Question
hello leslie i am a c6,c7,t1 qaud. for the longest time i have dealt with an over sensitive bladder.the fact that i cannot hold large amounts of fluids causes me frequent bladder and urinary tract infections. i have tried a few relaxants but they don't seem to work for long before they eventually have no effect on me. what can i do?
also i have noticed lately that i seem to be holding in a lot of fluid before it ever reaches my bladder.
for instance two 20 ounce bottles of water over a 4 hour time frame.. i had a damaged kidney in a motorcycle accident that i was in that was said to be repaired. knowing you're not a doctor does it sound like my kidneys are holding fluid. i cant think of anything else that would cause this

Answer
Hi Scott- other than the walking part, this is the most irritating thing about SCI i think... I have the UTIs too, from catheter use- absolute pain in the butt.

I tried several meds when in rehab and shortly thereafter but had no luck with any of them. The 2 20 oz bottles over 4 hours-- if this is customary (as opposed to once when you weren't very active in that time frame or something) then it does sound like your body isn't processing fluids quite right... I would call a urologist and ask to speak with a nurse, present them with the past injury and current symptoms and try for a little free advice. Could be scar tissue formed after they repaired it? The body does weird stuff, I'm sure you know, when trying to heal itself.

If possible get a urologist who has seen people with SCI before (not always an easy thing to do- I called my rehab doc and asked him).  The only other thing I can think of is to try controlling how much salt is in your diet since it makes you retain fluids... Sorry, that's not much to go on!

please write in again if you have more questions or if you find that Miracle Cure! Otherwise I can offer you half a dozen cranberry recipes...
good luck
leslie