After Catheter Placement for Retention: Fever, Pain or Blood in Urine and When to Call

The first night home with a catheter has its own small rituals. You learn where the tubing lies so it does not catch on the bedframe, you glance at the bag before you turn off the light, and somewhere around two in the morning you wonder whether that pink tint in the tube was there earlier. The relief of an emptied bladder is real; so is the sudden sense of being responsible for a piece of equipment nobody trained you to read.

This explainer is about exactly that reading. The urinary retention warning signs a catheter can produce fall into three families: fever, pain and blood in the urine. Each has a harmless version and a version that deserves a phone call, and the difference is usually in the pattern, not the symptom itself.

What follows sets out what the evidence says is ordinary, what is not, and how to describe what you see so your treating team can act quickly.

What urinary retention is and why a catheter was placed

Urinary retention is the inability to empty the bladder, either completely or at all. It comes in two forms. Acute retention arrives suddenly and painfully: the bladder fills, the urge is overwhelming, and nothing passes. Chronic retention builds quietly, leaving a pool of urine behind after each visit to the toilet until the bladder is stretched and tired. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) lists the usual culprits as blockage, most often an enlarged prostate in men; nerve problems that interrupt the signal between brain and bladder, including diabetes-related nerve damage, stroke and spinal cord injury; medicines with drying or muscle-relaxing effects; and the after-effects of anesthesia and surgery.

A urinary catheter is a thin, flexible tube passed through the urethra (the channel urine normally leaves through) into the bladder so that urine can drain without the bladder having to push. In acute retention it is the treatment of first resort because a stretched bladder cannot be reasoned with; it needs to be emptied, and quickly. A full bladder presses back on the kidneys, raises the risk of infection and, left long enough, can damage the bladder muscle’s ability to contract.

Two broad arrangements exist. An indwelling catheter stays in place, held by a small water-filled balloon inside the bladder, and drains into a leg bag or a larger night bag. Intermittent catheterization means a catheter is passed several times a day to empty the bladder and then removed. Most people reading this will have the first kind, often with a date already pencilled in for a trial of removal. Knowing why yours was placed matters, because the cause shapes which warning signs your team is watching for most closely.

What actually happens when the catheter goes in and starts to drain

The procedure itself is brief. A clinician cleans the area, applies a lubricating gel that often contains a local anesthetic, and passes the catheter until urine flows. The balloon at the tip is then inflated with sterile water so the tube cannot slip out, and the far end is connected to a drainage bag. Men commonly feel a moment of pressure as the catheter passes the prostate; women often notice less, but a brief sting is normal in either case.

What happens next explains several of the sensations people worry about. When a bladder that has been stretched for hours finally empties, the lining can weep a little blood, so the first urine may be pink. In some people, particularly after chronic retention, the kidneys respond to the sudden release of pressure by producing unusually large volumes of urine for a day or two, a pattern clinicians call post-obstructive diuresis. Teams watch for this in hospital because it can shift fluid and salt balance; it is one reason a person with very high retained volumes may be kept in for observation rather than sent straight home.

The bladder also reacts to the balloon. It is a muscle, and a foreign object resting against its floor can trigger squeezes. These are bladder spasms: short, cramping contractions felt low in the pelvis or at the tip of the penis or urethra, sometimes pushing a small amount of urine out around the catheter. The NHS describes spasms, urethral discomfort and a persistent feeling of needing to pass urine as common early experiences. They are uncomfortable rather than dangerous. The art, in the first days, is separating these expected sensations from the ones that signal infection, bleeding or blockage, which the next sections take in turn.

Who usually goes home with a catheter, and who is asked to stay

Most people with uncomplicated acute retention leave the emergency department or clinic the same day with an indwelling catheter, a leg bag, written care instructions and a plan for review. Going home is usually reasonable when the retained volume was moderate, the urine runs clear or lightly tinged, there is no fever, kidney blood tests are acceptable and the person, or someone with them, can manage the bag and recognize problems.

Some are asked to wait, and the reasons are specific rather than cautious habit. Very large retained volumes raise the chance of post-obstructive diuresis, so those patients may be monitored for fluid balance. Anyone whose blood tests show acute kidney strain is generally watched until the numbers settle. A fever at presentation suggests infection on top of obstruction, which may need intravenous treatment before discharge. Heavy or clot-laden bleeding may require a wider catheter with an irrigation channel and a stay in hospital while the urine clears. People with spinal cord injury face a distinct risk called autonomic dysreflexia, a dangerous surge in blood pressure triggered by a full or irritated bladder, and are often observed more closely.

The decision also turns on circumstance. Living alone, limited hand dexterity, cognitive impairment or a long distance from help can tilt a team towards an extra night or a community nursing referral. None of this is a judgment about the person; it reflects that the first 24–48 hours carry most of the early complications. If you were sent home, it is because your team judged the warning signs manageable from your kitchen table with a telephone nearby. The sections below are designed to make that judgment easier to live with.

Urinary retention warning signs with a catheter: the three that matter most

Strip away the detail and nearly every call to a urology nurse line in the first fortnight falls into three categories: temperature, pain and the color of what is in the bag. That is not because other problems do not exist. It is because fever, pain and blood are the body’s three main ways of reporting the complications that matter: infection, blockage or over-distension, and bleeding.

Fever is the most consequential. The NHS identifies catheter-associated urinary tract infection as the main risk of indwelling catheters, and the risk rises with every day the tube remains. A bacterial infection confined to the bladder is unpleasant; one that climbs to the kidneys or enters the bloodstream can become sepsis, a life-threatening whole-body response that needs hospital treatment within hours.

Pain is the most misread. Bladder spasms are expected and self-limiting, so people often assume all pain is spasm. Pain that sits in the flank or lower back, pain that builds steadily while the bag stays empty, or pain with a hard swelling above the pubic bone tells a different story and should not be waited out.

Blood is the most alarming and, paradoxically, often the least serious. A pink or rosé tinge after placement is ordinary, and the eye badly overestimates how much blood is present: a few drops color a whole bag. What matters is trend and texture. Urine that deepens from pink to red, carries visible clots or arrives with falling drainage is the signal to act.

Hold these three in mind as a triage habit. Each morning, note temperature, pain pattern and urine color against what you saw yesterday. Change in the wrong direction is the finding; a single snapshot rarely is.

Fever with a urinary catheter: infection or something else?

Catheter-associated urinary tract infection, usually shortened to CAUTI, is an infection of the bladder or kidneys that develops while a catheter is in place or shortly after it comes out. Bacteria travel along the outside or inside of the tube, bypassing the body’s normal defense of regular, complete flushing. The NHS and the Mayo Clinic both note that a person with a catheter may not feel the classic burning or urgency of a bladder infection, because the catheter itself already causes irritation and because urine is draining continuously rather than being held and passed. That makes fever the headline sign.

The threshold most patient guidance uses is 38°C (100.4°F), measured with a reliable thermometer. Shaking chills, drenching sweats, new confusion in an older adult, pain in the loin or side, nausea and vomiting, or urine that has become cloudy and strong-smelling alongside the fever all raise the likelihood that the kidneys are involved. Any of these combinations is a same-day call, and chills with a racing heart or low blood pressure is an emergency.

Not every raised temperature means CAUTI. A chest infection, a wound after surgery, or a viral illness picked up from a grandchild can coexist with a catheter. Cloudy urine on its own, without fever or feeling unwell, is also common with catheters and does not by itself indicate infection; many people with long-term catheters carry bacteria in the bladder without any illness, a state clinicians call asymptomatic bacteriuria that is generally not treated.

The practical rule: a fever with a catheter earns a conversation with a clinician the same day, and the decision about testing or antibiotics belongs to them. What you can do is describe the pattern precisely: when the temperature started, how high it went, what else changed, and whether the urine has altered in color, clarity or volume.

Bladder spasms with a catheter versus pain that should not be ignored

A bladder spasm feels like a sudden cramp low in the pelvis, sometimes shooting to the tip of the urethra, lasting seconds to a minute or two before easing. Many people describe an intense urge to urinate even though the bladder is draining, and a small leak of urine around the catheter during the squeeze is common. The NHS lists spasms among the expected side effects of indwelling catheters. They tend to be worse in the first days and often settle as the bladder adjusts to the balloon. Spasm pain comes and goes; it does not march steadily upward.

Pain that behaves differently deserves attention. A constant, growing ache above the pubic bone, especially with a firm or tender swelling there and little or no urine reaching the bag, points to a blocked catheter and a bladder refilling behind it. Pain in the flank, the soft area between the lowest rib and the hip, or in the lower back on one side suggests the kidney, either from infection or from back-pressure. Pain at the catheter entry point with redness, swelling or discharge can indicate local infection or, in men, inflammation of the urethra or testicle, which the NHS also lists as a recognized complication.

Positioning and tension matter more than people expect. A catheter pulled taut by a bag hung too low, or a tube kinked under a thigh, tugs on the balloon against the bladder floor and can provoke both spasm and bleeding. Checking that the tube is fixed to the thigh with slack above the fixing point is a legitimate first step before assuming anything is wrong.

Medicines that calm bladder muscle exist and are discussed later. Whether they are appropriate for you is a decision for the prescribing clinician, not a reason to delay reporting pain that is new, one-sided or steadily worsening.

Blood in urine after catheter placement: expected tinge or warning sign?

Hematuria is the medical term for blood in the urine. After catheter placement for retention, a small amount is almost routine. The urethral lining is delicate and the catheter rubs it; the bladder wall, stretched by retention, can ooze as it relaxes; in men, an enlarged prostate is a vascular organ that bleeds easily when a tube passes through it. The NIDDK notes that even tiny quantities of blood are enough to change the color of urine, which is why a bag can look alarming while the actual loss is trivial.

Expected bleeding looks like this: pink, rosé or light red urine in the first hours to a day or two, gradually clearing, without clots, with the catheter still draining freely. It often flares briefly after movement, a bowel strain or an accidental tug on the tube, then fades again.

The pattern to report looks like this: urine that becomes darker rather than lighter over hours, a color closer to cranberry juice or cola than to rosé, visible clots or strings of jelly-like material in the tube, bleeding that starts fresh after several clear days, or any bleeding accompanied by falling output and a full feeling. Clots are the particular concern because they can lodge in the catheter and block it, turning a bleeding problem into a retention problem all over again.

People taking blood-thinning medicines, whether anticoagulants or antiplatelet drugs, should mention this when they call, because it changes how a team weighs the bleeding; it is never a reason to stop or alter the medicine on your own. Persistent blood in the urine also has causes unrelated to the catheter, including stones and, less commonly, tumors, which is why a team may arrange investigation once the acute episode has settled rather than attributing every red bag to the tube.

Expected, call today, or go now: a quick reference table

Reading symptoms in isolation is hard at three in the morning. The table below groups the common experiences after catheter placement for retention by the response that patient guidance from the NHS, Mayo Clinic and NIDDK generally supports. It is a guide to describing what you see, not a substitute for the instructions your own team gave you, which take priority if they differ.

What you notice	Usually expected	Call your care team today	Seek urgent care now
Temperature	Normal, or feeling slightly warm without a measured fever	38°C (100.4°F) or higher, or chills, or new confusion in an older adult	Fever with shaking chills, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, breathlessness or drowsiness
Pain	Brief cramping spasms that come and go; mild urethral soreness	Constant or increasing pain; flank or lower back pain; pain at the entry point with redness or discharge	Severe pain with a hard, swollen lower abdomen and a bag that is not filling
Urine color	Pink to light red in the first day or two, gradually clearing	Deepening red, clots, or bleeding that returns after clearing	Thick dark blood or clots with no drainage
Drainage	Steady flow; volume varies with how much you drink	Little or no urine for a few hours despite drinking, after checking for kinks and bag position	No drainage plus abdominal pain, distension, sweating or pounding headache
Leaking around the catheter	Small leaks during a spasm	Persistent leaking, especially with reduced bag output	Leaking with the signs above
Catheter position	Comfortable, fixed to thigh with slack	Catheter has slipped partly out or balloon seems to have deflated	Catheter has come out completely and you cannot pass urine

Two notes on using it. First, symptoms stack: a mild fever is one thing, a mild fever with flank pain and cloudy urine is another. Second, people with spinal cord injury at or above the mid-chest level should treat a pounding headache, flushing and sweating with any bladder problem as an emergency, because these are signs of autonomic dysreflexia, the blood pressure surge described earlier.

What the days and weeks after catheter placement usually look like

The first 48 hours are about settling. Urine often starts pink and clears; spasms are most noticeable; the body relearns how to sleep with a tube. Many teams arrange a telephone check or a nurse visit in this window precisely because it is when blockage, bleeding and early infection most often declare themselves. Drinking steadily helps keep urine dilute and flowing, which both flushes the system and makes the color easier to read.

The following week or two is usually about the cause. For acute retention linked to an enlarged prostate, the NIDDK describes a common pathway: the catheter stays in while a medicine that relaxes the prostate and bladder neck is started, and a trial without catheter follows. A trial without catheter, often abbreviated TWOC, is a planned removal after which the person drinks normally and the team measures whether the bladder empties on its own, sometimes using a bedside ultrasound scanner to estimate the urine left behind. Timing varies with cause and local practice, from days to a couple of weeks for straightforward acute retention and longer when the underlying problem needs treatment first; your team will give you the range that applies to you.

Some trials succeed and the catheter is gone. Some do not, and a catheter is replaced with a second attempt planned, or a conversation begins about intermittent catheterization, a longer-term indwelling catheter or a procedure on the prostate or bladder neck. Neither outcome is a failure of the person; a bladder that has been overstretched can take time to recover its tone, and the second trial may go differently.

For chronic retention, nerve-related retention or retention after major surgery, the timeline is less predictable and is set around the primary condition. Whatever the path, the warning signs described here apply for as long as a catheter is in place, and for the first few days after it comes out, when infection and recurrent retention remain possible.

Daily catheter care that lowers the risk of urinary retention warning signs

Infection, blockage and bleeding are not random events; each has mechanics, and routine care addresses them. MedlinePlus patient instructions for indwelling catheters and the NHS living-with guidance converge on a handful of habits.

Hands first. Wash with soap and water before and after touching the catheter, bag or connections, every time. Most bacteria that reach the bladder travel on hands or along a tube that has been disconnected and reconnected, so keeping the system closed matters: avoid separating the catheter from the bag except when changing the bag as instructed.

Clean the entry point daily with mild soap and water, wiping away from the body, and after every bowel movement. Skip antiseptic creams, powders and talc unless your team specifically advises them; they irritate skin without proven benefit.

Keep the bag below bladder level so gravity does the work and urine cannot flow backward, and never let it rest on the floor. Empty it when it is around two-thirds full rather than letting it drag. Fix the tubing to the thigh or abdomen with the strap or tape provided, leaving a little slack above the fixing so movement does not tug the balloon.

Drink enough that urine stays pale unless a clinician has told you to restrict fluids for a heart or kidney condition; concentrated urine irritates the bladder and encourages the mineral deposits that block tubes. Keep bowels regular, because a loaded rectum presses on the bladder neck and can slow drainage. Check the tube for kinks whenever flow seems slow.

Finally, note the schedule your team gave you for bag and catheter changes. The NHS describes long-term indwelling catheters as needing routine replacement over a span measured in weeks to about three months depending on the material, and keeping to that schedule is part of preventing the blockages and infections this article is about.

Medicines your team may discuss and what they actually do

This section explains mechanisms and typical timelines only. Whether any of these applies to you, and when to start or stop, is a decision for your prescribing clinician.

Alpha blockers are a class of medicine that relax the smooth muscle in the prostate and the bladder neck, widening the channel urine must pass through. The NIDDK describes them as commonly used in men whose retention is linked to an enlarged prostate, often started while the catheter is in so that the outlet is already more relaxed by the time a trial without catheter takes place. Their effect on muscle tone begins within days rather than weeks. Dizziness on standing is the side effect most people are warned about.

Antimuscarinic (anticholinergic) medicines and the newer beta-3 agonists reduce involuntary bladder muscle contractions and are sometimes considered for troublesome bladder spasms. They carry a trade-off worth understanding: by relaxing the bladder they can also make it less effective at emptying, which is unhelpful once the catheter comes out. That tension is exactly why the choice belongs to the clinician weighing your particular bladder.

Antibiotics treat confirmed or strongly suspected infection. They are generally not used to treat bacteria found in the urine of someone with a catheter who feels well, because colonization is near-universal with time and treating it breeds resistance without preventing illness.

Finally, medicines can cause retention. Decongestants, some antihistamines, certain antidepressants, opioids and drugs with drying effects can all weaken bladder contraction or tighten the outlet. A medication review is a routine part of working out why retention happened, which is a good reason to bring a complete list, including over-the-counter and herbal products, to your follow-up. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own on suspicion; raise it with the team.

What people often get wrong about catheters and retention

Cloudy or smelly urine means infection and needs antibiotics. Not on its own. Catheter urine is frequently cloudy from mucus, cells and harmless bacteria. Guidance from the NHS and Mayo Clinic ties treatment to symptoms, chiefly fever, chills, flank pain or feeling unwell, not to the appearance of the bag.

Drinking less will stop the bag filling so often. This is the costliest myth. Concentrated urine irritates the bladder, encourages the crystal deposits that block catheters and makes infection more likely. Unless you have a medical fluid restriction, pale urine is the goal.

Any blood is an emergency. A pink tinge after placement, after movement or after a tug is expected and usually settles. The signals that matter are darkening color, clots, fresh bleeding after a clear interval, and bleeding with reduced drainage.

Leaking around the catheter means it is too small and a bigger one is needed. Bypassing is more often caused by spasm, blockage or constipation than by catheter size, and a wider tube can worsen irritation. It is a reason to check for kinks and bowel habit and then call, not a reason to request a different gauge.

Spasms mean something is wrong. They are a normal bladder response to a foreign object and tend to ease over days. What is abnormal is pain that is constant, one-sided, or paired with an empty bag.

The catheter stays in until the prostate is fixed. For many men a medicine that relaxes the outlet plus a trial without catheter is the standard first step described by the NIDDK; surgery is one option among several, considered when trials fail or other problems coexist.

Once the catheter is out, the risk is over. The first days after removal still carry a chance of recurrent retention and infection, so the same watchfulness, especially for inability to pass urine with a swelling lower abdomen, continues for a short while.

Questions to ask your care team

Catheter follow-up appointments are often short, and the questions that matter most are easy to forget when a nurse is checking the bag. Writing them down before the visit, or before the discharge conversation, pays off. These are the ones patients most often wish they had asked.

• What caused my retention, as far as you can tell, and what still needs to be worked out?
• How much urine was in my bladder when the catheter went in, and does that change how closely I should watch for problems?
• Who do I call during the day, and who do I call at night or on a weekend, if something on the warning list happens?
• Which of my current medicines could be contributing to retention, and is anyone reviewing them?
• What is the plan for removing the catheter, roughly when, and what happens on the day of the trial?
• If the trial does not work, what are the next options you would be considering for someone in my situation?
• How often should the bag be changed, and when is the catheter itself due for replacement?
• How much should I be drinking, given my other conditions?
• Is there anything about my history, such as diabetes, a spinal condition or blood-thinning medicine, that changes which signs matter most for me?
• Will I be shown how to change the bag and fix the tubing before I leave, and can a family member be shown too?

Bring a small notebook or use your phone to log temperature, pain pattern, urine color and roughly how much the bag has drained each day. Clinicians make far better decisions from a three-day trend than from a single worried description, and the act of recording turns a vague unease into something you can report with confidence. If an answer is unclear, ask for it to be written in your discharge paperwork so it is there when you need it.

When to call your doctor

Keep this list where you can find it at night. The decision about what each sign means, and what to do about it, rests with your treating team; your job is to notice early and describe clearly.

Seek urgent care now, by emergency services if needed, if you have a fever with shaking chills together with a fast heartbeat, dizziness, breathlessness, confusion or unusual drowsiness; if the catheter has stopped draining and your lower abdomen is hard, swollen and painful; if the urine is thick with dark blood or clots and flow has fallen; if the catheter has come out completely and you cannot pass urine; or, for anyone with a spinal cord injury, if a pounding headache, flushing and sweating appear with any bladder problem.

Call your care team the same day for a measured temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or higher without the emergency features above; chills or feeling generally unwell; pain in the flank or lower back; constant or steadily increasing pelvic pain rather than passing spasms; urine that is getting redder rather than clearer, or that shows clots, or bleeding that returns after several clear days; little or no drainage for a few hours despite drinking, once you have checked for kinks and that the bag is below bladder level; persistent leaking around the catheter; redness, swelling or discharge at the entry point; or, in men, a swollen or painful testicle.

Mention at the time of the call whether you take anticoagulant or antiplatelet medicines, whether you have diabetes, and what the pattern has been over the previous day or two. A short, specific account along the lines of “temperature 38.4 since this morning, urine cloudier than yesterday, aching on the right side of my back” gives a clinician what they need to decide between reassurance, a same-day review and the emergency department.

Frequently asked questions

Is blood in urine after catheter placement normal?

A small amount is commonly expected, because the catheter rubs the urethral lining and a bladder stretched by retention can ooze as it relaxes. Pink or light red urine in the first day or two that gradually clears, without clots and with steady drainage, fits the usual pattern. Urine that darkens over time, shows clots, or bleeds freshly after clearing should be reported to your care team the same day.

What temperature counts as a fever with a urinary catheter?

Most patient guidance, including the NHS, uses 38°C (100.4°F) measured with a reliable thermometer as the threshold that warrants a same-day call. Fever is the headline sign of catheter-associated infection because the usual burning and urgency may be masked by the catheter itself. Fever with shaking chills, fast heartbeat, dizziness, confusion or breathlessness is treated as a possible emergency and needs urgent assessment.

My catheter is not draining; what should I do first?

Check the obvious causes before calling: look for kinks in the tubing, make sure the bag sits below bladder level and is not full, confirm nothing is pressing on the tube, and change position or walk briefly. Drink a glass of water if you are allowed. If flow does not return within a short time, or if your lower abdomen feels full, hard or painful, contact your care team promptly; a blocked catheter needs clinical attention.

How long do bladder spasms with a catheter last?

Individual spasms typically last seconds to a minute or two, arriving as a cramping urge to urinate even though the bladder is draining. They are usually most noticeable in the first days after placement and tend to ease as the bladder adjusts to the balloon, according to NHS guidance. Spasms that worsen rather than settle, or pain that becomes constant, should be discussed with your care team rather than assumed to be normal.

Why is my catheter leaking around the outside?

Leaking, which clinicians call bypassing, most often happens when the bladder squeezes during a spasm and pushes urine past the tube. It can also signal a partially blocked catheter or constipation pressing on the bladder neck. A larger catheter is rarely the answer and can increase irritation. Check for kinks and bag position, note whether bag output has fallen, and call your team if leaking persists or drainage drops.

Does cloudy urine with a catheter mean I have an infection?

Not on its own. Catheter urine is frequently cloudy from mucus, shed cells and bacteria that live in the bladder without causing illness, a state called asymptomatic bacteriuria that is generally not treated. Infection is suspected when cloudiness comes with fever, chills, flank pain, new confusion or feeling unwell. Report the combination rather than the appearance alone, and let your clinician decide whether testing is needed.

How soon after catheter placement for retention is the catheter usually removed?

It depends on the cause. For straightforward acute retention, often linked to an enlarged prostate, the NIDDK describes a pathway in which a medicine that relaxes the bladder outlet is started and a trial without catheter follows, commonly within days to a couple of weeks depending on local practice. When nerve problems, surgery or another condition is responsible, the timeline is set around treating that cause. Your team will give you the range that applies to you.

What happens if I cannot pass urine after the catheter is removed?

Recurrent retention after a trial without catheter is a recognized possibility, particularly if the bladder was overstretched. If you cannot pass urine and your lower abdomen is becoming full, hard or painful, contact your care team or seek urgent care rather than waiting; a catheter may need to be replaced. A second trial later, intermittent catheterization or treatment of the underlying cause are the usual next conversations.

Should I drink less so the bag does not fill so quickly?

No, unless a clinician has given you a specific fluid restriction for a heart or kidney condition. Concentrated urine irritates the bladder, encourages the mineral deposits that block catheters and raises the risk of infection. MedlinePlus and NHS catheter care guidance both encourage drinking enough to keep urine pale. A fuller bag is the price of a cleaner, freer-flowing system and is far easier to manage than a blockage.

I take a blood thinner; does that change which warning signs matter?

It changes how your team weighs bleeding, so always mention anticoagulant or antiplatelet medicines when you call. A light pink tinge can still be expected, but heavier or more persistent bleeding, clots, or bleeding that reduces drainage should be reported promptly. Never stop or adjust a prescribed blood thinner on your own because of blood in the urine; that decision belongs to the clinician who prescribed it, balancing clotting and bleeding risks.

References

• NIDDK (NIH): Urinary Retention
• NHS: Urinary catheters – Risks
• MedlinePlus: Indwelling catheter care
• Cleveland Clinic: Urinary Retention

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.