Chronic urinary retention is, like acute retention, commonly caused by a separate condition that requires treatment. It may be a hinder in the outlet, a weak bladder muscle, a neurological problem or the side effect of a pharmaceutical, to name a few. Symptoms can be confusing, because while you may be able to urinate, you may have trouble starting a stream or emptying your bladder completely. You may urinate frequently; you may feel an urgent need to urinate but have little success when you get to the toilet; or you may feel you still have to go after you’ve finished urinating. At the same time, you may also dribble urine in between voiding, due to an overfull bladder (overflow incontinence).
Because of these confusing symptoms, chronic retention quite often gets diagnosed as overactive bladder or urge incontinence. This is serious, as the treatment for overactivity is basically to “calm the bladder down” with pharmaceuticals—which, of course, increases the level of retention. Your health provider may use an ultra sound or measure residual urine after catheterisation to be sure you are not experiencing retention. Complications with untreated chronic retention include urinary tract infections, bladder damage, incontinence and chronic kidney failure. Treatment is similar to acute retention, treating the underlying cause and commonly draining of urine by intermittent self-catheterisation.
“How can I be incontinent when my problem is retention?!”