What's the cause for urinary retention?

Urinary retention is a condition in which you cannot empty all the urine from your bladder. Urinary retention can be acute (a sudden inability to urinate) or a chronic inability to completely empty the bladder of urine.

Symptoms:

• Inability to urinate

• Pain in your lower abdomen

• Urgent need to urinate without being able to empty the bladder fully

• Swelling of your lower abdomen

Cause 1: Obstruction (due to fibroids or enlarged prostate)

If you can’t empty your bowels there could be some obstruction, or blockage, in the bladder. It could be a fibroid (scar tissue) or result from an enlarged prostate.

Cause 2: ANS dysfunction

ANS stands for the autonomic nervous system. This system has to do with your general body response during periods of stress. It also relaxes your body and many of its organs during a rest period. ANS also affects your bladder function and nerves. If you have dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, you may have bladder problems including urine retention.