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Opioids Possible damage to my urinary-tract function due to opioids?

dhcdavid

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 24, 2004
Messages
777
Location
uk
In the film "Wonderboys" (which I heartily recommend to anyone unfamiliar with it) two of the characters (writers) are chatting about an imaginary character (a man) who is addicted to painkillers and "can't even piss standing up anymore". I too am male and this distinction is directly relevant to my question below!

For about 8 years now I've been prescribed opioid painkillers non-stop on repeat prescription to treat the chronic pain which ankylosing spondylitis inflicts on me: first codeine-APAP combinations; then dihydrocodeine; dihydrocodeine and tramadol; next methadone tablets; then fentanyl patches and currently fentanyl patches and oxycodone for breakthrough pain.

And whilst it's commonly accepted that opioids (especially pharmaceutical opioids being legitimately prescribed for genuine chronic pain) can be taken pretty safely for many years without any serious damage being done to the body or its organs (such as the damage which paramcetamol/APAP can cause to the liver when taken excessively and/or long-term) I was curious about this "can't even piss standing up anymore" comment in connection to long-term and/or excessive pharmaceutical-grade (i.e. not quite possibly adulterated street heroin, for example) opioid use.

Several years after starting using prescription opioids on a regular basis I noticed that after taking a piss and shaking off my dick there'd often be a drop or two of dribbled urine spotting the inside of my undies so pretty much ever since I've started sitting down on the toilet to piss because this enables a much more thorough "shaking off" of myself after urinating and therefore eliminates (or at the very least drastically minimises) the highly annoying incidence of post-pissing leakage in my undies.

My question then is this: could anybody make an educated guess based on the information I've provided as to whether this post-urination leakage of which I speak is related to my opioid usage or is it merely due to my advancing years (I'm 37 now but apart from the ankylosing spondylitis and epilepsy I'm in good health all things considered) and the presumably deteriorating quality of my prostate and urinary tract function? Or could it be down to something else?

I really enjoy the "Wonderboys" film but whenever I watch it the whole painkiller-deterioration of urinary tract function strikes a chord with me but due to the fairly innocuous gravity of my own personal slight-drippage-post-urination problem I've not so far got around to seeking medical advice on it.

Many many thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to read this post and yet more thanks to anyone who then actually posts a response!
 
Mine is messed up a little from opiates I believe. Sometimes I get bashful bladder now, and that dredded after dribble. Its way worse when I'm coming down from opiate euphoria. The after dribble I mean. And of course during w/d.

I've had some bad times when I couldn't piss due to opiates and I had to pee so bad it was horrible. Running water helps. I had hassle at my sub dr last drug test. Couldn't pee, can't run sink to help... then broke a saliva tester due to dry mouth. Then they got nasty and tried to scare me with a blood test. They chaned they're toon when iwas very compliant and not a whimp about it.

I was surprised a dr office that deals w/ opiates a lot wouldn't have been more compassionate about opiate caused basful bladder.

I'm not sure about long term. But it seems to get worse the farther along u r into opiates, I'm on suboxone. Been using opiates at least 10 years and its either worse because of how long I've abused/been on them OR Subs and H in particular cause it for me. It sux...
 
Weird, I have that same issue (opioid use ~ 10 years) - although I find that pushing up on the 'goosh' (a term for the area between your ballsack and anus) gets it all out which allows me to still piss like a man.
 
This also was something that effected me.. after I cleaned up it disappeared.

I would think this may be the cause

The detrusor muscle is a layer of the urinary bladder wall made of smooth muscle fibers arranged in spiral, longitudinal, and circular bundles. When the bladder is stretched, this signals the parasympathetic nervous system to contract the detrusor muscle. This encourages the bladder to expel urine through the urethra.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urinary_bladder


The effects of morphine and methionine-enkephalin (met-enkephalin) on the smooth muscle tonus and the contraction induced by transmural stimulation were investigated in the isolated intestinal bulb of carp in vitro. Morphine (30 nM-3 microM) and met-enkephalin (3 nM-5 microM) caused dose-dependent non-sustained contraction.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2874947

I think the opiates likely cause contraction of this muscle.. so then it is limited or absent when called on to help urinate.
 
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It's always hard for me to piss when I'm regularly using opiates, and I end up doing it sitting down. But whenever I get clean I'm fine. I've used opiates for 4-5 years with a couple of years clean in between, just for reference.
 
Many many thanks to all the helpful posters, especially to neversickanymore for those two excerpts.

To J3MOd-h3NOW-X3S, thanks for your helpful contribution. I'm glad I was able to amuse you.
 
For males a really good supplement to try is saw palmetto for urinary retention. It is a natural extract from the fruit of serenoa and promotes healthy prostate and urinary function. I have used it taking it twice daily and saw/felt a drastic improvement in starting and strength of the stream.
 
Yes it is something that I have come across.I nearly always have to sit down now to pee. Do get the odd 'dribble' aswell but just remember to have a good ol shake.Been on DHC for nearly three years now.Ask your doctor for Tamsulosin hydrochloride.come in 400 microgram capsules and are designed specifically for the this problem. Hope this helps.
 
Haha.. this is classic.
But yeah I get urinary retention from even kratom lol!
Guess I'm severely prone to it since I normally already have a "shy" bladder.
But I can relate to everything everyone is saying.. Sitting to piss, dribbling yourself a bit after.
Sometimes im in the bathroom for 15min trying to piss (I wonder what everyone thinks im doing in there, which makes it worse because of the shy bladder part lol)
Running water can help, if you can reach the faucet while at the toilet, try running warm water through your fingers while trying to go.
There's an old thread on here somewhere about this exact problem.
(I think i posted in that one too haha, had this problem a while, but when off any type of opiates/opioids im fine unless in a public restroom and theres someone next to me at the urinal or the stall next to me.. that's the "shy bladder" part, my old probation officer used to get so frustrated with me because i literally could not piss with him watching)

-HOOD
 
Opioids cause urinary retention. For some people, this can be extreme at high doses, but it is not permanent. In fact you will poss constantly in WD.

Urinary problems are just a part of getting older, and perhaps the things you do ON opioids, contributing to that. But no known permanent effects, if that's you're question.

(And to avoid "dribbling", you need to milk you're urethra, and shake thoroughly. For me, it's worse in WD, cause you are pissing every 15 minutes and you just don't give a fuck)
 
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