I have decided against a PAE not because of the procedure itself which I believe is an excellent one but because of my contrast dye allergy.
I was was due to have a PAE but prior to that I had a CT angiogram to map out my arteries. I told the doc I was allergic to contrast dye but he basically said we'll just give you some prednisone before the CT to prevent any contrast reaction.
That was about four weeks ago. Well I still came out in a rash but that was nothing compared to what followed. About two days later I had intense stomach pain followed by a day of nausea. From then on I had a constant gnawing in my stomach and put on 14 ponds in two weeks. My blood sugar has gone through the roof and I have frequent headaches and mood swings.
I was convinced I had developed stomach ulcers.
I went to my GP and he told me he believed my symptoms were due to the side effects of prednisone. I went and googled prednisone and was astounded by what I found. This is truly a horrible drug with severe long lasting side effects.
I sought a second opinion and am going to have an endoscopy to find out what's going on in my stomach. I am angry that at no stage was I advised of what the side effects of prednisone could be. All this from two 50 mg doses of prednisone prior to the angiogram.
I would never ever take prednisone again so a PAE is ruled out for me. I would advise anyone who is allergic to contrast dye to not allow anyone to administer prednisone to you. For me, it was and is a horrible experience.
It is well known in the medical literature that prednisone wrecks havoc on glucose metabolism. Anybody considering PAE, the technique has been upgraded called The "PErFecTED technique", proximal embolization first, then embolize distal for benign prostatic hyperplasia. The interventional radiologist should be aware of this.
I don't blame you one bit. I had the "PAE" procedure on Sept. 10th, 2014 and it was done by one of the world renown surgeons on this procedure. He said it turned out excellent and all the arterys were blocked leading into the prostate. He said give it 6 months and your prostate will shrink by 20 to 25%. Sounds great- right???? Well I was getting up 4 times before the surgery and now some 5 months after the surgery Iam still getting up 3 to 4 times nightly. He deems it a success and I deem it a failure. Good luck to you.
Chuck, do you recall how much your operation cost?
caringbah, are you still suffering from the side effects?
Yes Mike, but they are slowly diminishing..it's 5 weeks now.
I'd say I've still got about 20% of the side effects.
Gnawing stomach is the worst.
I'm still 10kg overweight. The gnawing stomach keeps me tending to overeat in order to stop the gnawing.
I'm having gastroscopy next week to make sure there are no ulcers.
I would never ever go through that again. The treatment is worse than the condition.
Thank for your advise...!!! whenever my husband cames with a new prescription I use to check the pros and cons of the side effects with him and then decide what to do. ..