Antipsychotic drugs urinary retention

Most patients are able to tolerate the antimuscarinic adverse effects of antipsychotic drugs. Those who are made too uncomfortable or who develop urinary retention or other severe symptoms can be switched to an agent without significant antimuscarinic action. Orthostatic hypotension or impaired ejaculation—common complications of therapy with chlorpromazine or mesoridazine—should be managed by switching to drugs with less marked adrenoceptor-blocking actions. 

Figure 29-1. Reiative extrapyramidai and autonomic toxicities of representative antipsychotic drugs. Ex-trapyramidai toxicities take the form of parkinsonism, akathisias, and dystonias. Autonomic toxicities are manifested as aipha-adrenoceptor blockade (orthostatic hypotension) or muscarinic blockade (dry mouth, blurred vision, urinary retention).

Urinary tract Drug-induced urinary retention has been reviewed, emphasizing the anticholinergic activity of some antipsychotic drugs [56" ]. 

In human medicine, chlorpromazine is used mainly as a sedative, tranquilizer and antipsychotic drug. It is widely regarded as a safe drug but it can produce side-effects, some of them severe. Many of these effects are due to its anticholinergic effects and include slurred speech, dry mouth, constipation, urinary retention, dystonia, tardive dyskinesia and akathisia. It can also, rarely. 

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