Hi i am 59 and have had typical prostate problems for maybe 20 years poor flow need to go a lot etc, the urologists wanted to give me a Turp about 15 years ago or they said i could do watchfull waiting! of course i went for this, last year i had a PSA test and got a surprise it was 5 they said wait two months and it came dowm to 2.8 then 2.4 which they tell me is normal? but why did it go up in the first place? and they wanted to
do a turp again i preffered Holep so went to see a urologist a long way from me as they dont do it in the hospitals aroung here and i wanted nhs the urologist there asked me what is my quality of life like, i think its ok i jst have to pee a lot! so he said wait until it gets worse i was quiet surprised by this i am only retaining about 10 mls apparently i know im rambling on a bit here but any advice from you guys would be appreciated.
Did they say how big your prostate is? A lot of things can push PSA up, having sex in the previous three days, riding a bike or a horse or a prostate infection. My PSA went from 5.0 to 9.8 as my prostate grew from 35gm to 75gm during my watchful waiting or rather refusal to have a TURP period as I waited for PVP to come along over 11 years.
Presumably you are getting urgency as well as frequency but it is good that you do not have retention as that is the damaging part and makes you more prone to infections. The NHS will always want to save surgical costs and suggest watchful waiting or pass the cost of medications to your GP.
Daily 5mg Cialis would probably help the flow without the nasty Tamsulosin side effects.
Did you have much of a problem in getting referred to another NHS area? I had a fight at the time to be reffered from Scotland to Northumbria.
Hi no they have not told me exactly how big it is one said around 30 grms and other one just said it was big!, i got referred to another area quiet easily from here worthing sussex to kent where they do the Holep operation but im still very nervous about it and dont like the thought of retrogade ejeculation etc i have thought of having urolift privately when i asked the urologist the other day he told me it was only for old men! these people all say different things. i will try the Cialis thanks for the advice.
Hi Grant.....I am 68 and had Holep last January, and am very glad I did. Pee like a race horse and no getting up or anything else. I did a lot of research, and found Holep to be the best for several reasons. However, I had never heard about PAE, and many on this blog who have had it say it works well, is not invasive, and has none of the side effects of surgery. You may want to check it out..... not done by urologists, but by interventional radiologists, I believe.
Look up info aboit having a PAE before you allow them to perform a TURP on you. TURP comes with complications, personally I just think it's barbaric. There are a great number of us on this blog who've had multiple visit to the bathroom as well as BPH. Urologist tried to get me to have a TURP years ago, but I did due diligence about the side effects, a friemd had it performed on him and was riddled with infections & couldn't get an erections. I chose to wait years until better technology was available, and I'm glad I did. Godspeed!
Hi yes i have been reading about PAE there is a trial at southampton Hospital but no chance if you live out of the area the only other option with that is to go to Portugal and pay privately, its difficult apparently in Australia its on the medicare there but not here of course,
But im pleased to hear that Holep worked for you where did you have it done?, I live in sussex and Tunbridge Wells is the only place near to me that does this operation.
Had mine done at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix..... was able to pick their best doc who's had lots of experience.
Phoenix is a bit far for me! at least in the states you can get information about the surgeons experience not here in the uk your lucky to even meet the guy before the operation day?
In terms of dealing with your decision for the rest of your life. I think it's worth the trip to Southampton. I live in California but I flew to Virginia to have my PAE performed by the best at performing this procedure. Dr. Bagla has performed over 400 successful PAE's. He'd performed on prostates as large as 600 with success! I wouldn't allow the distance to dictate a decision on the quality if my life. Do your due diligence, don't just allow any procedure to have at you, the quality of the rest of your life depends on it. Godspeed, I pray you peace!
Yes its true it does not matter how far you have to travel im going to look into the possibility of PAE but not here. i think Portugal where one of the first pioneers of this procedure is based cheaper in euros i think! thank you for your comments.
Understood. After going througj BPH and having this problem for years, and now having been blessed enough to come out on the other side of misery into joy and just the relief of being able to pee and empty my bladder...my God i was in such pain, I'd actually stand over the toilet staring up at the ceiling saying "God if you're going to kill me...Please just allow me to pee first, and them take me!" I wish I was one of those guys who has billions of dollars, I'd make it part of my life's work to send men with this problem to the best radiologist available to matter the distance. No one should have to suffer through life and deal with the pai of not being able to empty their bladder. I'll keep you in prayer, you...keep your head up! Godbless.
You're welcome, you're in my prayers!
Derek76, Interested to read your last paragraph of getting a move to Northumbria from Scotland. At present I am fighting to move just to another health area in Scotland and getting refused due to budgets. From what I can see it is not a "National " Health Service only a local Health Service. Any advice would be welcome as in constant pain from Prostrate and letter said to see a local man will be within the 12 week period.
Hi Grant - I'm 74 and had the same problem for around 15 years, with urologists recommending TURP, but me deciding to 'wait and see' which I have done, taking tamsulosin and latterly finasteride to relax muscles and shrink prostate, which ended up at over 150g (much too large for TURP anyway). Earlier this year after a weak stream and one or two night visits, I had total retention, went to A&E (ER) locally, and new uro recommended a HoLEP which has been the best advice ever! Apart from RE which is really not a problem, I'm 3 months down the road with no apparent issues - and as the others have comfirmed, we can all pee like a racehorse! I shall go through the normal blood checks in due course, and report back to the group. HoLEP is possible at some NHS hospitals, just Google 'HoLEP in UK on NHS' and there are many around the country.
Well Holep sounds promising better then turp anyway, yes i had trouble finding a hospital around here that does holep so have to go about 2 hours away, i have not had retention yet!! it seems the last urologist inferred i should wait for that but maybe not a good idea!
TURP or Holeph or Greenlight laser are result in the removal of prostate material. I opted for Greenlight surgery in early March. I was totally inconinent eight weeks afterwards, and an examination showed that there was a lot of attached residue in the uretha that was preventing healing. So a second procedure, call Cyrus Turp was done in early May to clear out the residue. Now, two months later, I'm still totally incontinent. I'm going to a therapist in the practice who has me doing Kegel and other exercises all day long. My day seems to consist of doing exercises that have had not discernable effect yet, washing up and putting on a dry pad and Depends, or distracting myself at the computer. I had the surgery to try to avoid getting up 3-5 times at night. I still get up 2-3 times as enough urnine stays in when I'm flat on my back to cause the urge to go. So I hustle to the toilet and pee between 250 and 450 ml pretty quickly. Then back to bed to try to get back to sleep without worrying that this will last forever. I've had a UTI, the first of my 77 years and am still on antibitotics for that. My quality of life is at best 20% of what it was when I had the first procedure. I know that TURP works out fine for a lot of people, but for me its seems to be a FUBAR at the moment.
EDIT (sorry, didn't sleep much last night)
Turp or Holeph or Greenlight laser all result....
My day seems to consist of doing exercises that have had no discernable effect yet. My day seems to consist of doing exercises that have no discernable effect as of today, and washing up and putting on a Depends and dry pad.
I still get up 2-3 times at night...
im sorry to hear about your problems after this surgery it just shows what can go wrong i wish you the best and hope that things improve.
That was in 2005/2006. The Freeman at Newcastle were happy to do it but It took about two months to get Edinburgh’s Western General to agree to my initial appointment. Then between them and the Newcastle waiting list it was another six months to have it done. The Freeman have a great urology team. They now do HoLep in preference to PVP.
Just before then a friend in the Highlands persuaded Raigmore in Inverness to refer him to one of the first two London hospitals doing PVP. They even paid all his out of pocket expenses.
We are as NHS patients entitled to be treated at the hospital of our choice particularly if a hospital in our area does not do the procedure or has a long waiting list. You can Google for references to that. I remember that NHS Scotland were and probably still do send patients to a big private hospital in the West of Scotland in order to speed treatments up.
I live in Sussex now and often my GP will get me seen at non NHS centres if NHS waiting times are long. I've had several orthopedic consultations, a CT scan and a colonoscopy at private hospitals as an NHS patient. In Kent patients are being offered treatment at a Calais hospital but have to pay their own travel expenses.
If you are having difficulty in being referred speak to your MSP.
The Scottish Health Minister was my MSP and I wrote to him when I was quoted 16 weeks for a Physio appointment. In his reply he said that he had not realised the waiting times were so long!!!
If you Google PAE Trials they are being done at ten locations. I don't see why they would not accept a Guinea Pig from Kent:-)