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emptying the neobladder
Hi! I’m struggling and my Mayo doctor is perplexed. I had RC May 17, caught a bacterial infection at the hospital, and got a rocky start with multiple post-surgery hospital stays. Somehow my new neobladder grew way too big even though I was primarily using a Foley. Self-cathing began intermittently at first until finally I was told to cath every 2 hours in order to “shrink the neobladder”. After 8 days, no improvement – so now I’m cathing every 4 hours. When I’m really lucky, I can empty about half the neo (about 250) and cath the other 250, but that’s as much as I can void. Has anyone else had this experience? I’ve tried every trick in the book – some of which are very painful. Now the doctor is talking about bio feedback – has anyone tried this? Medications? Hypnosis? Help!!!
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3 Replies
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I’m pretty much in the recommended intake range. I think my problem has been my toilet which is one of those higher medical-height models. The last couple of days I have been able to void in my bidet which is is much lower! I think it’s because of the extra pressure but on the bladder as I assume more of a crouching posture. Of course, it going to be a little difficult to find public bidets to use! I have asked my doctor to stretch the urethra for easier voiding and hope that translates to less strain for use with standard height toilets.
I have also found that I have to have at least 450 and then can void down to 200 or less which is a giant improvement over trying to void 200 to 100 which had been the goal given to me when I was on that 2-hour cathing program.
Thanks for your reply. This whole experience has certainly been trial and error, but I hope that I will soon be able to “pee on command”. -
How much are you drinking a day? Pat
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Hi,
We have some info that was contributed by women with neobladders who suffer from hypercontinence with a “trick” they’ve discovered that helps with voiding:
http://blcwebcafe.org/neohyperc.aspAnd info on women and neobladders:
http://blcwebcafe.org/neowomen.aspI’ve heard that a neo shouldn’t be too stretched out, 450 cc’s or so is good. Also, it can take up to a year for all the new plumbing to settle and for things to become normal. However, self-cathing can be a given for female neobladder recipients.
If you don’t get enough input here, you might want to post under ‘invasive blc’, and/or consider our email group, which is chock full of women with neobladders:
http://blcwebcafe.org/listinfo.asp and funny enough the populations of the list and the forum do not overlap.Wishing you well,
Wendy
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