Postsurgical Complications
If any of these signs or symptoms appears, the physician should be called:
- Absence of urine for 6 to 8 hours
- Back pain
- Blood in urine
- Cloudy urine
- Fever
- Inability to keep urine volume within recommended amount
- Inability to urinate when abdomen is distended
- Nausea
- Sudden pain or bleeding when inserting the catheter
- Urine with foul odor
Patients with spinal cord injuries who experience a severe, pounding headache should immediately self-catheterize to empty their bladder and then call their physician. The headache may indicate unresolved autonomic dysreflexia.
This syndrome is characterized by sudden rise in blood pressure (paroxysmal hypertension), facial flushing, nasal congestion, slowed heart rate (bradycardia), excessive sweating, and headache. The symptoms are triggered by an exaggerated autonomic response to a distended bladder. The autonomic nervous system performs many functions, including stimulation of smooth and cardiac muscle, and blood pressure regulation.
Physician-developed and -monitored.
Original Date of Publication: 10 Jun 1998
Reviewed by: Stanley J. Swierzewski, III, M.D.
Last Reviewed: 04 Dec 2007
Overflow Incontinence, Surgery Complications (Overflow Incontinence) reprinted with permission from urologychannel.com
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