Can’t empty bladder

[laineyoc]

Hi, my daughter is nearly 7yrs old and recently she seems unable to empty her bladder in one go. In between the first wee and the final wee she is terrified of setting herself, refuses to get off the toilets and just bawls her eyes out. I just had to drag her to my son’s football screaming her head off (she wanted to stay home alone). It’s happening every day now and the whole family is struggling. Has anyone else been through this? Thanks!

[Helen36]

Hello, this sounds really stressful for all of you and poor her

Is she having any wet accidents at all? Or just finding she doesn’t feel empty? First step is to rule out a bladder infection as this can show itself like this, even if there is no pain, so get down to the GP, ideally with a wee sample from first thing in the morning (the pharmacy can give you a pot).

To help her in the mean time, ask her to do her wee, stand up, do three spins one way, three spins the other (watch out for dizziness!) then have another try on the loo with a nice slow deep breath out. This is what my daughter was told to do to help her empty fully. It’s quite fun until they go crazy and fall over!

Also, just try to get as much fluid down her as you can, ideally in big drinks at set times (rather than sipping constantly) as this can help the bladder fill and empty sensations.

Any chance of constipation? Blocked poo can press on bladders and cause all sorts of problems so do have a think about if that might be a possibility

[Shootingstars12]

My daughter is 6 years old and most mornings can't wee its like she goes in to retention and it takes all day for it sort it's self out. Im going to speak to her consultant about this issue as becoming an issue now. She goes to school will belly ache and busting for a wee that won't come out last Friday was the worst its been it held on all day till she got home from school at 3.15pm she had don't tiny dribbles about 4 times from 7.30pm thursday to 3.13pm Friday then it was like a bung went off and it was a water full and she did 4 of these. Over the weekend it was really sluggish. She is on senokot at night and she has 1 movicol to keep her bowels moving as they thought this was thd issue. Does your daughter have any issues with her bowel movements as could be part of it also could be an infection. Maybe give the GPS a ring and explain what's going on and see if they can help you.

[laineyoc]

Thank you both for your replies. I will definitely try the spinning thing. She has suffered with constipation since she was 5 months old. She was on Movicol until she was 3.5yrs but now we manage it naturally. Constipation was my first thought, but she is going twice per day now so I don’t think it’s that. She has been tested for an infection but that was negative. I spoke to a doctor this week and he has booked a telephone appointment with another doctor for Monday. Apparently her notes say possible referral, but he didn’t know who to. He suggested perhaps the community paediatrician. We were under his care until she was 3.5yrs (for constipation, reflux, cmpi). I was thinking surely a urologist would be more useful 🤔

[laineyoc]

Just to clarify, it is emptying that she is having problems with and feeling like she’s going to wet herself (although she doesn’t know how that feels because she had never wet herself - I know - sounds crazy!! But as her brother wet the bed for years we were actually relieved by how easy she was to potty train. Perhaps it was misplaced)

[Helen36]

So pleased to hear the doctor is taking you seriously. I think the constipation history is really important to tell them about . Constipation can lead tosomething called an irritable or twitchy bladder which happened to my daughter. Basically, poo in the bowel pressing on the bladder makes it feel like it’s full and the bladder starts twitching - telling you there is wee in there when there isn’t. This twitching can make the valve at the top of the urethra thicken and mess things up further. The bladder can’t stop twitching even when the poo has gone and needs some help to calm it down again. I am not a doctor and so this is just from my experience - but I would expect them to look at this as a potential option - it’s really quite common. They may want you to do a bowel clear out and then have some tablets for the bladder which should fix her

Weird as this sounds, start making a poo diary - how big, how smooth, how smelly, how sticky, how dark or light they are. Constipated children can sometimes do lots of poos and mean it gets missed xxx

[laineyoc in reply to Helen36]

Thank you. That’s very useful. I’ve always kept a note of how frequently she goes, but nothing else. She is very independent when using the toilet so I haven’t had to get involved for years. I will definitely speak to the doctor about it in the morning and I’m going to ask for her urine to be tested again.

[14crosstitch14]

Cranberry juice is good for wee infection. My husband says ruit an barley and lots of water works

[laineyoc]

Hi, I just wanted to update on this. My daughter had a scan yesterday and she is basically full of poo. Her bladder was squished up at the top. So, despite the fact that she goes regularly it clearly isn’t enough. The Dr did say it was a snapshot in time and not a diagnosis, but it’s certainly something for us to work on. So I’ll be calling the GP tomorrow 😊