Trouble starting to urinate (adult woman)

[AWeeTrouble]

I'm a regular but NC.

I've Googled this but can't find anything much to explain it.

I'm mid/late 40s.
2 healthy adult DCs, neither was a CS.

Despite needing to urinate at normal, regular intervals I sit there...and I sit there...for up to 45 minutes before urination starters, even when I'm 'busting'.
I've never had urinary incontinence and don't have this now.
No UTI symptoms.
When I do go my bladder does empty.
No other signs of infection though I do have IBS so some abdominal pain.

This has been happening for weeks, possibly months.

One night a while back I went for my go-to-the-loo-before-bed wee and to the amusement of DH was there for so long I fell asleep.

What could be causing this?

I had a large ovarian tumour and the only real symptom I had beforehand was very similar - difficulty to 'let go' or to start a wee but also a stabbing pain when I did wee. Hopefully urology will arrange an ultrasound to look into all pelvic structures if the GP hasn't.

Lougle I was lying down but she did a very bloody thorough examination both with and without a speculum and found nothing.

It's not an allergic reaction to sanitary towels because I use washable sanitary towels, the environmentally friendly ones. A bit like old fashioned nappies MuddlePuddle!

With apologies if the thought of my environmentally friendly sanitary towels has grossed anyone out.

That's one of the odd things Polkadotdelight I don't get any pain during urination.

Are you menopausal, ? it can happen then,my daughter has this at the moment,i have it sometimes usually just before bed,when i have been going normally during the day
A urinary nurse once told me to roll your stomach around in circles if you know what i mean. as she said the bladder is round and it sometimes needs a kind of swirling action, hope this helps,its usually nothing serious

I've only just seen your message princessTiasmum.

Am I menopausal? My GP says no.

It used to be that my periods were regular enough to almost be able to set a clock by them, a 27 day cycle every month aside from pregnancy & breastfeeding, obviously.

Then I had mirena coils and no periods for over 10 years, so from age 30ish - 42ish.
Since I had my mirena removed my periods have never been regular, not like they were but I'm still having them. I track them on an app which tells me the average length of my cycle is 28.5 days but there are some variations within that - my longest cycle has been 35 days and it's rarely regular from month to month.
All this would suggest I'm peri.

My GP ran an FSH test but it came back as within normal parameters.

I do get a feeling of burning up then freezing but then again I've had 5 infections needing antibiotics pretty much one a month since December.

I don't get night sweats unless I have a fever or trouble sleeping, no loss of libido sorry for tmi, I've lost weight without dieting not gained it and despite the time it takes me to start to go to the loo I don't suffer with UTIs.

I do have a lot of aches and pains and sometimes swollen joints but there again I'm in my mid-late 40s and I've got a job that means I work long hours.

Thing is that sometimes it only takes a few minutes to start to urinate but it still takes a while every time.

I'm going back to the GP on Monday because although I've been referred to urology - and I understand why that's a good place to start - I don't have any symptoms of UTIs, STIs, gallstones or other urological problems. My bladder empties when it does finally get going.

Instead, I think there's a bigger picture. I get a lot of bacterial infections, usually ENT type. I have raging IBS with nausea and some sickness and abdominal pain radiating into my back. The IBS is every single day for nearly 3 years. I wonder whether there's something else going on.

I know that was an epic post but mostly I'm just musing on what I'll say to the Dr on Monday.

Good luck, hope all is ok, and good results,i sometimes have to force it out, even if i am bursting, and sometimes the longer i wait the harder it is to go

Abdominal pain radiating to back, unexplained weight loss, difficulty urinating. I would definitely want an pelvic mass eliminated as a cause. Could just be an ovarian cyst.

Inability to wee is a medical emergency you should get a GP apt on the day.

sighrollseyes I did have a GP phone call on the day, he said I needed an appointment.

I went to the appointment, I took a urine sample with me because I knew that would be the first thing they asked for and it would take me ages to do it at the surgery. The GP I saw dipped my sample and found nothing, wasn't sure what it was and referred me to urology. He also examined me to check for a prolapse, I was already fairly sure there wasn't a prolapse and the GP couldn't find one either.

Having thought about it I'm not sure it is a urology thing, for the reasons I have already stated on this thread. So I've made another GP appointment to discuss it again.

bonzo77 I've had ovarian cysts before, drained laparoscopically. I'm fairly sure I still get them. I'll see what the Dr says about it.

Would the urology appointment include a scan? It sounds to me no medical training whatsoever like that's what you need.

It might do MollysLips, in which case I'll go to the appointment.

When I had my previous ovarian cyst problems I was batted around between gastroenterology and urology before they finally hit on gynaecology. Even when I was referred to gynaecology it took a while before the large cyst was found. The whole process took nearly a year, I was in pain the whole time. During that time I felt disbelieved, stupid and like I was going mad.

I would rather not have to go through all of that again.

A long overdue update.
By far the most helpful tip I've ever read on MN is not the one about feeding a family of 5 for 12 weeks with one chicken.
Nope, the most helpful suggestion I've read is to sit backwards on the loo if you are struggling to wee. It's saved me significant time and pain.
So thank you

TL/DR no complete answer yet but it would seem to be a gynae related problem.

The longer version:
Had a thorough appointment with a urologist, then went back for a bladder scan.
Nothing to see.
All urine samples have been clear.

Around the same time that I first saw the urologist I started to get BV, all month, every month.

I've tried everything for it, oral and topical metronidazole and plenty of other things besides, including nothing.

Following the blank bladder scan I saw a gynae yesterday.
She scanned me internally ovaries and all else fine and took swabs. No prolapse or anything else obvious.
She said there was some odd cervical discharge but nothing else to report.

An hour or two after the scan and swabs I was in agony internally, I couldn't walk.
For context I've delivered more than one healthy large! babies vaginally and relatively easily (are they ever easy?) so my cervix has been stretched plenty.

I'm going to call my GP & the gynae's secretary about the severe pain.
In addition, the inability to urinate was significantly worse, despite plenty of cranberry juice and clear fluids.

So no answers yet but there does appear to be a gynae link.

I'll keep updating when I have news in case it helps anyone.