Urgency to get to the loo...

Hi all, I’m experiencing a slightly embarrassing issue - I have had it before (previous postpartum) on and off and have always related it to being a mummy (who is lazy doing pelvic floor exercises)…However baby is 5&1/2 months now and I should be more or less back to normal (shouldn’t I?)… I am more frequently than not needing to get to the loo quick - I find myself contorted at the front door, (or in front of the loo) bent 90degrees legs crossed trying to let the urge pass so I can sit down quick and let it go (sorry if tmi - I have taken to wearing panty liners just incase I cant keep it to myself :/) … Is this your experience of this joy? Is there anything I can do about it? I really don’t want to be speaking to my GP about it :confused:

Thank you x

Sorry, but you need to speak to your GP about it - or your neuro, or most hospitals let you self-refer to a continence nurse.

There are things that can be done, including drugs, but if you really won’t speak to your GP about it, then not a lot, by yourself. There’s only the standard advice (all of which I’m very bad at following) about making sure you drink enough water, and avoiding potential irritants like alcohol and caffeine. Pelvic floor exercises are good, and if you know how to do them, and have already been doing them, then continue. However, although they may improve your ability to “hold it”, in my experience, they do nothing to relieve the sensation of urgency.

Frankly, even if you didn’t want anything “done” about it, you should be getting it on record, as it’s relevant to the investigations. So I’m afraid you’re going to have to take a deep breath and tell.

Tina

Thanks Tina - …I guess I will tell him; it will be a very deep breath … I have just received my musculosketal follow up appointment bearing in mind I opted for a telephone consult; (was told to expect 3 weeks) for 6 weeks time! So will do that first then see GP and update him. In the mean time, I’m going to do what I do best and hope it goes away and push on with more regular pelvic floor exercises…

When you say avoiding caffeine - is that totally? Some days I think its the only thing that makes me go!

x

Hi Tingles, I had an incontinence problem for ages was having to get up 3 or 4 times a night as well so was getting very little sleep. Spoke to my ms nurse who is brilliant and she got a continence nurse to visit me at home which was good and she is so nice and was very understanding and now I have to self catherterise which took some getting used to but I have to say it has changed my life and I actually get sleep now which is good. A friend of mine who also has ms has to have Botox injected into her bladder. I would rather have it in my face though. Lol.

Polly x

Well, as I say, I don’t follow the advice anyway! I certainly wouldn’t be without caffeine, so although I’ve made some effort to cut down, especially in the evenings, as I’m usually wakened at night by the need to go, I can’t and won’t cut it out altogether.

I feel I have few vices, and few small treats in life. Coffee is one of them, so I’m determined MS is not going to rob me of it!

The advice is not absolute - obviously, it depends on the person. Most of us still want to live as normal a life as possible, and not give up every small indulgence, so we have to learn the gentle art of compromise.

I think the advice generally is to try cutting down, to see if it makes a difference. If it does, then some people might want to go the whole hog, and eliminate caffeine altogether, but that’s very much a personal choice. It depends which is the greater sacrifice - foregoing the coffee, or living with the consequences! I’m sure I will never succeed in giving up completely, and I wouldn’t want to. I’ve tried decaf, and hate it. Alcohol is also unlikely to go, whether it’s bad for me or not - I don’t want to spend the rest of my life avoiding things I’ve always enjoyed, as it chips away at morale.

So I think moderation is the key. Continue to have what you can get away with, but cut down if you know it’s making you worse. Nobody can force you.

I’m sure you will be fine telling the doctor! If you’ve already had a baby, there can’t be very many secrets left!

I don’t have children, so when I first started having symptoms, I’d barely if ever undressed in front of a doctor (don’t worry - it’s unlikely you’ll have to undress for this), and never had so much as a blood test in my life.

Next minute, I’ve lost count of the blood tests, and am having to explain to a strange man (from another culture, too, as it happens) that I can’t feel my vagina!

So really, you get used to just blurting it out. They are professionals - they shouldn’t have a problem. IF they do, it’s exactly that - their problem. Never feel bad about telling a doctor something isn’t working right.

Tina

x

Tingles

When I have issues that my GP cantor wont help with I will chat to my MS nurse who will take the time and give me realistic info and support.

Find the right team and you will get support.

Good luck

mick

I have had to cut so much out of my diet already - being gluten intolerant - I have cut tea/coffee out previously for the short period I had to be dairy free … but I will cut it down and see how far I get and any improvement - I drink at least a litre of water (the fizzy kind) a day - The opportunities to drink alcohol are few and far between - I don’t normally have the time or the inclination at them moment (awake most of the night with the nocturnal baby)…

lol! Ironically enough I think i would be more at ease stripping off in front of the doctor than telling him …but I will do it.

Gosh the numbness can get there too huh? … not good

Thank you again Tina

Emma x

Sounds like you have been looked after well Polly - Its good you are getting some sleep now (I fully appreciate the no sleep thing). Although I have to say I would be more than a little scared of being catheterised and/or having botox … other than to smooth out my forehead :slight_smile: lol … but even then I would probably chicken out - I don’t like taking medicine or procedures or hospitals for that matter…

Emma x

Hi Mick, & Thanks for your reply - I’m sure when I tell my GP he will be great with me - he is a lovely man who genuinely seems to care - for me its just the getting over myself and actually speaking about.

This was the first step … I’m getting used to the idea of saying it out loud

Thank you - Take care

Emma x

2 Likes

Hi Tingles,I didn’t have to go into hospital as I hate them and that would have sent me into panic mode. I do it myself and you empty your bladder where unfortunately I wasn’t and can’t empty my bladder myself without some intervention. My continue nurse was brilliant and I still see her but not as often

Hope your ok

Polly x

Hey Polly, yeah I’m ok I’m just trying to take it all in…that theres something not right with me … after lying buzzing in the bath last night fighting, (and losing), the urge not to wee (furthermore being unable to stop it), in the warm water - prematurely ending my otherwise buzzy but still relaxing bath with my book…I had intended to cut out my morning cuppa but I’ve failed … because I’m a bit annoyed having just rang my neuros office to again ask for a copy of my mri report to be again told ‘oh we don’t normally send them out, I will speak to his secretary/the neuro’. and ‘why do you want it?’ because its mine and iif i had it I wouldn’t be waiting 6 weeks for a follow up appointment with the bone people who don’t think its bones but nerves having just been discharged from the neuro dept! gggrrr next time I’m not going to be so easily appeased…but yeah I’m ok when I don’t think about it lol! x

Sending best wishes Polly x

Emma x

Hi Emma, glad your ok but I used to not drink much because of the urgency I had but was told by the continence nurse that was bad for me. It was my ms nurse that referred me and I find her much more helpful than my neuro who I am seeing on Monday.

Have a good day

Polly x

Noticing that the urge is aggravated when I’m by running water? Am I going mad? - Its on the list to talk to the gp about :confused:

No, of course it’s not madness - running water triggers the thought - for obvious reasons.

In fact, that’s a well-known technique for people who have the opposite problem - struggling to go.

Turning a tap on stimulates the urge.

I was hoping somebody would say,‘oh that’s not urge’, its something else - I’m trying to explain it away but its not working. Hey ho. Thank you x

Oh, sorry, I didn’t know what answer was expected.

Would you have preferred: “Yup, insanity, definitely!”?

To be honest, although I’d rather not have either, I’d prefer my symptoms to be due to MS than insanity. I was rather relieved, at diagnosis, to think madness wasn’t the explanation for it all - that there could be no way I was “causing it myself”, by morbid thoughts.

I didn’t want MS, but I definitely didn’t want to be nuts!

Tina

lol! Well …I’m already on the crazy scale with the kids (got all 3 today as eldest off school sick)…think I’m just in a kind of denial that things are happening and could all be related to something bigger (and a bit scary) …

Thanks Tina x

Emma