1. < Kidney & Bladder

Urine Retention & Voiding/Bladder Dysfunction

Posted by terwifwoods @terwifwoods, Oct 21, 2021

Hello,

Over a month ago, I went into the ER with a distended bladder. Thankfully, my kidney function is good. After seven days on a foley catheter, I started self-catheterization, which continues. I can only empty approximately half of my bladder with a weak stream. I have seen up and down progress with my ability to urinate and empty.

After further visits and a cytoscopy, I was told my external urethral sphincter is very tight and I had bladder hypertrophy. My current doctor gave me grim news stating there was a low probability of my bladder recovering and I may have to catheter the rest of my life.

Prior to this, I was a very physically active forty some year old and over twenty years into a career where I would not be able to work based on having to cath. My career is physically and emotionally demanding. I have been doing pelvic floor exercises, meditation and mindfulness, frequent deep breathing exercises, and of course prayer. I am also on Flomax, but I am not sure if it is effective. I have noticed more constipation.

I am seeking a 2nd doctor's opinion, but can anyone offer any other options they have used to relax the external urethral sphincter/pelvic floor muscles? Or in general, anything you have done to increase urination and self-voiding?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Kidney & Bladder Support Group.

rayjg | @rayjg | Mar 15 3:03pm
In reply to @gingerw "@rayjg Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Yes, this is a different type of problem to have!..." + (show)
@gingerw

@rayjg Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Yes, this is a different type of problem to have! I'm going out on a limb here to suggest that it might be environmental induced? That is, you feel that voiding in the night could be producing interruption to someone else's rest, perhaps flushing the toilet or the sound of voiding itself? And you don't want to break the silence of the night? It's a possibility.
Ginger

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Hi Ginger,
Thanks for your comment. I agree it's environmentally induced, and your suggestion is interesting, but I think it's something else. It happens at our apartment in Aachen, Germany whether I'm alone in the building or not, whether my wife's home or not, and regardless of work, holidays, mood, etc., but I'm fine when staying anywhere else, eg our other home in England, my relatives' home in New Zealand, a hotel, my in-laws in Bavaria, a friends' apartment in Berlin, etc etc. I suspect it could be to do with volatile organic compounds, from the plastic-based floorboards, or some weird psychological response to being home in Aachen.

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Mentor
Ginger, Volunteer Mentor | @gingerw | Mar 16 11:22am
In reply to @rayjg "Hi Ginger, Thanks for your comment. I agree it's environmentally induced, and your suggestion is interesting,..." + (show)
@rayjg

Hi Ginger,
Thanks for your comment. I agree it's environmentally induced, and your suggestion is interesting, but I think it's something else. It happens at our apartment in Aachen, Germany whether I'm alone in the building or not, whether my wife's home or not, and regardless of work, holidays, mood, etc., but I'm fine when staying anywhere else, eg our other home in England, my relatives' home in New Zealand, a hotel, my in-laws in Bavaria, a friends' apartment in Berlin, etc etc. I suspect it could be to do with volatile organic compounds, from the plastic-based floorboards, or some weird psychological response to being home in Aachen.

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@rayjg Could it be the set-up of the bathroom, perhaps, the actual layout of the facility? The comfort of being home, of knowing you can do this on your own timeframe, familiarity of the procedure and time required? Still thinking on this, is it such a "bad thing", something that you can live with, with yourself?
Ginger

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Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Mar 23 11:46am
In reply to @pegpal "Have you dealt with post-polio syndrome regarding pelvic floor muscles? Is it common that the two..." + (show)
@pegpal

Have you dealt with post-polio syndrome regarding pelvic floor muscles? Is it common that the two go together?

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You may be interested in these related discussions:
post polio syndrome https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/?search=post%20polio%20syndrome

@pegpal, are you dealing with urine retention or voiding?

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pegpal | @pegpal | Mar 23 1:16pm

At times the severity of the pain to pee is so acute and severe that i have to let it come out, night or day. Now having to wear a diaper at all times since I need help to get on a toilet or use a bedpan. It is very irregular and unpredictable from one day to the next. Some days are fine when a normal urgency without pain will give me time to do either. Quadriplegia prevents any kind of exercise as a solution. I'm almost 80 and have had no history of any problem with internal organs up to now. My cat scan showed nothing wrong.

Thanks for your interest.

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