Asking this since I’ve always been told the former and that your bladder rupturing from not going to the toilet is a myth and the story of Tycho Brahe is too old to be reliable. But in recent years, I’ve seen articles about people drinking alcohol and passing out and their bladders bursting because the sensations got dulled (which still shouldn’t affect the sphincters giving way due to the pressure before the bladder actually ruptures, since it’s about the sphincters being not physically strong enough to hold back the pressure).
The existence of overflow incontinence would seem to contradict this story from 2020, for example. Alcohol dulls the urge to urinate, but overflow incontinence often happens in absence of this urge as well, and when the detrusor muscles (which squeeze the bladder) aren’t working.
What’s the straight dope here?
Disclaimer: Not a medical scientist.
With that said, your question would probably hold more water (pun intended), if you had asked regarding a urinary tract infection or similar infection forcefully blocking the urethra, making it almost impossible to piss even if you wanted or needed to.
I won’t go into the fine details, but early 2009 was definitely not fun for me after a multi-systemic infection that started as a dental abscess.
No, luckily nothing down south ruptured, but its never good when someone is pissing brown, I couldn’t hardly even piss for a few days after I started antibiotics.