Constantly needing to wee.

[Pd1]

Hi,

I feel like I’m on here a lot lately complaining about my health, so I apologise for that, but there’s a lot going on health wise and I feel like I need a lot of reassurance.

For some background information, I have a split spinal cord with a bony spur going through it. I was diagnosed when I was five but have never really had any symptoms until recently.

I recently had a neurology appointment and the checks the registrar did show some progression of my condition. I was referred to neurology as I’ve started to notice some changes in my bladder, and was always told that if that happened I’d need to be seen urgently. The neurologist referred me to a urologist who I saw last week. The urology consultant was amazing, I could have cried, he was just so good. To start with he has prescribed me 10mg of solifenacin succinate. Should I be noticing an improvement straight away or is it something that takes a while? So far I don’t really like being on them as they’re making my mouth very dry and I keep on getting dizzy spells. If these don’t work then what’s next for me?

My symptoms are that basically I go for a wee and then immediately feel like I need another one. I basically always have the feeling of needing a wee, it never seems to go away. Sometimes I try to just ignore it but mostly I just go again and a little bit more comes out. I also now feel I leak a tiny bit quite often, like I’m sat working and can feel a tiny leakage. I also have stress incontinence and before I started taking the tablets I suddenly felt the urge to go and then just completely wet myself.

In a nutshell I don’t seem to be wetting myself as much anymore but it definitely hasn’t helped with the constant feeling of needing a wee, and when I say constant I mean it’s constant. And as I say sometimes I can feel a bit of wee just dribbling out.

Sorry I’m waffling, I’m just trying to get my thoughts in order.

Has anyone had anything like this? What’s next for me? I’m seeing the consultant again in three months and he also wants to be copied into everything when I finally have my neurosurgery appointment at the complex spine clinic.

Do you do any exercise because some exercises can make the pelvic floor worse. And push the urethra into a different position so it's twinging.

Like push ups, weights, some pilates exercises or running.

Menopause can also make it worse. If you are that age then Vagifem pessaries can help with the urge to go/urethra twinging.

Not sure if those things apply to you.

@Pd1 I really feel for you 💐

It's effectiveness, for you, may take a little longer according to this.

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/solifenacin/

Solifenacin starts to work within 3 to 8 hours, but it can take up to 4 weeks to reach its full effect.

Lucy377 - thank you so much for your response. I have done any of those sorts of exercise, just walking and my exercise bike. I also haven’t started the menopause yet.

I know why it’s happened as it’s just the natural progression of my congenital split spinal cord with bony spur, I just really want to know if things are going to get better. I told my consultant that I was worried I would become completely incontinent and he said he thinks it won’t happen and if it does then there’s things he can do. Wondering what exactly he means by ‘things he can do’. Unfortunately I was so overwhelmed at the appointment I didn’t ask.

beetr00 - thank you for the link, that’s really helpful! Also, thank you for just taking the time to reply and to sympathise. It means a lot! I don’t really share much of this with friends etc as I feel that they might not understand how upsetting it is for me. So it’s nice to know that people care.