www.incontinentsupport.org

Well, tomorrow is my rescheduled urodynamic testing. I expect it not to be nearly so bad as the cystoscopy, but we shall see. Most of you have lived through it one or more times. I'll post my impressions.

I really hope that they can find something tangible to account for my urinary incontinence, but I am not counting on it. I still think that all of my pelvic trauma and nerve damage has something to do with it. It has been intermittent and variable in severity. I was having a good morning and even managed to pee in the toilet twice. Than my bladder went on "autopilot" and I peed involuntarily five times in about 20 minutes!

--John

John, my thoughts are with you for tomorrow. I hope all goes well and that the docs are able to give you some insight and provide a good solution.

Wetters

Thanks, Wetters. I appreciate your support!

--John

Good luck today john!!!

Well, it's over. The urodynamics was not as free of "discomfort" as I had hoped. I am embarrassed to report that I "vocalized" something between a moan and a shout twice when the catheter passed through the prostate.

It took longer than I had expected. I was in the specialized chair with a urether up my penis for about 90 minutes. Thankfully the nurse-technician was thoroughly professional and put me at ease.

The good news is that more useful results were produced than I thought might be the case.

It is likely (pending seeing my urologist) that I have urinary retention, over-active bladder, and my bladder does not sense that it should be telling my brain that I need to pee as early as it should.

Post-void, I retained about 13 ounces of urine. When I saw the amount in a beaker I was very much surprised. The nurse-technician said that I am borderline obstructed - in the grey area.

As for the cause? I may not know for sure. The nurse-technician said that, with as much pelvic nerve trauma as I have suffered, plus being bowel incontinent, that urinary incontinence is not unusual.

To my surprise, she sent me home not only with some pills to reduce the burning sensation in my penis, but with a handful of catheters, saying that I might need them to pee, following the procedure! She said that while she could not predict what my urologist would prescribe, with as much retention as I have, I need to self-cath and she thought that my urologist would prescribe the same. I see him in a week.

A question - for this level of retention, will a urologist prescribe cathing just once or twice a day? Obviously, I am wearing a diaper for the bowel incontinence and that makes it more complicated.

Thanks for everyone's support!!

--John

If you are retaining that amount every time you void they will recommend anything from every 2 to 4 hours all day from waking until bed and cathing immediately before bed.

Having that much residual is begging for it to backup into your kidneys. It could become a medical emergency without warning.

_________________
When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.

Wow, I had to convert that over because mine was done in milliliters. That is 384.5 ml.! JD that is something to take very seriously. Our situations are different but my may capacity was only 114ml and my first residual was something like 34 I think. Be careful. If you get it backing up into the kidneys that is very dangerous.
Keep us posted.

Rope

Thanks guys! I am on a steep learning curve here and had no idea how serious the retention could be. As I previously indicated, I was unaware than I even was retaining urine post void.

For those of you self-cathing, did you find that it significantly increased how long you could wait until you had to pee again (can you get a night's sleep without leaking)? Are you cathing based on the perceived urge or by the clock?

While I am not pleased with the impact of the findings, it is a relief to know more about what is happening. Thankfully, it is nothing worse.

I'll try to move future questions into the catheterization thread.

--John

I hope all the tests go well and good luck!

John, I'm sorry the urodynamics testing was so painful, and I hope the retention subsides soon. I wish you were seeing the doc sooner.

Wetters