Will Inhaling Methacholine Cause Bladder Spasms?

Methacholine does not cause bladder spasms. This story will outline the effects of methacholine on the body, and conclude that bladder spasms are not caused by this chemical.

What is Methacholine?

• Methacholine is administered primarily to constrict bronchial tubes in the bronchial challenge test, a diagnostic test for bronchial hyperreactivity, the key symptom in asthma. As a cholinomimetic drug, it affects the cadriovascular system, resulting in compressed airways, which allows for diagnostic investigation into the functioning of the lungs. This is the primary funtion of all cholinomimetic drugs.

Function of Methacholine

• Methacholine is used primarily in the detection of asthma. It is inhaled as a powder, and if this negatively affects the respiration of the patient in a significant way, then an asthma diagnosis is likely.

Bladder

• There is no data to suggest that methacholine has any affect on the bladder at all, and there is certainly no known reason why methacholine should cause bladder spasms. As a cholinomimetic drug, it is administered through inhalation. Because inhaled particles do not enter the gastrointestinal tract, methacholine has no chance of affecting the bladder, much less causing it to spasm.

Possible side effects

• Methacholine does not affect the bladder, but what side effects it does cause? The common side effects are hypotension and brachycardia, both of which are clear results of the lowered efficeincy of the cardiovascular system uopn which methacholine directly acts. A University of Miami study, found at http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/131/6/1932.long, shows that there are no bladder effects from administration of methacholine.

Conclusion

• Because methacholine acts only on the cardiovascular system, along with the results of the scientific study referenced above, the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that methacholine has no part in causing bladder spasms.