Folic acid & bladder irritation??

[HowFastIsTooFast]

Is this a thing? Over the past couple of weeks my bladder has been playing up; not painful like cystitis but just never quite feeling like I've emptied it and that when I've got to go, I've got to go NOW. Pee seems a bit cloudy too (sorry TMI).

I've been managing it by keeping really hydrated which usually sees off cystitis if I catch it early enough but it's still persistently hanging around. I've got some cystitis powders on order and DP is getting me some cranberry supplements today; they can't hurt I suppose.

I've racked my brains and the only thing I've been doing differently recently is taking folic acid. Could this be the cause? I've googled it but no joy, so I'm here for human experience.

I had to reply to this as I've had the exact same thing, although not from folic acid, but from other supplements!

I'm prone to cystitis and had it last cycle and ended up on antibiotics which triggered by IBS and I ended up feeling very unwell for 3 weeks. I came off the pill in April and was hoping my body would get back to normal quickly, but think the combo of cystitis followed by an almost month long IBS flareup really messed things up as that cycle was haywire.

Sorry posted to soon...

I did lots of research and found that the pill can deplete essential nutrients, specifically the B vitamins, and can cause gut flora imbalances. I was only diagnosed with IBS earlier in the year, so felt sure the pill was the cause.

From my research I established all of the vitamins the pill can deplete and started taking: Pregnacare, additional folic acid, vitamin D, a B vitamin complex and vitamin C. For a while I was just taking Pregnacare, folic acid and vitamin D and that was fine, but I added in the b complex and vitamin c and thought for sure I was getting another UTI. Only the experience was different to usual, in that my bladder felt heavy and achey, but no stinging when peeing, and I felt like I had to go constantly.

I looked at what I had changed and decided to stop the b complex and vitamin c and a few days later felt fine again.

So after that long winded story...it does appear supplements can cause bladder irritation :( what dosage of folic acid are you taking? If higher than 400mg maybe think about reducing? x

@HowFastIsTooFast

Thank you! They are 400mg tablets. I'll see how I get on with the cranberry supplements over the next few days and do some more research online.

The symptoms you describe are exactly the same, no pain just 'heavy' and that feeling when you have a pee that you haven't quite finished. A couple of nights I've had to get up about 4am and move onto the couch to doze as lying down flat has been too uncomfortable.

Urgh that's frustrating as obviously if you're TTC you need to be taking 400mg of folic. I guess the only upside to my situation is that I didn't have to take what I was taking so just stopped as couldn't put up with the constant heavy feeling and discomfort. How long have you been taking folic acid for? When I looked into it I did find info that said both vitamin c and the b vitamins can cause bladder irritation. Hopefully the cranberry powder soothes it - from what I understand the irritation from supplements can be caused by the acidity, and as you probably know the cranberry powder can help balance acid and alkaline, so fingers crossed they get you back on track x

@HowFastIsTooFast