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Anyone care to discuss Bladder Issues?

Rufous McKinney

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
12,838
I"m having alot of bladder issues. I'm curious if others have similar issues and if anything can help calm hyperactive bladder. Issues here include- very low bladder capacity (I have no clue why, a technician indicated my bladder WAS NOT FULL during an ultrasound in which I had to consume a quart of water and hold it for 2 hours. NOT FULL? I'm rupturing.)

I get severe spasm periodically that I cannot associated with any direct cause. Then I get spasm when rundown, crashing, stressed and traveling, which my body DOES NOT support the concept of (going out, anywhere).

Next: sometimes I cannot even get the bladder to empty at all. Its like the exit route is: blocked, or stymied. Frequently, I'm squeezing muscles to empty my bladder- its not emptying on its own.

So I'm just hoping to hear if others also have these issues and if anything has helped reduce it.
 
Wayne

Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,206
Location
Ashland, Oregon
Carl said:
Prostate problems can affect urine flow.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure @Rufous McKinney is a woman. ;)

I recently discovered from my acupuncturist--who's teaching me self-acupuncture--that a spot about an inch below the belly button is a major point for the whole genitourinary area. The spot is about the size of a quarter, so almost impossible to miss. I do that point a couple times a week as a preventative measure. -- I love self-acupuncture!
 
Rufous McKinney

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
12,838
Wayne said:
I love self-acupuncture!
Click to expand...

I'm gathering that, @Wayne....

I did some EFT which helped for 30 minutes then it resumed. That has helped at times..I know part of it is my body not cooperating. When you feel this awful but tell the body to ignore it and keep doing the deed, mine revolts.

I'm gonna work on this further. :hug::hug:
 
C

Carl

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
United Kingdom
Wayne said:
I'm pretty sure @Rufous McKinney is a woman. ;)

I recently discovered from my acupuncturist--who's teaching me self-acupuncture--that a spot about an inch below the belly button is a major point for the whole genitourinary area. The spot is about the size of a quarter, so almost impossible to miss. I do that point a couple times a week as a preventative measure. -- I love self-acupuncture!
Click to expand...
lol it was the first thing which came to mind without me thinking about your bits and pieces. ;)
 
C

Carl

Senior Member
Messages
356
Location
United Kingdom
Rufous McKinney said:
Ah well I do have those insulin issues but its supposedly: managed ok right now. I am not an increased thirst person. I actually don't drink much liquid.

I sometimes wonder if this is Mast Cell stuff, which I don't really understand.
Click to expand...
Diabetes insipidus is not related to insulin. The diabetes word should be ignored. It's about vasopressin the anti diuretic hormone.

I mentioned excessive urination to my doctor and I was told it was normal. Searches say it is not normal. Urinating 8 times a day is normal, whereas 14 is not - I did log it out of interest.
 
W

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,495
Location
Alberta
I think ME can affect both the muscles involved (may not relax or contract fully) and the neural feedback loop that operates all the plumbing. Thus your brain might be saying "Bladder about to burst!" when the bladder is only 50% full, or "All empty now" when it's still 25% full. I wake up every 2 hrs or so to pee, and I feel that I'm getting the signal at less than full bladder capacity. I also feel that I'm not draining completely. I assume that ME is involved in this, although the issues didn't start until maybe year 15 of my ME.

I also noticed that I seem to wake up less frequently if I drink more water during the day or just before bed. That makes me think that there's a sensor for waste chemical level in addition to bladder stretch, and that is overly sensitive, so dilution helps. Oddly enough, the frequency of the 'need to pee' signal doesn't seem to correlate with total urine output for the night.
 
F

Foxglove

Messages
82
I have some various bladder issues and was told that changing my diet could help. I already discovered most of the problem foods on my own, but there were a couple (like mint) that suprised me.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/joh...s/gynecology_obstetrics/bladder_irritants.pdf
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/14244-bladder-irritating-foods
You can do searches and find more lists (mint is not even on these, but my doctors mentioned it and I found it on a published list sometime that I searched).

If you're looking for a specific diagnosis, and able to go to doctors, try to get to a urogynecologist. They might not need a referral but your insurance might require one anyway.

(The relevant specialty for men is of course urology.)
 
Last edited:
Moof

Moof

Senior Member
Messages
778
Location
UK
One of the reasons I started on gabapentin about 12 years ago was my hyperactive bladder. It felt the same as my other ME muscles: always tensed up, in a way I couldn't control voluntarily. Gabapentin worked very well to relax it, and my bladder wasn't nearly as bad when I came off the drug a year or so later – it felt as if the muscles had re-learned how to relax. Then the menopause happened...unfortunately, I now have a perfectly normal post-menopausal bladder (need to go every 45 bloody minutes! :lol:)

I've also had the experience of my brain losing contact with my bladder, so I couldn't empty it. I was sent to A&£ twice for this, with the doctor worried that I had cauda equina syndrome. I didn't; it was just arthritic lesions on my spine squishing the nerves. I've since found ways to help with that, but aggravated or compressed nerves apparently aren't uncommon in people with all kinds of low back problems, including normal ageing processes.

If it's really driving you crazy and you can tolerate gabapentin for a few months, it might be worth trying to see if you can re-set your brain's relationship with your bladder. I know some people hate this drug, but it worked for my bladder problems and then literally saved my sanity when I was having drenching sweats every four or five minutes during the menopause. I couldn't take HRT due to a family history of hormone-related breast cancer; the GP suggested that gabapentin had helped a couple of other patients, but didn't work for everyone. I was just one of the lucky ones, thank God. I took it for three years, by which time my menopause symptoms had calmed down to a more typical level (which is quite bad enough!)
 
Shoshana

Shoshana

Northern USA
Messages
6,035
Location
Northern USA
Rufous McKinney said:
P.S. I would correct the regretable TYPO on the first word of this thread, but don't know how.
Click to expand...

Over on the right side, of this page we are on, in front of YOU,
below the Thread Title, and above the actual posts listed,

ONLY YOU , have some small symbol to the right of the "watch/unwatch" little box.

If you click on those ... (that extra symbol there)
then it gives a couple of options that only you (or a moderator ) have on a thread that YOU started.

CHoose "edit thread" i think is the wording,
and it would let you change the title, to correct that Typo.

(or just tag a moderator and ask them to correct it)
:)
 
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