help cousin can't pee what could it be?

[sleepyangel30]

I was talking to a cousin of mine last night.. She had a uti 2 weeks ago doc put her on antibiotics... now she can't pee i wonder whats going on.. i pray she doesnt have ic. she say her pelvic area is hurting what could this be? I pray she doesn't have what i have. ic is the last thing she needs. she have enough going on with her already.

[leelee88]

If shes having trouble peeing, she really needs to see a Dr. This could be serious..Please let us know the outcome and I pray that she is ok and she does not have IC..:angel:

[ICNDonna]

It could easily be some swelling from the infection. She absolutely needs to get to a doctor very quickly if she is unable to urinate. They may need to insert a catheter to empty her bladder. There are medications that will help her to be able to go. I'll hope with you that this is just left over from her infection and she'll be okay soon.

Hugs,
Donna

[ihurttoo]

I totally agree with the others that this can be serious and she definately needs to get to the Dr. and get cathed. If they dont put a Foley in for her, hopefully, they will show her how to in/out cath.

I have had this same problem recently, (as has Brigette.) It can be caused by several different things. (Only her Dr. can tell her for sure what is going on in her particular situation.) But, I can tell you what happened in mine. For me, it was several contributing factors. First, it was an EXTREME amount of stress that caused my pelvic floor to lock up, causing me to go into retention. Then, I was able to do the in/out cath method (and still pee intermittantly on my own, off and on). But, meanwhile, I got a really bad infection that didnt respond to 3 different courses of antibiotics, so the infection brewed for 3 weeks and I got worse and worse, sicker and sicker. Then, to top it off, I have Lupus, and was unaware that I was in a MAJOR Lupus flare, and it had attacked my bladder this time too! (It generally goes to the weakest spot, and mine, obviously is my bladder!) So, when all was said and done, the stress and infection got to me. (I had been going from Dr. to Dr. and even a new URo and the ER and all of them were dismissive of the gravity of things, and meanwhile my family was very unsupportive and some even verbally abusive, contributing to my stress, further locking up my pelvic floor!) (The reason stress or infection can lock up my pelvic floor causing me not to be able to pee, is b/c I have SEVERE pelvic floor dysfunction.)

The other contributing factor, in my case, was that when I started retaining urine, I had remembered hearing that narcotics (like my pain meds and muscle relaxers) could CAUSE retention. Even though I had NOT been taking any more than I normally do, when the retention began, I quit taking all my pain meds and muscle relaxers, in case they were causing or contribiting to my problem. (The only one I still took was my 24 hr med, the Morphine. I kept taking it so I wouldnt go into withdrawl.)

So, of course, by NOT taking them, and being used to taking them daily, my pain shot up thru the roof!!!! (Especially since I was already hurting REALLY, REALLY bad to begin with!!) After doing this, that is when my bladder TOTALLY shut down, and I could no longer pee at all! (I also couldnt even cath anymore with the in/out method b/c my urethra was so swelled up (grapefruit size), from the infection, and trauma from having the in/out cath in me for 9 hours to and from Ky to Gulf Shores in the car, twirling around the whole time, and stabbing me and my bladder and cutting me like a fishook EVERY time the car hit a bump on the road!!!!! (This all began while we were on vacation, 9 hrs from home and from my Drs!)


Anyway, so by the time I had gone thru all that, and the ER visits, and seen my Dr, and the new Uro, and called everybody but Santa, and still no one helped me, I was desparate, and VERY SICK! By the this time, I didnt know where to turn or WHAT to do, so I called Brigette, (Buginarug...formerly Briza), but mercifully, she DID know what to do! She remembered my Drs name and we had traded family infor for emergency reasons long ago, so she called my Dr. and my Mom (both unbeknowanst to me), and got me hospitalized IMMEDIATELY! (He admitted me based on her phone call and called me and told me I just need to register and they'd take me to my room!) Then, she told my mother to come drive me to the hospital or she would be calling the Police! (Of course, I am sure you know what my mother must have thought!!!! So, my mother drove very quicky and I was admitted a few hours later and FINALLY got the IV antibiotics I needed and finally got my anti-nuclear antibodies tested (which shows if I am in a Lupus flare), and I WAS, and it was REALLY BAD! By the time I was admitted, I had lost 14 lbs in 3 weeks, and had a fever of 103. I was throwing up, dry heaving, and very dehydrated, and near death. But Brigette saved my life that day, because she loves me and had compassion for me that no one else did, (not even my own family or husband.) (I say that about my husband, b/c he REFUSED to take me to the hosptial on vacation when I needed to go, or to the ER, when we got back, and even stepped OVER me in the floor, when I collapased, and said "Bye" on his way out the door, going to work! Then, when I called him later to let him know the Dr. was admitting me to the hospital, he actually asked me, "What for?" CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont know if that was too much to tell you or not, (or if it was too personal to put here.) I hope it didnt make anyone feel uncomfortable. But, I wanted to give you all of that info so you would know (and be able to tell your friend).

Brigette is also the one who directed me and my Dr on what to do to get me peeing again. (My beloved Dr. is a GYN, who though he doesnt always know the answers, he is intellegent and knows to listen to those with more experiance than he has, and when I research things here, he takes it to heart, and lets me direct him in my care, if the research makes sense to him.) This time, he allowed Brigette to direct him. She told me to tell him that since the infection has been treated, then that is not causing my retention, (since I was still retaining when my cath came out. So, she said, since we all knew that this episode was complicated by severe pelvic floor dysfunction, and that it causes those muscles to tighten and become very painful, not allowing me to urinate, she said it only makes sense that instead of discontinuing the pain meds and muscle relaxers (as I had done on my own, and as that IDIOT new Uro I had visited earlier that week had suggested), our own, BRILLIANT Brigette instead said, that it only makes sense that if the muscles are tight and painful with the PFD and that's not allowing me to pee, then we need to ADD BACK IN the pain meds and the muscle relaxers!!! So, we followed her advice, and it worked!!! That is what we have been doing since then! (I had been taking them while I was on the Foley cath in the hospital, but I had quit several hours before they were going to pull the Foley out, so the pain meds wouldnt hinder me from urinating on my own, and at the time, my Dr. and the nurses all thought that was a good idea.) (My beloved Dr. had the wisdom and the compassion to allow me to keep my own meds in the room and administer them myself, even my pain meds, rather than having the nurses do it.) So, after Brigette had her stroke of genius, I called my dear Dr. and told him what she said. And he said, "Hang on to that friend of yours, b/c not only is she very kind and compassionate, (getting you into the hosptial, and being intellegent enough to do it and know what to say to me to do it!), but she is also BRILLIANT!" Then he said, "She is ABSOLUTELY right!" He said, "You know, you and I are both pretty sharp, so I dont know why neither of us thought of this!" But I said, "I know why! It is b/c of that IDIOT Uro that I went to see! Though you are a wonderful Dr...the best I have EVER seen....you are a Gyn, and that's why you were deferring to the advice of that Uro! And as for Brigette, I KNOW what a gem I have found in her, and you are EXACTLY right! She is everything you said, and more too!" Then he said, "You know, I did think of doing what your friend suggested, but you are right, b/c the Uro suggested otherwise, I just thought the Uro knew more than I did on this. I am so glad that you tried her suggestion after the Foley came out, and you couldnt go and called me!"

But, I DO want to clarify one thing...now, when I cant go, and my pelvic floor locks up, I take the muscle relaxer (or pain meds, if I have already taken all my muscle relaxers for the day). But, of course, it takes about 35-45 min for them to work. But, before I learned to do this, I used to just do an in/out self cath immediately. So, this should dramatically cut down my risk of infections too, along with my urethral irritation.

The other things he said did for me are increased my antidepressent (since stress was the initial thing that set off this episode for me). We also discussed that I need to find a therapist to help manage my stress, preferably a Christian one, since I draw strength from that. Then, of course, (as you can see), I returned here, though I hadnt been here for months, and am getting support here again. (I had been feeling very alone and isolated, plus, it truly DOES make me feel good to help other people and lifts my spirits to see that I have done something meaningful.) Then, I had not been happy at the church I attend for a while, so I plan to find a new church, since that had also contributed to the stress and some of my marriage problems. (My husband doesnt go to church now b/c he doesnt like the church there, so by getting a new one and him going again, that will strengthen our marriage alot, b/c if the Lord is not in our marriage then, nothing will help it, ya know?) So, that's pretty much it for what we are doing. Oh, and he told me to find a GP here to help oversee everything, and to follow up with my Rhematologist, (which I did, since this was also a Lupus attack). So, that's everything!

I also want to let you know that they also have several meds, and options that can help with this including pelvic floor therapy, and interstim, (as a last resort, if the problem persists.)

I dont know if any of that is helpful for your friend or not. I sure do hope so! But, if not, then maybe someone else here will find something in there that they can use. You know how it says in Isaiah that the word of God will not come back void? Well, I feel the same way about the things I write here. If the advice doesnt work for the person for whom I intended it, then I have faith that someone else will come along that it might be meant for and they will get something out of it that they needed to that will help them. Does that make any sense?

Please tell your friend that I sure do hope she feels better soon!

Many hugs,
Amy