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Anticholinergic Medicines

Anticholinergic medicines keep nerve impulses from contracting smooth muscle. Smooth muscle is part of the digestive tract, urinary tract, and lungs.

Smooth muscle cannot be controlled consciously (involuntary). But anticholinergics can, for example, relax the airways in the lungs to makes breathing easier.

Anticholinergics are used to treat many health problems. including:

  • Asthma.
  • Cerebral palsy.
  • COPD.
  • Parkinson's disease.
  • Urinary incontinence.

Last Revised: July 8, 2010

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Avery L. Seifert, MD - Urology

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