One More ?anyone Have Bladder Emptying Problems?

[Sheila1366]

Saw my urologist today for the first time. I am having some trouble emptying. The flow can be very slow, stop and go, lots of pain in my bladder and a few bladder infections.He thinks it could be interstitial cystitis.

Thanks again,

Sheila

[FarmerAmy]

You aren't taking Midodrine are you? I had difficulty urinating when I took it.

[Sheila1366]

He has me taking , I think, generic flomax.....tamsulosin.

[MomtoGiuliana]

I had this problem when my POTS was severe. The doctor who finally diagnosed it said that it was likely due to being so bedridden and not moving around enough. I dont know if that was really the cause, but for me it did eventually clear up.

[Dizzysillyak]

Azo with probiotics takes care of this for me. I have a history of kidney stones so it could be

that oxalates are constantly irritating my bladder. I didn't get my first stuck stone until 2008 but

that doesn't mean I wasn't passing smaller ones all along. Tc .. D

[Friedbrain]

Urination is at least partially controlled by the autonomic nervous system, although it sounds complicated and I haven't yet been able to read through it carefully enough to understand it all. Maybe someone could volunteer?

Yes, I have had numerous difficulties over the past nine years with bladder emptying. I wish I could tell you why, but I can't. Here's my story. Nine years ago, I was experiencing neurological problems similar to MS, so my brand new neuro was testing me inside and out for that.....and in the midst of it all, I ended up in the ER (for who knows what-some kind of painful eye spasms/seizures) and hospitalized for six days. During my stay, I couldn't urinate. At all. Another symptom of MS, but I never had any positive test to confirm that, so no diagnosis. A urologist consulted, but he concluded it was prolly due to the neuro problems, but I could follow up with him after I got out of the hospital. I was put on steroids in the hospital and by the end, the catheter came out and I was urinating again. I didn't follow up because I was urinating....

Since then, I have had many bouts of *difficulty* in emptying my bladder (not complete inability, tg), but mostly around ovulation (so for several days in a row, and then it spontaneously resolves). The difficulty is *usually* in completely emptying. Sometimes the stream is slow, sometimes not; but I don't completely empty. Then I have to do a weird squat over the toilet to completely empty. Sometimes, on top of this, I even have trouble starting. Infrequently, this has included a series of days where it seemed like maybe I had a bladder infection because I felt like I kept having to go to the bathroom but didn't......but again, no pain involved and it would always spontaneously resolve, so I don't really think it was a bladder infection but, rather, this problem.

Different docs have had their own opinions about it. I did go to a uro office once, but since it is only sporadic, I wasn't having the problem when I saw him and he also concluded it was neuro-related and I should see a neuro about it. An ObGyn said she thinks it's related to inflammation due to ovluation (this was earlier this year, when I was experiencing to-die-for ovulation pain of several days at a time, and lots of cysts) and shrugged it off as a thing I should just accept (ummm, ok). My newneuro (recently moved) thinks I should see a urologist I tell myself that, in the big scheme of things, as long as it's still coming out, it's one of my lesser concerns. Still, it is disconcerting to not know why!

So....having said that......just wondering if you know (from a urine test) that you have infections? Maybe it's possible that when urine flow is disrupted (because of autonomic dysfunction or whatever is going on), that you're more vulnerable to them? I don't have pain or infections, but I've also learned how to squat to empty so I'm pretty confident I can get it out when I need to. (and I just got a prescription for midodrine-ack!?!) Good luck finding answers!