Question about urination

Sorry. We fought that for a while. I tried everything. It's common. Trying a catheter, with much awfulness resulting, finally broke my guy of his habit of urinating, or trying to, and now he wears layered depends and we manage. He seems now unable even to know when he is urinating. Wish I had better advice. The urologist wanted to install a supra public catheter, but as fiddling with the regular kind got us to the ER, I can't see that working. You might have better luck if your husband is able to comprehend and cooperate. Best wishes to you. Ec

Welcome sorry to hear your delema. Not much help as I cared for my wife. But plenty of posts on this issue from EC, Heady, AVB, Namnab etc, it seems all solutions have problems but find the one that suits him and you. Try and find some thick pull up pads and double them at night worked with my wife but then anatomy different.

Best wishes and good luck to both of you. Tim

My husband struggles constantly with this. The bladder goes into spasm. We have been given meds for this but they're not that good. I use a plastic urine bottle and just stand with him fir as long as it takes. If he doesn't per for 18 hours he mat need a catheter but please ask them to drain and remove the catheter because keeping it in causes mire problems. I also use a convene for G at night. It's an external catheter. Good luck

Hi I think you will find that it is one of the curses of psp. The incontinence at night comes under the term. Night voidence I found that the relaxation of sleep allowed the bladder to empty.

Because one of the symptoms of psp is the muscles tense up most have the trouble of relaxing enough to pee when they feel the need to go. Jane xx

Hi there.welcome. my husband wears a convene, an external catheter, which i change daily. It is a godsend. He also wears tena pull up pants with a liner as he is also unable to control bowel movement. Both help so much. There is still washing to do but not nearly as much. Have you a bladder and bowel clinic near you. I do hope you get something sorted soon. All the best to you both and god bless. Marie

Hello and welcome to this site, you will find it both informative and supportive. My husband also wears a convene a night which allows a nights sleep, he doesn't want to wear them in the day except when we go out. In the day he frequently feels the urge to pee but can take ages for the glow to start and stop. He is able to control his bowels at the moment although I can see that it is becoming more of a problem. Kate

Just take a plastic bottle to bed every night. its what i do and there is no more trouble I also use it during the daytime as it is easier for me to pee into than the toilet bowl. it also stops unwanted splashes.

My husband was a Urologist, diagnosed about the same time as yours. While we certainly don't have the home care that they they have in the U.K., with Medicare we have had an amazing amount of PT and OT which has kept him mobile and helped with speech and swallowing. He is still fairly independent in the home. He uses a bottle (or two) at night. They are in a bucket so won't fall over. He has not had the urination problems you mention., but I saw an ad for a new kind of convene that looked amazing. A tube that attaches to the penis without sticky tape and leads to a bottle beside the bed. Is anyone out there using that?

it might be as enlarged prostate, you may want to get that checked, sorry about this

Catheter

My husband was doing the same thing as yours....he actually told me he forgot how to go...and like you already know the brain cannot let the sphincter relax and well nothing left for us but a tube...When he was in the urologist for the first time, they asked him to go .....he could not...they catheterized him using a straight tube....he let loose of I don't know how many ounces but it did not take long for the dr to make his decision! I give him 8 cups of water a day plus 1/2 c of pure cranberry juice....for us it works!

As you are new to us , let me welcome you , with sadness, to this site......PSP does not discriminate though men seem to get it more than women,,,,Whether you have your PhD or you are the blessed garbage man ....theres another who does not discriminate God. I will leave you with a few verses that get me through the rough times and I hope they give you a bit of support....remember to as Him your needs....I have asked many a time for a miracle....but the miracle comes with my emotional growth and the tenacity to keep on going knowing my husband is not by my side but in the wheelchair infront of me....so pray for the miracle of continued strength and peace and comfort.....

AVB

Thou will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Isaiah 26:3

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phillipians4:6,7

If you are in England, ask your GP to request that the incontinence team get in touch with you. We had help and advice from them. My husband uses a convene, which if applied correctly, will last 24 hours , all you have to do is empty the bag when required, and replace the convene when necessary. It is, I think, more comfortable than a catheter. We have used them for about three years, we had a couple of mishaps at first, mainly due to my incompetent fitting. I am hoping that we continue in this way, as we have been able to go out and about without searching for WC's and night time has been calm and dry. Good luck! X

...and we are in the United States. No incontinence team or district nurses for us.

For those frequent visits to the toilet where he is unable to start, I learned from the spouse of a paraplegic that tapping the bladder/lower abdomen can sometimes help him start. It often works. Patience helps. tapping firmly but not pounding. Silly as it sounds, running the tap might help too especially if he is sleepy or up from bed.

Like many others here, my husband has problems with incontinence. I straight cathed him before he had a laser procedure that helped with his enlarged prostate. No longer using a catheter to empty his bladder now. External Catheters never stayed on (he pulled them off). I won't go the Foley route due to UTIs. At this time he takes oxybutinin, finasteride and tamsulosin for his prostate/bladder issues. He seldom (very rarely) urinates during the night now but does prior to waking in the morning and sometimes I'm lucky enough to "catch" with the hand held urinal.

The urologist also suggested that sitting is a better position to empty the bladder. (certainly less clean up too!!).

At this point, he wears depends 24/7. For those of you who have side sleepers, an extra long women's incontinence pad attached to the inside of the depends catches where there is no padding along the hip (who designs these things??!!) and he also uses a monstrously huge Tena product inside the depends at night for those early morning empties. I think they must hold a gallon!