www.incontinentsupport.org

But here goes anyway.. JDinVirginia, id like to hear your expereince in particular. Those of you who have had urinary retention and had to start cathing.. what signs did you have that you were retaning dangerous amounts of urine? Reason I ask it seems that lately I am peeing, but it seems most of it ends up in the diaper rather than the toilet, and last night was the second time when I was semi-aseleep and had a release of urieawake in my bed and let a release go.. the flow seemed to be slow.. I don't know if i was retaining or not. JD, did you have any bladder pain? My urologist told me that I'm not in danger unless I can't urinate at all, but reading your post makes me wonder if i have something to worry about. This is not the best timing since I will be leaving in 2 weeks... I suppose the best thing to do is see my urologist, and I will if push comes to shove... but id rather not have to, since the uro appointment might involve tests that I wont be here for... JD, did you have any bladder pain or anything like that? I'd like to hear what led you to seeing the urologist in the first place. My gut feeling is I'm just fine, seeing as how up until last week or so, i was peeing in the toilet normally. Perhaps the kidney stonses are rearing their head again... oh boy..i don't relish that thought at all.. considering the pain i went through before.
I for my part plan to drink plenty of water today and make sure than I'm emptying... I have a feeling that i mostly empty all the way eventually but not all at once... JD I'm curious.. when you do make it to the toilet, is it a strong steady flow? or does it come out in spurts? I think your situation may be different than mine since you mention prostate issues.. I fortunately don't have that problem. I am curious what led you to being prescribed the Flowmax.. I'm just trying to make sure that I don't have something that needs to be looked at.. considering the timing of this whole thing.. id rather avoid another urologist appointment if at all possible..

Peace out!

Rob

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"We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" Mother Teresa

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!" - Captain Picard from Chain of Command, Part II

Rob, although our symptoms are very similar,I will not be of much help as I was completely unaware of my urinary retention! Academically I knew that it was a possibility, as I was peeing more frequently, but felt no pain and no discomfort. However, I have some pelvic trauma and nerve damage which may have reduced my sensitivity to such matters. The results of my recent urodynamics tests suggest that may be the case.

Re urinary retention, I am in the gray area. At this stage, your urologist may or may not want you to cath. My doc said that an option would be to stay on meds such as Flomax long enough to see whether they are helping you. However, my doc told me to double my daily dosage of Flomax and to go ahead and cath twice a day. I have the impression that if my retention goes down at the next check in three months he might take me off of the intermittent catheterization.

What led me to the urologist primarily was the need determine that nothing serious was happening. My secondary goal was to address the incontinence issues. My wife, a retired RN, "encouraged" me to make the appointment. Recommendations to do the same from the members in this group were decisive in my proceeding with the appointment. I am glad that I did - thank you guys and gals. While my problems are not "solved," I better understand what is happening and what my options are.

Rob, as I am relatively new to this, I hope that more experienced members of the group will give you their recommendations.

--John

I am not the best person to ask on this as I have no sensation in the lower part of my body but I can, I hope, help a little.

One of the problems of urinary retention is that, usually, there are no signs and symptoms at all. One drain the bladder normally and, whilst the need to pee might come a after a little shorter time and the volume might be a bit less, no one is likely to notice at first. It all depends on the retained volume. If your urinary system gets really awkward one might end up with lots of tiny pees and the urologist would have no problem diagnosing the problem.

In my case I was having trouble with drainage - I used a 2 litre bag at night which was usually full in the morning but was often more of less empty but I could see my fat bladder (I am quite thin,) Draining it wasn't that hard and by pushing with my hands I thought I was doing a good job. After a while I asked and went to be assessed at the local hospital. I was sent to empty my bladder which I did. I bladder scan revealed 500ml still left in the bladder, to my surprise.That's why I use catheters now and why I don't need protection in bad any more.

So, broadly, you won't notice anything if you have any retention. I would suggest you of and enjoy the camp for now but if you have any concerns afterwards, ask the urologist. Testing is easy, as I said, an ultrasound bladder scan after you have emptied your bladder will reveal all,