MSA:self cathing and kidneys

[Guest guest]

Greetings all,

My brother went to the urologist yesterday and he performed a sonogram which

indicated that Larry has had some signficant reduction in the size of his

left kidney. He's been self-cathing since early Spring of this year due to

urine retention/inability to urinate. This urologist is aware of the MSA

condition and he seems to be very concerned about managing this aspect

properly. As one the first visit issues, the urologist did a baseline

sonogram which is apparently how he determined that there has been

shrinkage. He indicated to Larry that he would do another sonogram in 3

months and then may he have to do a cystoscopy. I believe he did mention

that this is not an uncommon complication of self-cathing.

I'm just wondering if one else who is self-cathing has had a similar problem

with the kidney shrinkage and what to expect from here. If this suggests

that his self-cathing is leading to kidney atrophy, it seems that we would

want to be agressive in doing whatever is necessary to avoid kidney failure

and the resulting need for dialysis. For instance, I would think that

having an iliostomy would be far preferable to continuing to damage the

kidneys by urine retention (which I assume is what is happening here).

Jerry Cash