HWN Suggests

Prof Clare J. Fowler FRCP

When a young woman who is otherwise well goes into urinary retention it usually comes as a shock to her and may puzzle her doctors. The urologists can find nothing obstructing the urethra (the tube which comes out of the bladder) and the neurologists can find no evidence of other neurological disease to explain why the girl’s bladder has stopped working.

When I first started seeing young women with urinary retention the medical teaching at that time was that the commonest cause of urinary retention in young women was “hysteria”. More had been written about “psychogenic urinary retention in women” than any other possible causes.

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Featured

 F is For Fowlers

It’s a lifelong chronic condition. This rare condition occurs secondary to a trauma or another illness triggering the sphincter muscle to tighten to the point it cannot relax anymore. Typically, a woman with Fowlers Syndrome does not get a normal sensation to want to pass urine, they suffer with pain and discomfort associated with having a wee.

Articles of Interest

Bladder Health UK

Patients in complete retention may be helped with sacral nerve stimulation, a process by which a device is implanted in the lower back which emits electrical pulses to stimulate nerves to restore voiding. Alternatively, patients for whom this procedure is not successful, can have an in-dwelling catheter via the urethra or a supra-pubic catheter whcih is surgically inserted below the belly button. Urinary diversion surgery is offered to some for whom less invasive intervention has been unsuccessful. Either a Mitrofanoff or a Urostomy may be offered.

Clare Fowler: establishing the subspecialty of uro-neurology

Not many physicians can claim to have started and developed their own subspecialty. But Clare Fowler, who has spent most of her career helping to treat and restore dignity and quality of life to patients with various conditions who have lost bladder control, has done just that with uro-neurology.

Editorial: Do ‘whale noises’ help in the diagnosis of Fowler’s syndrome?

The main achievement of urethral sphincter EMG in women with urinary retention was the fact that, from that point onwards, women who were previously described and as being hysterical could now finally be assured that there was a measurable abnormality within their urethral sphincter. This was a major breakthrough in the management of women with urinary retention. Previously, most of these women ended up with permanent catheters or intermittent catheterization, while being stigmatized as psychiatric patients.

Fowler's Syndrome: What It Is and What It's Not

In 1988 Fowler et al. suggested that idiopathic non-obstructive urinary retention in young women was a distinct syndrome often associated with certain characteristic features. At that time urinary retention in young women was known as an uncommon disorder, described in the early 19th century, and often attributed to psychological causation; i.e., a “functional” syndrome, an unsatisfactory concept that lacked clear definition.

Fowler's syndrome—a cause of unexplained urinary retention in young women?

Fowler's syndrome, first described in 1988, is urinary retention in young women caused by a poorly relaxing external urethral sphincter and thought to be associated with polycystic ovaries.

Woman, 23, has been unable to urinate for 3 YEARS after being struck down by a rare condition

While most take popping to the toilets for granted, she constantly thinks about it.

Resources

B is For Bladder

A running commentary on managing a chronic health condition & making a disability highlight your ability - it’s not disabled, it’s enabled darling!

Fowler's Syndrome,co,uk

For while I did not call the condition “Fowler’s syndrome” but it gradually became clear to me, that the girls who had the condition needed a name for what they had got -, nobody else wanted the condition and other doctors who had sent patients to me started to call it that. So “Fowler’s syndrome” it is.

Fowlers Syndrome UK

FSUK offers information and support regarding the symptoms, diagnosis, management and treatments of Fowler’s Syndrome, for both professionals and the public.

My life with fowlers syndrome experiences

in this group i will share what day to day life is like with fowlers syndrome and information on fowlers and post regular updates.

Bladder and Bowel Community

First described in 1985, Fowler’s Syndrome is a cause of urinary retention (inability to pass water normally) in young women. Urinary retention in young women is not common but can be quite debilitating. The abnormality lies in the urethral sphincter (the muscle that keeps you continent). The problem is caused by the sphincter’s failure to relax to allow urine to be passed normally. There is no neurological disorder associated with the condition and up to half the women have associated polycystic ovaries.

GARD

Fowler Christmas Chapple syndrome; Polycystic ovaries urethral sphincter dysfunction; Voiding dysfunction and polycystic ovaries.

NORD

Fowler’s syndrome mainly affects young women and leads to the inability to empty the bladder (urinary retention). Many women have no other symptoms, although some women experience stomach pain.

What is Fowler’s Syndrome

If you are a young woman who has developed urinary retention you may have been told you have Fowler’s syndrome. The key clinical features are...