Woman says she hasn't had a wee in five years and doctors don't know why
A mum of two reveals she hasn't had a wee in five years, which has left her fighting for answers.
Kirstie Scothern, 29, began to suffer from a migraine in April 2021, and despite drinking a lot of water, realised that she hadn’t been to the toilet since the night before.
With a stomach that was swollen, her husband, 33, rang an ambulance.
However, despite being taken to the Queen's Medical Centre, in Nottingham, it was revealed through an MRI scan that her migraine was not related to her urinary problem.
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In fact, nobody seemed to know what was causing it.
In the end, they drained 2.5 litres of urine from her bladder and was sent home with a catheter - which is a tube that was inserted into her urethra to drain her wee into a bag.
When she still couldn’t independently wee two weeks later when the tube was removed, Kirstie ended up going on a long journey to find out why she can no longer wee on her own.
From CT scans to special urodynamics bladder tests, sadly, doctors are no closer to finding out what is causing her issue five years later.
Kirstie said of her ordeal: “It was horrible. When I was first told that my bladder may never work normally again and that I’d have to self-catheterise, I felt devastated.”
The young mum said how ‘scared’ it has made her and having the added ‘discomfort’ on her life with young kids, as well as ‘always having to think about where the nearest toilet is has a huge impact on my life.’
Kirstie even tried to self-medicate by using Botox to relax muscles to allow her bladder to release.
When that didn’t work, she ended up having to quit her job for a remote role so she could self-catheterise at home.
She said: “It was incredibly painful and it’s extremely difficult to even find your urethra, let alone insert a tiny tube into it.
“I’d be there for up to half an hour with a mirror: it was very upsetting and very inconvenient.”
Because she’s only able to feel the need to urinate when she has a very full bladder, she now has to empty it herself once every four hours and has to carry a bag around for her urine, which has leaked in public.
“This was extremely upsetting and embarrassing”, she said.
Speaking to Talk to the Press, Kirstie said of people not realising she has to go to the toilet urgently and even has a card to say so: “It’s very difficult and upsetting, particularly since it takes all my courage to ask if I can go ahead of them [in a queue].
"It's really distressing when people don’t understand: I often feel I get strangers looking at me when I enter the disabled toilet, as they’re probably thinking I look ‘fine’.”
Kirstie believes she has a condition called Fowler's Syndrome, which Fowler’s Syndrome UK describes as being when women suddenly aren’t able to wee because of a problem with a muscle that allows the bladder to empty.
However, she claims doctor’s still aren’t sure.
She said: “I think doctors are reluctant to diagnose Fowler's syndrome because it’s not well known.”
“We take being able to wee for granted,” said Kirstie. "Having any difficulties with weeing doesn't make you feel attractive. I would like others going through this to know that, even though it feels scary and isolating, they are not alone. You do adapt, and it does get easier."
Britt Jones