Don’t kid yourself; urinary retention hurts. When the bladder can’t empty and the volume of urine in the bladder increases, the result is very painful. Having said that, I’m not sure if manually siphoning urine out of someone’s bladder is something that I would do on a daily basis.
Having said that, here is an example where a Chinese surgeon did exactly that.
The best way to avoid this situation is to address the most common cause of urinary retention before it causes problems. What is the most common cause of urinary retention? An enlarged prostate. Luckily there are numerous medications that work very well for this condition. And even better—these medicines are cheap and generic with very few side effects.
If your stream has slowed, or if you feel that you are not emptying your bladder well, please call my office and I’ll be glad to discuss all of the available options so that you never end up on a plane unable to empty your bladder!