I have had a wonky bladder for longer than I care to remember. I now can only do a pee by doing intermittent self-catheterisation. OK, this is a bore but it does give me a good quality of life.
Now it has taken a turn for the worse. At night after a maximum of 6 hours sleep I wake up wanting a wee, obviously I have a pee before I go to bed. So when I wake up I go to the loo and have a tiny pee, not enough to fill an expresso coffee cup and I have to use a catheter. I go back to bed and sometimes I can drop off to sleep other times I cannot. The strange thing is this, if I decide to get up, get dressed and have breakfast I do not want to go to the loo. This problem did seem to start quite suddenly
Has anyone else suffered this sort of problem? What if anything has been done to sort out the problem. Is BOTOX a solution?
Interesting idea but urine is not smelly or cloudy. I don’t think it is a UTI cos during the day I can have a much fuller bladder with no sense of urgency.
I am sure it is an MS problem and not an infection
Ugh I live on the loo lol. I go to sleep at 8pm, wake up at 10pm, then about 12am, and so forth for the loo, its been like that for ages as soon as i relax and go to sleep i need to go… I used to have constant UTI, until my GP put me on antibitoics every night. Its so waring I literally hate my bladder. I just dont empty properly. I was told i should cahthaterise but i dont want too, as i have spoken to people who do and end up with worse infections.
When its bad for me, i have been having to go every 15 minutes before now in the day, and even stopped going out as i would need to go all the time grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Hi, I self catherterise and sleep through the night but if I do wake it’s not for the loo and I can usually get back off. Also since doing it I haven’t had a UTI whereas before I was always getting them. Maybe Botox injections in your bladder would suit you then.
Living on the loo does not seem an ideal way to live. You’ve said it, not emptying properly. I know intermittent self catheterisation is much more difficult for women but I think you will find that it will totally changes your life.
Talk to an MS nurse or someone else who can help you. I took the plunge and it enables me have a half decent quality of life. I know it is much easier for blokes but I am sure there are lots of women who successfully do ISC.
My ms nurse referred me to a continence nurse who is lovely and she went through it all with me as I wasn’t emptying my bladder either and getting up about 4 times a night. I actually find it fairly easy and it’s given me a quality of life back that I didn’t have before as I stopped going anywhere as kept wetting myself.
What you’ve described sounds like you’d be much better off self catheterising.
Patrick said it’s harder for women than for men. I think he’s right in that men can see their ‘equipment’ whilst it’s more difficult for women to see the entry point. However, men have much longer distances to go with their catheters. Once a woman finds the right spot, bang, she’s there in the bladder.
It’s not the case that women who self catheterise have more infections. It sounds like through not emptying you are having quite a lot more infections than you might have with good ISC technique. The secret to ISC and not getting infections is developing a very good hygiene routine. I went from Autumn 2014 to February this year with no infections. And I self catheterise about 6 times per day. Sadly I spoilt my record by getting one a few weeks ago, but I still think that about 15 months with no infection is a pretty good result.
I totally understand why people are nervous of starting ISC, but honestly, it’s not difficult and you might find it gives you a whole lot more control over your life.