Post laparoscopy urine retention

[Ania_96]

Hi all,

I had my first laparoscopy yesterday morning and the surgeon did find and treated some mild endometriosis.

However, after the surgery I was unable to pass urine and ended up in ED with catheter and currently I’m still catheterised and that will be the case for the next few days when they will try take it out and see if my bladder works. Otherwise I will need to learn to put a catheter myself.

I am absolutely TERRIFED. I’m only 22, I don’t want to be catheter dependent all my life. The doctors don’t seem bothered, but it’s winter and hospitals are overflowing and I’m not sure if they weren’t just trying to get rid of me.

I was told urine retention is very common and that I don’t need to worry but I can’t stop myself from crying every few hour when I have to drain my bag.

Has anyone experienced something similar and can reassure me that this is only temporary?

[luthien]

The muscles and nerves themselves haven't been affected directly because you're holding urine without the catheter rather than being incontinent, so you don't need to worry about that side of things.

The bladder reacts the most to the anaesthetic and thus can take a few days to recover from it. I found the first 48 hours even though I could wee I couldn't tell when I was going apart from the weeing noise when I thought I had "let go", and gravity took effect!

A catheter can mean recovery takes a little longer with the bladder as it's muscles aren't being used at the moment. The docs will want to check for two things - can you tell when your bladder is getting full and can you release the muscles to wee, then stop them again to finish. If you're aware of your bladder filling now - that's good progress.

Drink lots of water regularly to help flush out the anaesthetic, any toxins, and help speed up recovery xx

[kate24601]

Honestly the alternative I had was awful. I told them I could pee and was sent home and the next 48 hours were the worst of my life! I think I'd much rather have gone in and had a catheter! It took about a week for it to settle and then 12 weeks before my bladder was exactly how it was. If you have a catheter then I bet your bladder will have time to heal from all the poking and will be right as rain in a few months!

[TravelBug83]

Hi!

I know your post was 10 months ago but I'm new here and having a look through posts that have similarities to my recent (2 weeks ago) surgery.

Firstly, I really hope your bladder and urinating have regulated now? If so, do you remember roughly how long it took to happen?

I was in hosp for 10 days post surgery because of bad UTI and failing my catheter removal twice as bladder just retained urine. Thankfully passed it eventually and home a few days ago but can't seem to empty bladder and just comes out in little bits so I'm hoping it's a case of too soon post surgery but I'd be interested to know more (if you're willing) about how long it took you to settle down after? Thanks so much in advance.