My Plumbing (bladder) woes?

[Udkas]

Hi there,
I have some numbness in my perineum/groin area and do sometimes experience burning in this area as well.  Over the last month I have had worsening of my burning and a different type of sensation with some bladder spasms?

In the past I have suffered from some incontinence but at the moment I feel that when I go to the toilet I am not emptying properly.  I don't feel enough urine comes out for how urgently I need to go and I seem to be like a blocked pipe my urine will stream out and then go back to a trickle and then start again. Weird.  The burning started to get painful and I was getting some stomach pains like little gastro type pains, so I decided to go to my general Dr just in case I had a bladder infection.

When my general Dr tested my urine with the stick thing he said that I had leuckacytes and blood in my urine.  I was not due for a period etc.  I now have antibiotics.  I am assuming I had a bladder infection, which I was suspecting I might have.

Would this be the cause of my plumbing issues?

Or is it the plumbing issues that have caused the infection?

Is this problem caused by my TM? Or am I just mad.  I am now back to having my nerve pain run through my legs again etc.

And what are Leuckcytes and what does that mean?

My general Dr seemed very vague about my bladder issues.

Cheers,
Udkas

[Lulu54]

no, you are not mad.  You are highly attunded to what you body is trying to tell you.  You are so right about this problem coming and going at different times.   I will experience days when everything is well and normal and then BAM!  it starts up again.  

My P-therapist told me last week that there is a nuerologist in town who doesn't believe there is a connection between MS and bladder problems.... talk about out of touch with the statistics.  85% of us MS patients have the problem so there must be some correlation.

I hope your doctor is a bit more in tune to the studies and statistics.  

feel better,
Lulu

[Udkas]

Thank you for your input as this is new to me and I felt like I needed some ideas.  I have never had a urinary tract infection before, so that is a first, I have since my "first attack" had some ongoing bladder issues that will go away and return.  So yes I have had some incontinence issues and some urgency, but this time round I feel like I am not emptying properly, I don't feel like the right amount of urine is coming out.. hope this makes sense and I guess if I am not emptying properly this is what would be causing my infection? But the stream seems to alter as well... I feel like sometimes i need to try massage so I can finish peeing.  I am burning so bad at the moment but I am not sure any more if it's TM/MS urinary tract or my imagination.  I obviously do have an infection.

If it continues after i finish the course of antibiotics (my doctor gave me repeat script) I will contact my neurologist as my GP just didn't get the relevance to TM/MS etc. He did ask me lots of questions and took lots of notes but didn't say much and seemed a bit vague to the whole thing.  I do like my GP and I can ask him anything but he seems lack knowledge in this department.  Since the beginnings of this all my symptoms have flared again too.  I think the whole thing sounds neurological based and the failure to empty has caused the bladder infection?

Karen in reply to your question about TM, most people only have a one of attack and if they do have subsequent attacks often then they get diagnosed with MS and the TM was really their first attack of MS, but TM can re occur so if it does it can strike another place, it is very rare for it to reoccur unless there is another underlying cause like Lupus or Sjordens or MS something like that.  If TM is a one of attack usually the patients are left with some problems and like MS they worsen when you are tired, hot, infection etc. but over time they usually improve but if you don't get any improvement in the first 3mths you most likely won't and they say it can take up to two years for some feeling to come back. You can have an acute attack of TM that can come on within hours, or sub acute etc. etc. The reason why my neuro says TM is all my reflexes indicate spinal and I have both sides affected, also my symptoms started suddenly and had some of the classic signs of TM.  The thing is my spinal MRI is normal but my neurologist has still diagnosed me with TM and even told me where my lesions are located.... so he must be able to tell by examination and what I tell him? He did mention the brain stem last visit so I am assuming if he thinks that he is now thinking it might be MS.  He keeps telling me that the spinal cord is not so great to image even on a T3 machine they can miss lesions.. I just re read Quix's health pages on spinal cord lesions and bladder stuff. (sorry rambling here) and Quix puts a bit in about MRI and cord lesions.

If my lesions were all confined to the spinal cord and transverse I guess they would say I have re occuring TM.  Last visit with the neuro he said that TM can reoccur and he believed that it had reoccured but he had only imaged my spinal cord and he said to me that he thought I should have another brain MRI next time. So I am having follow up etc. but that is not until March but he did say ring him if I was to get worse.

I will try the exercises Lulu and see how I go, I always do pelvic floor ones.  I will try to help my self empty.

Ess our doubt if it would give me a diagnosis unless they see a lesion. I don't dwell on being diagnosed anymore, I think it's a good thing if I don't get worse but I believe I am, so a lesion would mean things have got worse, but I promise I won't put off going to a doctor should I find I am unable to go to the toilet at all.

Thanks Jensequer,
for the info on Leuckocytes, I asked my daughter and she said it just means your white blood cells have spilled over into your urine indicating that you have an infection.

My bladder sounds like yours it has moments and then comes good but this is new and different I have never had retention probs before..

Thanks Guys,
support appreciated. x

Who knows maybe I am just mad?

[Karen99]

Hi.  Ditto to everything said above.  Once your infection is cleared you can get a better idea of what is going on.  For now though, do everything you can to keep your bladder emptied.  The double void LuLu talks about works for me when I'm having P-issues.  

Do you feel like you are retaining urine?  Hard to imagine if you are using the restroom constantly but it can happen.  I don't want to scare you either, but you are new to this so pay particular attention if your bladder feels full.  If this continues for you, you should be able to tell the difference between frequency/urgency versus retention of urine.  If you are feeling full and are unable to empty correctly, you might need some help.  Seek immediate medical attention if you are holding urine.

Any sign of ANY infection has to be checked out ASAP because infections can bring on relapses. It is unusual, is it not for folks with TM to add-on symptoms?  My understanding is that TM'ers can relapse but don't add symptoms over time.  It's supposed to be a gradual improvement.

Take care,

Karen

[Lulu54]

Udkas,
A bladder infection will definitely give you that urge feeling without much relief.  But a neurogenic bladder can also give you urge incontinence.  

There is therapy available to help - Quix has done it and I am also undergoing P-therapy to see if it will help. From the research I found it can be about 80% effective for MS patients.  If it keeps up you may want to consider it as well .

One very important thing the therapist has worked on is getting me to relax .... if you can't relax then the bladder won't cooperate with emptying completely.  There is also the technique of urinary double void.  You don't leave the restroom until you have gone twice.  you can do this by either sitting on the toilet and waiting - and sometimes you have to wait quite a while .  Or after you have finished the first time, stand up, wash your hands and then sit back down.  

Both of these are good to convince the bladder to really do the trick without bearing down.  Bearing down is not a good technique because the urine can flow up into your kidneys are well as down to exit your body.  

You might give this a try and see if it helps.

my best,
Lulu

[essdipity]

It's much more likely that failure to empty is causing the infection. That makes a breeding ground for bacteria, that in the normal course of events would not be a problem.

Your GP is much too vague. You need a urologist, preferably a urogynecologist. It can be very dangerous not to empty your bladder, and can do serious harm to your kidneys. If you ever feel the need to go and nothing happens, this is a true emergency. Go to an ER without delay. Don't mean to alarm you but this is nothing to fool with.

If you are still dangling between MS and TM, this could push you over the MS edge.

Good luck and let us know.

ess

[jensequitur]

Leukocytes are white blood cells... I think.  So it sounds like you have a bladder infection.  Typically any kind of problem, like a virus or bacterial infection, will cause a pseudo-relapse.  It's possible that your bladder problems (inability to fully empty your bladder) caused the bladder infection!

So your GP wasn't forthcoming about the neurogenic bladder, huh?  I have this problem on and off.  Sometimes it feels like I'm a balloon full of water, with a knot at the end.  I can push and get some out, but it's never enough.  Other times I have to go every thirty minutes - that can get old quick!

If things get worse, I expect they'll prescribe a cath for me.  Basically, it's a way to mechanically open up the bladder, so that the muscle can't clamp itself closed and keep you from urinating.  It sounds awful, but I know a lot of people do it all the time.