Shoreline

Hey mark, I've had mine for almost 5 years. Although urinary retentionis a common problem with opiates. retention on it's own is just anoying. Have you ever had a UA done when your expwerience symtoms like fire pee or however you want to describe it. That's more of a syymptomof a bladdr infection. This can ocur from severe UA where you never completely empty your bladder and urine basicaly stagnates and you then develop an infection, But once you have an infection youmay need antibiotics to clear up the burning and painfuul sysmptoms. There is nothing about IT meds that would change your urine, but not emptying your bladder can certainl;y cause an infection. It seems without treating the infection it would be a problem that just continues and worsens.

My pump causes some UA retention but taking orals for BT pain makes it even worse. I've never developed a secondary infection from UA retention but it's certainly possible. I do hope your getting the bacterial part of the problem treated and not just trying to manage the UA rtetention. Once the infection clears, your prostate should shrink some and things should ease up. For me that's one of those side effects that would limit the dose. If I reached a point I had to cath myself to empty my bladder, and some people do. That's where I would draw the line for myself. I'm not saying it's wrong to go beyond this line, it's just not something I'm willing to trade at the this time for extra pain relief. I've also notoced a link between UA retention and sexual function, Again, it's something I'm not willing to trade away very lightly.

I don't know what you shoot for as far as relief from the meds, but you have to have reasonable limits and expectations. For me a 5 is a good day, and my 5 is based on many failed surgeries and ongoing problems that no amount of medication can stabalize my spine. When bone and hardware shift, nerves get crushed and nothing touches that pain or is going to going to fix my spine. If my pain was a 2 nd I had these side efects, I would learn to live with a 3 or 4 if it would relieve the UA problems. If your pain is a 7 with these side efects, it may be somethig you need more help with than your PM doc can offer.

You might want to get a urologist involved and see if there is anything more that can be done to prevent infections, check for obstructions from scar tissue from repeated infections. A urologist can treat scar tiisue, infection and work on the prostate which is something your Pm isn't trained to do. I doubt your PM is ever going to break out a cystocope and take a look for blockages or run quick lab work in the office for infections when pee turns to fire. Flowmax just treats the retention, but what your descrbing sounds like UA retention to the point of infection and that has to be addressed too.

Good luck, Dave