystrophy.
Treatment to relieve bladder pain
Painful bladder syndrome, or interstitial cystitis, mainly affects women. It is characterized by pain in the bladder or pelvic floor, and very frequent urges to urinate. In the United States, the only drug to treat it is elmiron. According to researchers, hundreds of thousands of people took it.
Last year, a doctor at Emory Eye Center in Atlanta found that 6 patients had abnormal mutations in the macula, the central part of the retina. All had been taking elmiron for about 15 years. A team of three ophthalmologists decided to launch a study. They recruited 91 patients who underwent various ophthalmological tests. 22 of them suffered from drug poisoning. The higher the amount of elmiron taken, the higher the risk of poisoning.
“It’s unfortunate, says Dr. Vora, one of the co-authors, you have a patient who has a chronic disease like interstitial cystitis, for which there is no effective treatment or cure. He is prescribes this drug because it is known not to have many side effects and low risks, and no one ever wonders again. And year after year, the number of pills that people take increases more and more.”
Get regular screenings
The doctor recommends that people who take elmiron, but do not show any signs of intoxication, have their retina every year. Early detection of possible retinal problems would help to stop their spread.
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