Thursday 28 January 2016

Bladder Nightmares!

Tonight I really thought I was going into urinary retention, also known as not being able to empty my bladder.

I've got ongoing bladder issues at the moment.  It's a long story, but I've had issues on and off all of last year, and a bit the year before as well.  It started out as just a couple of days of frequency and urgency issues every couple of weeks, which I put down to Endo and having had 3 surgeries in 2014.  Everything in your pelvic cavity is so close together, that it didn't surprise me that I may have developed a bit of an iffy bladder as an unfortunate side effect of all that surgery.

In October 2015, things began to noticeably worsen and by December I was experiencing bladder problems for 2 to 3 days out of every week.  My Gynae was concerned that the ongoing fatigue and bladder issues I was experiencing may be signs of pre-diabetes when I went back to see her, so she set me up testing my blood glucose levels for 3 months until my next appointment.

Enter the New Year and the beginning of 2016, and my bladder has continued to deteriorate.  Now, every single day since January 1st has involved full time bladder problems and pain, and not to go into too much detail, but I'm using the bathroom 15 to 20 times a day now!  Let's just say that I'm thinking about redecorating my bathroom, since I seem to visit it so often these days!

Today had been yet another very busy day for my bladder, but I noticed a change tonight, whereby when I tried to empty my bladder (which felt full), not much at all was coming out.  This might not seem very scary to the average person, but to me it started to ring alarm bells considering my 'normal' volumes at the moment are much higher than that. 

Didn't think too much of it until it had been happening for a few hours, and I was lying in bed when it hit me.  That this was exactly what happened when I went into urinary retention for the first time back in early 2014.  That was a seriously scary experience, even more so than Endo pain, because having absolutely no control over such a basic and vital bodily function does really make you panic.

So for the last 30 minutes, I've been pacing the hallway in the dark with my earbuds in, trying not to freak out and hoping that gravity would help sort my bladder out!

Luckily just now, my bladder has decided to behave and normal(ish) service has resumed for now.  Phew!

Leaving my bladder in such an over-active state does concern me, especially because my next Gynae appointment isn't for another 5 weeks.  I've tried to bring it forward, but it's just not possible this time around (the joys of being in the public health system).

I would hate to think that I may be developing permanent, irreversible damage to my bladder while I wait for my appointment, but I'm crossing my fingers and toes that this isn't the case!

Bladder, just hold on and don't play any more tricks on me please!  Don't think my nerves can stand it!


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