A friend who is a nurse related they had to catherize a patient who admitted complaining he took some kind of drug(she didn’t remember exactly what) and while the effects wore off he could not urinate. She said it was a good thing he got there and if it had been a little while longer his bladder would have popped.
I could understand if there was a kidney stone or other obstruction, but would the bladder burst before the pressure caused involuntary urination?
Well, contrary to rumor, Tycho Brahe apparently did not die of a busted bladder:
I very vaguely remember one of my students had a condition where her bladder didn’t empty, something to do with muscles and sensation, and she had to monitor output. In her case it wasn’t worry about a burst bladder, but that it would back up into the kidneys. I suppose she could have eventually had a burst bladder, but she seemed to regard the burst bladder as very secondary to keeping the kidneys clear.
Nah, the bladder wouldn’t burst*. One way to see why this is the case is to consider that it takes less pressure for the urine to go backwards (back towards the kidneys) than it does to burst the bladder. If this happens, and is sustained, the tubes leading from the kidneys to the bladder (i.e. ureters) will dilate. This is the condition known as hydroureter. In fact, the kidneys can also dilate/expand in much the same way and for the same reason. This would be called hydronephrosis and can lead to kidney failure. Much more likely, though, for all the conditions I’ve mentioned, including inability to empty the bladder, is infection. Stagnant urine in the bladder is a great culture medium.
*If the bladder has been operated on, or especially if it’s received irradiation (intentionally or not), then it could well “burst”. This is due to the fact the scar tissue, old suture lines, and tissue that’s been irradiated are all weaker than the normal tissue.
I once cared for a lady who flew from Korea to Canada and was too embarrassed to use the washroom on the plane. She had received radiation to her pelvis in the past for a tumour in the area (not in the bladder. Regardless, the bladder would have received radiation). The day after her flight, she noticed fluid leaking out of her umbilicus (belly button). Indeed, it was urine. Her bladder had ruptured and the urine that it contained tracked up and out through a passage that runs from the bladder to the umbilicus (this passage is called the urachus). We all have this potential passage-way, but it usually remains shut. However, urine released inside of us as a result of a ruptured/burst bladder will track along it, in much the same way that spilled liquid tracks up and into a paper towel.