Notes · Urinary retention
Home from the ER with a catheter.
A night in the emergency room, a catheter you didn’t expect, and a discharge sheet that says “follow up with urology.” If that is where you are, the plan below is how Dr. Bagga explains what happens next.
Urologist at this office
The three steps
- 1 Find the cause
- 2 Try without the catheter
- 3 Open the channel
- Catheter stops draining or fever? Go to the ER.
In Dr. Bagga’s words
Left the ER with a catheter? Here’s the plan to get rid of it. You couldn’t pee, and the ER put in a catheter. Now what?
Step one: find the cause and get things moving. In men, an enlarged prostate is often the cause, but our urologists check for other reasons too. We may start an alpha blocker, such as alfuzosin or tamsulosin, to relax the muscles around the prostate and help urine flow.
Constipation can make emptying your bladder harder, so we may recommend MiraLAX or fiber to keep your bowels moving. Narcotic pain medicines and medicines called anticholinergics can also make it harder for your bladder to empty. We’ll review those with you and your prescriber to see what can safely be reduced, changed or stopped. Don’t stop prescribed medicines on your own.
Step two: try without the catheter. After about five days on medicine, we may arrange to remove it and check whether you can empty your bladder. Your care team will tell you when and where—don’t remove it yourself unless instructed.
Step three: if you still can’t empty, treat the blockage. In HoLEP and ThuLEP, a laser passed through the urethra removes the tissue blocking the flow. TURP also removes that tissue. PAE works differently: our interventional radiologists reduce blood flow to the prostate so it shrinks.
A bladder test helps our urologists decide which option fits. Many procedures are done in our own outpatient surgery centers. Every procedure and its anesthesia carry risks, and we go over yours first.
The goal is to get you off the catheter. If it stops draining or you get a fever, go to the ER.
Call Advanced Urology at 678-344-8900 to arrange follow-up at our Alpharetta / Roswell office.
Learn more: enlarged prostate · prostate artery embolization
For education, not medical advice. Every treatment has risks and benefits. Emergency? Call 911 or go to an emergency room.
Whenever you’re ready, our Alpharetta / Roswell team would be glad to hear from you.