Re: Symptoms Much Worse At Night

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 17:38:20 -0400, "Pete" <pete@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>"Ed" <ed@xxxxx> wrote in message
>news:faglj113c5m0srai42qukamevb5gp7b12d@xxxxxxxxxx
>> On 28 Sep 2005 05:23:39 -0700, "kap" <stevkaprel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>>I started having urinary problems about seven years ago. About 3 l/2
>>>years ago, I began to have "almost" acute urinary retentions at night
>>>(almost completely blocked but going away in an hour or an hour and a
>>>half). A month ago, I had my first AUR and catheterization.
>>>
>>>All of the "almosts" and the AUR occured at night. I am always ok
>>>during the daytime, except for frequency.
>>>
>>>Is this experience typical? Does it suggest any kind of syndrome in
>>>particular?
>>
>> I have had similar experiences. My problem is that my flow becomes
>> slow when my bladder is nearly full, and flow stops altogether when it
>> is too full. Very nasty... in other words, when I need to pee the
>> most, I can't pee at all.
>>
>> In the first years I had retention only during the day, caused by such
>> things as having to drink 4 glasses of water for an ultrasound. These
>> days my problems are more at night... probably because I have
>> developed some degree of urgency that ensures I pee in time when I'm
>> awake (and I defy the radiologists by not drinking all that water
>> before ultrasounds), and because my bladder size has become less. That
>> latter fact means I get up two or three times during the night... but
>> because I'm asleep, I might get up a bit too late, when my bladder is
>> over-full. Then peeing is very difficult or (occasionally) impossible.
>>
>> When I'm critically full, typically I can (with great effort) produce
>> a few cc's but can't sustain flow. So it stops after maybe 5-10 ccs.
>> Then I temporarily feel great relief and no need to pee any more...
>> even though I'm still critically full, with an aching bladder. I have
>> to wait about 5 min before I can produce another batch, hopefully with
>> more volume than before. In this way, with each 5-min session, I can
>> increase the flow stepwise and rescue myself. This requires about
>> 20-45 minutes total.
>>
>> Sometimes I just can't produce enough in these intervals to equal the
>> inflow from the kidneys... and then I go into complete retention,
>> unable to produce even a drop.
>>
>> So then it is time to go to emerg for a catheter. But my experiences
>> there have been bad... each time having to wait 2 hours or so for
>> relief. By then I have more than 1 liter in my bladder, and it is so
>> over-stretched that the capillary blood vessels are bleeding and there
>> is risk of permanent damage.
>>
>> Nowadays I do self-catheterization (against the advice of my first
>> uro) ... no waiting and much less stress. If you want to do this,
>> better ask your uro about it or do it at your own risk.
>>
>> My prostate is ~150 cc. I take Flomax and it has helped quite a bit to
>> reduce the incidence of retention.
>>
>> Ed
>
>Ed...as a follow up to my other messages in the thread, I want you to know
>that my heart is with you on your problems. It sounds terrible. I have
>trouble coping with my prostatitis/bph (mostly prostatitis) and can not get
>any help, and live in 24/7 hell, and find it very difficult to deal with.
>
>Your problem sounds very serious. What do your uro's say is causing the
>retention problem you have. It doesn't sound like a urethral blockage
>(including the prostatic urethra), since that would show up on a cystoscopy,
>which I'm sure you've had. Is it a problem with your bladder muscles not
>contracting or what. I am very concerned and do care...Pete
>
Oh, it's not that big a deal. I haven't had an episode of retention
now for 10 months or so. Life is good.

But I do manage my fluid intake carefully and do have some tricks for
getting through the night.

Ed
.