Urinary retention in woman- is it ever OK?
Posted , 2 users are following.
I ask because after 1.5yrs of symptoms of constant bladder pain, hard time initiating flow, having to stain, not being able to keep flow up and pee tricking down my leg when I'm trying to push hard and the feeling of peeing razors... A Dr finally figures out I'm retaining urine. Background- I went in for a flexible systoscopy in Oct. 17 but Urologist could not Finnish. My urethra was too narrow. Left me that way (no treatment for the issues or anything for pain) till My Rigid Systo in Nov. Left hospital feeling the same. pee trickled, couldn't initiate flow etc. Was given antibiotics but started peeing blood as soon as I was off them. Saw Dr at walk in as Urologist couldn't see me till Jan as "I was fixed". Saw urologist in office then. He said that he could not treat me for the pain till I have another flexible systo (that he promised would work) as he didn't know what was wrong. Went in Feb. 14 for it but again it could not be completed. Urethra is too narrow. He said I am retaining urine but sent me home in the condition I am to wait another month. Was in too much pain today and went emerge here took 7 hours to get through and Dr almost refused to do anythig but write my Urologist a note to try to see me sooner. (they scanned my bladder, machine said retaining 100mls) he finally agreed to have my bladder drained by a cath. Took 3 nurses and 4 caths, but they finally got one in. Dr came in while the cath was still draining and told the nurse that was good and to take it out. She asked to please finnish draing it so I could at lest be empty. He said I didn't need to and to take it out now. Nurse measured the urine after he left cause the Dr told her not to bother. She got 150 mls out before he stopped her. Was sent home again like this to wait another month for my next rigid systoscopy and dilatation. ( No cath. or anything except he did give me Tramacet for pain. Hope it helps a tiny bit) So, I'm just wondering, nurse said I'm likely retaining around 200mls of fluid if she'd been allowed to fully drain me. Is that OK? (No other Urologist will see me here as I'm already under the care of one)
0 likes, 5 replies
sam6990 kandyoh80
Posted
Hi there,
If I’m honest between 100-200mls isn’t the end of the world in retention aspect. I retained a litre. They said that between 100-200mls, they are not overly concerned if there is no underlying cause. You have obviously got a urethral stricture. You may want to google it. This interferes with flow, as well as causes you to strain. I do feel for you, as this can be quite problematic. There are things they can do for this condition though, so my advice would be to find a good urologist that knows about strictures. If you can afford to pay privately to see a good one, it may well be worth it. They charge around £200 for first consultation. Hope this information helps and you get your quality of life back.
Kind regards,
Sam x
kandyoh80 sam6990
Posted
Thank you Sam
I'm in Canada so it works different here. I can request a new urologist (though my GP, who takes 3 weeks to get in to :P ) but that will leave me with no care for months as my current urologist will be taken off my case immediately and not enough specialists in our province means long wait times. Just making sure it is OK for me to go another month or two retaining 200 plus mls without damaging myself. Cause the pain sucks but I've been dealing with it for well over a year now anyway. I can survive that. Getting another dilatation and rigid systoscope is the only option I'm being given. If it doesn't work, I will be taught to self cath daily for the rest of my life. I'm 37. The Dr shortage is so bad here that I recently tried to find my husband a new GP as his nearly killed him by missing something he shouldn't have. Our city has 100,000 people and not one practice was accepting new patients. I was just lucky that my Dr (Who hasn't accepted a new permanent patient in nearly 10 years) took my hubby on. Looks I'm stuck in standby again. lol.
kandyoh80 sam6990
Posted
PS, how long did you retain that for? looks like mine has been like this the entire 1.5 yrs I've been going through this.
sam6990 kandyoh80
Posted
Sorry to hear that in Canada the shortage of docs is the same as here, quite an eye opener really, as I thought it was just the UK.
In your situation it’s probably best to stick with the urologist you already have and sit down with him/her to talk all the treatment options through. I was retaining for at least 3 years. I now self catheterise daily, which is no fun, but it keeps me alive at present. I have embedded infection also which I have to take two different antibiotics to keep it under control. Been on antibiotics for 4 years constantly, so don’t know when they will stop working for me. Until then, I just stay positive as I can be!!
Do hope you get some help soon. Let us know when things improve. Take care. X
kandyoh80 sam6990
Posted
Thank you so much Sam
It's not this bad ALL across our country, I just live on the wrong side of it. The best Dr's live about 3,000 KM's away in Ontario. They train at the University of Alberta here, then all pick up and treck across the country to get away from our business taxes here.
(but not even kidding) I will wait a week to see if my Urologist's office calls because of my hospital visit, then I will start calling there. The phones are only on in the office when the urologist is there. So Tuesday's for 5 hours, lol.(unless he gets called for an emergency surgery). I don't think he's a bad urologist just maybe not very knowledgeable in my particular problem. . (he's actually supposed to be the best urologist where I live). Thank you so much for reassuring me that physically I'll be ok to go another month or two. (if the procedure in March doesn't work I have to wait another month to see urologist before he will advise home care to teach me to self cath.) So that means I'll be like this till sometime in April.(not overly confident this will work this time either as I feel worse now than I did in Oct. I have a genetic condition. My connective tissue is defective to say it quick. So along with my body's glue not keeping me stuck together, it likes to create an overabundance of scar tissue like nothing.) I'm honestly worried about anything going near that area now, but my Urologist said my ONLY options are getting the dilatation again or self cathing every day.