I just had a bad experience of being constipated and had urine retention at the same time; felt like i was going to explode.. Here's some notes I've gathered from various threads and experiences.. i'm not an expert but i hope this helps some people
1) Pushing is risky; you can rupture your bladder. If uine retention gets too bad you have to go to A&E (or ER in the US) and have a catheter shoved down your urethra to manually open up the sphincter of the baldder. Worst case scenario is your bladder could rupture, and it could also affect your kidmeys.
So if it really starts to feel bad, get thee to hospital quickly.
2) The use of diuretics is also sketchy. On the one hand, they are supposed to make you need to pass water, but the problem with drug-induced urine retention is that it is affecting the muscles. It's possible that drinking any more liquid, be it water or a diuretic, could make the situation worse, as you are adding more liquid to the problem! My feeling from reading various info is that when you have drug-induced urine retention, you mustn't drink more liquid; you must wait for it to pass, and try to use psychological and physical techniques to persuade your bladder to relax. These techniques include:
*sitting down to pee, this is definitely a good idea.
*squatting to pee; the western method of sitting on the toilet is contrary to the way our organs have evolved
*try sitting down on the toilet facing the wrong way. this sounds bizarre, but it puts you in a different physical position. You can relax more with arms resting on the cistern, and you are putting less pressure on your abdomen in general.
*slow trickling water can owkr nicely as a psychological trigger. sometimes though, this puts me in the mindset of 'i need to piss!' and increases the anxiety. So I go for a gentle stream..
*put one hand in warm water in the sink. this is nice
* obviously, try not to think about it too much. A really frustrating thing is the catch 22 situation: once you feel yourself relaxing and the piss finally coming, you feel excited/relieved and your body tenses up again!
* There is a way of pushing without straining whilst relaxing the rest of your body at the same time. this is hard to explain and i can''t always do it, but it is a technique i am working on...
*there is a psychosomatic element to all of this, obviously. Sometimes i think I need to pee when i actually don't; i've just got anxious about it. Ultimately, the more your mind relaxes, the more your body relaxes, and the more your body relaxes, the more your mind relaxes. This is the basics of relaxation techniques and hypnosis.
* I find changing positions (sitting, standing, crouching, then facing the other way etc) regukarly can sometimes just trigger a change, and lo and behold, the piss finally comes! then, i try not to physiologically respond with too much joy and relief, and apply a tiny bit of pressure on the bladder (this mysterious technique i'm still working on) i can maintain the flow, and the deed has finally been done.
So, I hope some of this helps. If there is a drug or chemical which counteracts the opiate/stimulant induced urine retention problem I'd love to know about it, because this is a big problem for me, and more immediately worrying and dangerous than constipation. I just had both at the same time, and couldn't work out which was which; i was seriously fucking bloated and it was pretty scary. Finally a big dose of bicarbonate of soda in alittle water got my guts working again, and the pressure was off...
Like i say, don't take my words as gospel, they are just personal reflections.
There are some scientists on this forum, hope fully someone can help us get somewhere with this problem.
My main tentative conclusions are that drinking more fluid may well be counterproductive and possibly very dangerous; that there are psychological and physical posture tricks you can use that help, and lastly, when taking opiates or stimulants, don't drink beer! Stick to hard liquor if you must drink alcohol. If you have a dry mouth, try ice cream or yoghurt. Drink as little fluid as possible when you are actually on the drugs (drink healthy amounts when detoxing/living your healthy lifestye).
take care everyone