Dear patient,

Thanks for your health concerns. The first acute issue that needs to be ruled out with your symptoms is a urinary tract infection; you do have autoimmune disease and your treatments usually put you at a higher risk of infection. You should be seen by a healthcare provider, who will likely order some basic tests like complete blood count, urine analysis and culture and go from there. Depending on the results, you might need other testing such as an abdominal ultrasound, but first is first.

The symptom you refer to by wanting to urinate and not being able to is called hesitancy, and could be the reflection of bladder irritation/inflammation.

Hope this is helpful. Wish you the best health,

Dr Brenes-Salazar MD
Mayo Clinic Rochester

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