# Urgent - how to get bladder to drain when MD screws up script **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034 "2017-03-12T22:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rick\_Sanchez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rick\_Sanchez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Sanchez)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/21 "2017-03-12T23:38:47Z")
I hope you’re leaving to go to the ER. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/22 "2017-03-13T00:05:26Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > While documenting this mess: > > drugs the UCD system has that the pharmacy does not: > Tamsulosin (take one at bedtime - sleeper?) > Docusate one or 2 daily 100 mg - pain? > and FloMax - drains male bladders by elongating prostate (I least this one was mentioned on 3/9) > > I lost a week 2/24 - 3/4. I thought today was Friday. > Fun times. Dude, tamsulosin is generic Flomax. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/23 "2017-03-13T00:08:26Z")
If your situation is as bad as it seems, _why the hell aren’t you en route to the ER?_ Seriously, I can’t understand this. Either you’re totally delusional (a strong possibility) or are simply fishing for sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/24 "2017-03-13T00:13:02Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Docusate one or 2 daily 100 mg - pain? Docusate is a stool softener. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/25 "2017-03-13T00:20:46Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > how long do you suppose I’ll live without sleep? > Without food? (lost 14 pounds in 5 days) > In constant pain? > > I do have have enough opioids to probably finish me off, if it does come to that. > > Funny, I always imagined I’d be serene and calm when taking that final dose, not fried, desperate and in great pain. > > Don’t worry - I won’t do anything until I can be sure my cat will be cared for. I’m not sure if this is a cry for help or what, but just in case: Please don’t decide to kill yourself while you’re “fried and desperate”. Those are not the conditions in which to be making any kind of irrevocable decision. First go to the ER, let them give you a catheter and hopefully get your pain managed long enough for you to get some sleep. I respect your right to make end-of-life decisions, but surely they should be made with a clear head if possible. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/26 "2017-03-13T00:33:32Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > So Make a catheter. > > Craft type people, eg for girls beads, have hollow tube plastic… > Worse comes to worse… coat hanger. > > Just make sure its not sharp, and is sterile… You don’t want to cause a UTI. If you’re still reading this and you’re not just killing time while waiting at the ER, \* do not put anything into your urethra or your bladder that is not an actual medical-device urinary catheter AND you know how to use it. \* Especially not a rigid item like coat hanger wire. There are “wire” catheters that are used under certain circumstances, but they’re made to be flexible and springy. Just don’t. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/27 "2017-03-13T00:47:44Z")
OMG, no, don’t make a DIY catheter! :eek: Nonononono. Just don’t. Don’t ever stick anything up your nethers that wasn’t designed for the purpose. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/28 "2017-03-13T01:21:09Z")
And that is why you follow medical advice on the internet at your own risk. For every experienced professional there is someone without a clue giving dubious (and potentially dangerous) advice such as making DIY catheters. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/29 "2017-03-13T01:31:21Z")
When this happened to me, I went straight to the ER. After they drained by bladder, they sent me immediately to a urologist. He prescribed: Finasteride (Flomax) 5mg and Tamsulosin HCl 0.4mg, daily Inability to pee is a really, really horrible experience, but these meds have been working beautifully for a few years. Except, now I’ve developed the opposite problem, urge incontinence. Getting older is a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/30 "2017-03-13T01:39:54Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > If your situation is as bad as it seems, _why the hell aren’t you en route to the ER?_ Seriously, I can’t understand this. Either you’re totally delusional (a strong possibility) or are simply fishing for sympathy. I always wonder that with this sort of thread. There seems to be a standard formula in which the OP describes an increasingly dire medical condition, while completely ignoring the repeated suggestions that it obviously warrants a trip to the emergency room. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/31 "2017-03-13T01:56:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > When this happened to me, I went straight to the ER. After they drained by bladder, they sent me immediately to a urologist. He prescribed: > > Finasteride (Flomax) 5mg and Tamsulosin HCl 0.4mg, daily > > Inability to pee is a really, really horrible experience, but these meds have been working beautifully for a few years. Except, now I’ve developed the opposite problem, urge incontinence. Getting older is a bitch. Nitpick: Finasteride is Proscar or Propecia. Flomax is a brand name for tamsulosin. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/32 "2017-03-13T02:51:34Z")
If you can’t pee… - you might genuinely have kidney failure, in which case you aren’t making pee, and should be under real medical care, like a urologist or maybe on dialysis. If you aren’t GET TO AN ER - you might be producing urine, but it can’t leave your bladder. Your bladder can only stretch so far It might rupture. Or it might back up in to your ureters, possibly blowing out one of them. Or it can back up into your kidneys. This happened to my spouse due to bladder cancer. It required epic levels of morphine and Valium to get him to stop screaming and they wound up installing tubes in his kidneys to drain off the urine. Let me be graphic - they drill holes in you, one for each kidney, and run a tube from your skin surface into your kidneys, through various sorts of meat and tissue. These tubes then drain into plastic bags that you will find quite awkward - you’ll roll over on them at night while you’re sleeping, they’re painful if they get tugged, they’re hard to wear under clothing. The spouse grudgingly admits this is better than a non-draining bladder/fluid on the kidneys/ureters threatening blow out but none of it is fun and will only add to your misery. So, if that’s the case GET TO AN ER to either get your bladder catherized or your _kidneys_ catheterized. **Bottom line - neither of the above can be treated at home, by an amateur, with improved equipment. GET TO AN ER.** ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/33 "2017-03-13T03:18:45Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Nitpick: Finasteride is Proscar or Propecia. Flomax is a brand name for tamsulosin. :smack: You’re right. I take them together, and got the names confused. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/34 "2017-03-13T03:21:11Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > :smack: You’re right. I take them together, and got the names confused. You ain’t the only one. I think it’s the "f"s. People get Flonase and Flomax confused all the time too. Including me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/35 "2017-03-14T17:22:34Z")
Well, something broke loose at 01:00 today. Bladder drained (mostly). Of course, that means I got 4 hours of sleep. And: UCD doc said she’d call this (Flomax) in on 3/9. I just now called for the 3rd time to get it called in to the pharmacy. They still won’t make the “PCP” available - her absence is extended by a week every time she is supposed to return. This is one of the “treat symptoms, let the specialists find the disease” types - fine if you just need scripts written - for edema and pruritus (itch) I got skin creme. WebMD said Gabapentin 300 mg. My symptoms are a friggin’ road map of kidney failure - and nobody put the pieces together until I was 95% dead. You ever hear “it won’t be long now - her kidneys shut down”? It is a matter of days - if it wasn’t for the off-the-scale spinal pain, it would have been a pleasant enough passing. Osteoarthritis as a life-saving intervention - MD students - there is a good angle for a paper! ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034/36 "2017-03-14T17:32:25Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > If you can’t pee… > > - you might genuinely have kidney failure, in which case you aren’t making pee, and should be under real medical care, like a urologist or maybe on dialysis. If you aren’t GET TO AN ER\ > > **Bottom line - neither of the above can be treated at home, by an amateur, with improved equipment. GET TO AN ER.** Broomie - yeah, I really do have kidney failure - from 2/16 at ER: CREATININE BLOOD 4.25 mg/dL 0.44 - 1.27 mg/dL H E-GFR, NON-AFRICAN AMERICAN 13 \>60 L We both seem to be getting way too much of medical knowledge these days. They still won’t let me see the 3/9 results, despite my setting to auto-release everything, including the “come in to discuss your results” tests. It’s looking like weed derivatives for pain and lawyers for everything else. ☹ Best to you and yours [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-how-to-get-bladder-to-drain-when-md-screws-up-script/782034.md?page=1)