lots of bladder pain and frequency after second laparoscopy to treat endometriosis. is this normal?

[Peppermint]

I have recently had my second lap to treat endometriosis on my bladder, uterus and uterus ligaments and removal of adhesions on both ovaries. i had my period a matter of days after my surgery and the pain was absolutely awful, like nothing i have ever experienced. since then i have had really bad bladder pain which is constant and the pressure makes me having to keep going the toilet. my bladder literally feels like its on fire has anyone else experienced this? and how long can i expect it to last for. i am 1 wk and 2 days post op. i have experienced bladder problems on and off for years but my bladder pain hasnt been this intense in a while and its really getting me down. any answers would be greatly appreciated. x

[Impatient]

Firstly you need to rule out a bladder infection. Treatable with antibiotics. Visit GP with a sample for a quick check. I doubt it is that, but they will check anyway.

Assuming you don't have an infection then your bladder muscles have gone in to spasm from the poking around that was done down there.

This is a fairly common complication from gynae surgery and it can be helped with drugs to relax the bladder muscles and help you have a bit more control.

Now I know that on the advice leaflet it does state that it will resolve itself in a few weeks, and I hope that you and most people that is the case, but after my last op, my bladdr problems lasted 17 months (i had given up all hope of it getting better) when suddnly one morning i woke up and i felt different down below, i was not having to hold on quite so hard in my trip to the loo, and when i did go, no pain!

So i decided not to take my tablet that morning unless i needed to. And i didn;t need it, and by evening i still didn't need it and haven't had one since.

Sometimes the surgeons put a catheter in your bladder while you are having surgery and that can damage the electrical signals shooting round the bladder muscles and put them out of synch. Same can hammed if the bladder muscles are traumatised from the inside of the tummy when they are getting cysts and endo out.

So it is not unusual, not nice either, but something can be done about it.

There are quite a few different drugs to try out on the bladder to find out which best suits you.

So it could take a few more days of discomfort and accidents before you find the drug that improves things the best for you, till yoour body naturally recovers and the electrical signals are back in synch again. I sincerely hope you don't have to wait 17 months as i did. I have read quite a few ladies on this forum seem to have recovered after a few weeks, but meanwhile definitely visit your GP for the help you will need.

It can be very uncomfy indeed having the urgency to pee often but not emptying out fully, or worse than that having full bladder retention and not being able to piddle more than a drop or two and the pressure painfuly builds up. IF you are retaining wee and not empting the bladder at all, then visit A&E as it is then a medical emergency. They can release the flow and ease the pressure off. If you are on the tablets then that shouldn't happen.

Wishing you a speedy recovery with all my heart. It sure isn't nice battling bladder issues 24/7 while recovering from an op. 17months i had that.....and even with the tablets i was at least going to the loo properly (ie emptying fully) but there wasn't much notice..plenty of accidents.. only when i felt i had control holding it in and walking normally to the loo instead of racing, did i stop the tablets.

Before getting to that stage it was always a mad rush, and several clothing changes a day.

I am now fully back to normal. No pain when I pee, Can even drive long distance without a loo stop again Hurray!!!

But it took quite a while to build up the length of time i could hold on. I suppose the bladder must get used to stretching again and holding it in once the muscle spasms stop.

And by the way you cannot feel the muscle spasms, they are like the intestine muscles passing food along, you do have them but you cannot feel them happening.

And you cannot feel when they spasm out of synch either, the ony way you know that it is happening is because you could go pee normally before the op and you cannot control it afterwards.

Book a visit to the GP as a matter of urgency, or visit A&E if the doc cannot see you asap.

I was on buscopan at 1st, then found oxybutinin hydrochloride worked better for me. Both are prescription meds and I did object to having to pay out presription charges every month for so long when this was a post op complication not of my making but that's life....v. unfair on some of us.

[Peppermint in reply to Impatient]

Hi there. many thanks for taking the time to respond to my post...really appreciate it. Did you have bladder endo too? i handed in a water sample to my doctors on wednesday for the nurse to dip test and was told it was clear but being sent to the lab anyway and to phone back today, which i did and was told i have some protein in it but they were waiting for the lab test to come back monday, then the doctor told me i didnt have an infection so i am confused. she said she cant gaurantee i havent delveloped one since wed and therefore has today prescribed some antibiotics for me. I will see how i get on over the weekend and if no better next week i will defo visit my doctor for some meds to help with my symptoms as not finding pain meds helping much. did you find this?

sounds like you have had a horrible time but glad to hear you are feeling better now.

take care x

[Impatient]

'hammed' should be 'happen' in paragraph 4...apologies.

[Impatient]

I do have endo in the bladder not just on the outside.... results quite obviously in pink pee when it is actively bleeding. So it is definitely noticeable in my case when my pee turns light pink not yellow. Though to my knowledge it was not endo that was actually tackled in my big op.

But I did have a C-section laparotomy gash and a catheter for a couple of days after that op. so it was impossible to determine what had knocked my bladder electrics out of whack. My GP a very nice lady just wrote 'bladder spasms' as the diagnosis.

i had two large cysts removed, one ovary and tube taken out, and extensive laser work on the endo and adhesions, several biopsies, a smear test, and mirena surgically installed too. lots of work done through that big hole (it was only meant to be a basic lap op....they got a shock when they opened me up that's for sure!) and i got the shock when i woke up !! Not surprising my bladder has a hissy fit (or should that be pissy fit) in sympathy with all the trauma going on.

Protein in wee can be from kidney infection or bladder infection, or even from passing a small kidney stone. It isn't always from infections from outside sources.

They (infections) can come on rapidly, so see how you get on and take a mid-stream sample pee pot with you to the next appointment just in case.

Pain meds did not help me much, it isn't the kind of pain that pain meds would help with.

the pain was either from bursting to go for a pee (bladder pressure) or after having a pee i got deflated bladder pain (i doubt that was the technical reason for it, but that's what it felt like.)

best of luck

[Peppermint in reply to Impatient]

Hi , thanks again for responding. gosh it sounds like you had a horrible time, like you say no wonder your bladder was unhappy afterwards. did you have bladder symptoms before you got diagnosed with endo? i dont think i have it inside my bladder as no red wee but i have suffered bladder problems for years before my diagnosis and was told it was my high pelvic floor tone, which i had physio for but still had symptoms. like you pressure and feeling need to constantly go, and pain at times when i do go. this is what i have now with a vengance!