@jamierb It was the anesthesiologist who was doing my spinal injection who explained that spinal cord compression can cause incontinence of bowel or bladder, and that would be an urgent situation for a surgical consultation. I did experience difficulty emptying my bladder when it would stop about half way, and I could voluntarily force the rest to empty. At the same time, I was seeing my physical therapist who would realign my spine, and then my bladder functioned normally again until the next muscle spasm changed spine alignment and this issue re-occurred in addition to an intermittent uneven walking gait. I was in a stage of intermittent symptoms dependent on my spine alignment. I think these are the early warnings that would progress toward loss of control if the compression continued and got worse. That was fixed by spine surgery. My surgeon at Mayo is Jeremy Fogelson and he is excellent.

Another member, @hodinator posted about severe constipation and he did have a cervical spine issue. He talked to me a lot and had spine surgery that improved his situation a lot. He was in a wheelchair, unable to walk because of his spine condition. After surgery and some moths of rehab, he regained walking ability and better bowel movements and was able to avoid surgery on his colon. Here is a post after his recovery. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/961008/

What are the symptoms that are concerning you in possible relation to your spine?
I had surgeons who did not believe my leg issues were related to my cervical spine, but they were. I had what is called "funicuar pain" and I found medical literature with cases like mine, and then came to Mayo. A lot of surgeons missed that. It helps to keep a journal about how symptoms change over time, and if they changed with different body positions.