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I am a 64 year old male - diagnosed nearly  5 years.  On June 3rd my wife
and I returned from an 18 day tour of eastern Europe.  During the tour I had
absolutely no Parkinsons problems - walked those cobblestone streets with
the best of them.  The night we returned - dead tired - we retired early.
Got up at 3AM to answer a call of nature and found I could not urinate.
After 3 hours of trying it was on to the ER to have a Foley catheter
installed.  There had been no warnings whatsoever of this pending problem.
During June I had to have catheters installed two more times.  My urologist
doubled my prostate medicine (Hytrin) and instructed me in the use of the
self catheter.  The last catheter was removed 19 days ago and I'm having no
difficulty whatsoever urinating.

My urologist is convinced the problem is due to Parkinson's effects on the
bladder muscles.  He says at least 25% of Parkies can expect such problems
and he has a textbook to back him up.  However, my neurologist disagrees and
he feels the problem is a side effect of my Parkinsons medication - and he
is cutting back my dosages (and this is creating other problems - insomnia,
leg cramps, bradykinesia, lack of stamina).

Has anyone had similar urinary retention problems?  If so please let me know
and also what was done to correct them.

Bill Butch
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A.
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