I had this done 7 weeks ago and it made pee situation worse. I now need to void after 15 minutes but hold it for at least an hour. My urologist does not do surgery for BPH. only Tumt. I guess there is still small hope for improvement in the month ahead
I have a question regarding an enlarged prostate. It is pressing against the bladder causing me to go the bathroom more. Now that I have medication to reduce bladder activity, but as I take this medication what happening to the prostate?, treatment wise. All that I know is that it is almost three times the size.
Bad recovery for two months, good for about 8 months, needed a Greenlight laser just one year after the TUMT. It was just a way to avoid the Greenlight for a year.
The important thing to have your PVR (post void residual) checked with an ultrasound or with a catheter. PVR is the amount retained in the bladder after you void. If this PVR is more than 250 or 300ml, it can cause a backup to the kidneys if the bladder fills up. Also the more your PVR, the more you will urinate, because you approach the point where your bladder feels full more often. For example, if your bladder feels full at 400 ml, and your PVR is 300 ml, then you will have to void whenever your badder produces an additional 100ml. But if your PVR is 100 ml., then your bladder would have to produce 300ml. for your bladder to fill up to 400ml., and you would void 1/3 as often. As far as I know, medication that reduces your bladder's urge to urinate, like Vesicare, has no effect on the prostate.
Firstly, Welcome to the Club Bob, that no-one wants to join.
If you Google : ' what is a TUMT procedure ' you will find the Mayo Clinic site on this subject which is both 101% informative and, in easily understood language. From this you will see that your condition, whilst currently distressing, is by no means unexpected or unusual at this stage post-op.
Regrettably as it is subject to so many variables, the eventual outcome with anything to do with the Prostate cannot be predicted. But try to remain positively minded and optimistic.
Obviously though you need to know now, what it is best to do to help yourself. In that regard your Urolgist should be both advising you and helping to dispel any anxiety you may feel.
If for whatever reason you cannot get an early appointment then in the meantime you could try having a warm bath daily, hydrating fully, MOST IMPORTANTLY : PELVIC FLOOR EXERCISES and walking ( in tight circuit loops that incorporate easy access to a toilet ). Wearing unobtrusive Tena pads may also give you confidence and help to reduce anxiety.
Additionally, from my own experience anything you can do to either maintain or gain overall physical fitness will definitely help you get on top of it both physically and psychologically.
Good luck Bob
Regards
Dudley
Hi bob120
Thx for your feedback, But as for as I know is that I am still waiting for some test . But at the moment after I have been to the bathroom, it's as if I can feel my bladder filling up as I can start to feel the urge about 10 minutes later.
All this came about while I was in hospital. My intake was an average 1.7ltrs and my output an average 2.45ltrs. Every time I requested a bottle, I had to have two as I would fill one and a three quarters bottles a time and at night I had to have four bottles.
So you see I was holding that much and having to go regularly for as soon as I relieved myself, before I knew it I had to go again. I can't even go out unless I knew the location of the public toilets are in advance.
Hi Mark,
I have had occasions when I have gone every 10 minutes for several hours. The most I've ever gone overnight was 2-3/4 liters. Over time that seemed to quiet down. I was very anxious at the time as once I went every 10 to 15 minutes from 3AM to 8AM. I wonder if anxiety may have influenced it, but I don't really know what causes it. I've also had occasions when anxiety has definitely caused it. About 8 or 9 years years ago I was nervous about doing my taxes and went 5 times in the 40 minutes it took to go over my taxes with my accountant. We would talk for 10 minutes and then I'd have to get up again. I had my TUMT in 2011 and my GL in 2012. For at least 5 or 6 years before my TUMT I was voiding every 40 minutes all day long. I knew where every bathroom in town was.
Hi bob120
You could be right about anxiety, as I am in remission with bladder cancer and a little concerned as to whether it may have affected the prostate. The way the hospital put it, the cancer had gone into the connective tissue and that is subconsciously at the back of my mind, as this is the second time that I have had cancer. The first being mouth cancer.
I got on a train for a 40 minute journey and went to sit in the gangway seat. The Guy by the window said that he would switch seats with me as he had to go to the toilet a lot. He went twice during that short trip. I asked 'Prostate' and he said 'Yes'
I used to go to a barber with prostate trouble and he would go every ten minutes. I presume that was why he was found hanged in his shop one morning.
Hi bob13864,
I actually had a TURP last November, and as far as I know the potential side-effects are pretty much the same for both procedures - TURP and TUMT ... urinary frequency, bladder spasms etc. You don't really appreciate what urinary frequency means until you have a prostate procedure. It can be very disconcerting having to run off to the toilet every 30 minutes ... and sometimes within 10 minutes - and almost always having that constant urge to go. My systems got worse after about 4 weeks and were very disruptive up until about the 10 week mark when they started to improve. It can be quite depressing trying to find even a little improvement each day and it doesn't seem to come. But try not to worry, improvement will come and you will be glad you had the procedure. After about 10 weeks my urgency and frequency systems were about 90% improved. I'ts now 8 months and today I went for 7 hours without visiting the loo. I now sleep right through the night without having to get up. Try to stay positive ... improvement won't be far away.
All the best.
Thanks for the encouragement . I'm going into week 8 and maybe small improvements. The Turp is considered more likely to produce good results then the tumt (at least by some . others say the same). the tumt is much easier on you. they only gave me valium and no catheter. but most docs do catheters. the microwave machine was rented and a service technician was the only one there the whole time. btw the turp is losing out to new things like laser so its a little easier now here in the states.
Hi Derek,
In New York City where I worked, there are no toilets on the Subways or busses. I used to go past the edge of the platform or behind garbage dumptsters regularly. I had an hour and 45 minute commute and would go 2 or 3 times on the way home. Later on, when I drove, I pulled off the road to pee in a cup once or twice on a one hour commute, and empty it on the shoulder of the road.
Hanging oneself is pretty drastic though. The last time I was in hospital for the bladder neck resection, the man next to me was in his 80's and had worn a foley cath for several years. He had just had a Greenlight laser and couldn't pee. He was saying he wished he'd just kept the foley. A less intrusive solution for the barber would have been an external condom type catheter and leg bag. Deep sea divers wear them under their wetsuit as do other workers like transmission line repair men who can't stop what they are doing to get to a bathroom for long shifts.
I bought one but never used it as it only works well while standing. But it would have solved your barber's problems.
We found that the whole of NYC is bad for finding toilets. I once went into City Hall to find one. Nowadays security would not have allowed that. We once went to Coney Island in October and it was mostly closed down although many were people around. Even McDonalds was closed. Eventually we got to Brighton Beach and a cleaner was mopping the entrance to a Russian Night Club so we strode right in.
We could never find a toilet in San Diego. When I said that to someone he said that the city has over 300 parks and every park has one.
Many American toilets are quite disgusting even in Train and Bus Stations
America does have one source of toilets that we did not used to have here in Public Libraries. Now quite a few have them.
I have peed in public places in America, behind a dumpster in a Miami car park and on a grass verge by a bus stop in Tampa.
Ive had the lasor treatment twice and was very alarmed by the fact that initialy there didnt seam to be much improvement. however I was passingf quite a lot of blood. The clots were blocking the tube and some times i couldnt go at all then suddennly it cleared and flowed like niagra falls.
maybe be time to look at options
best of luck
The laser is supposed to seal off all the blood vessels making it a 'bloodless' procedure. The hot wire used in TURP should do the same but TURP patients still bleed a lot.
I asked the urology nurse who removed my catheter about this and she said that most of the blood comes from the urethra as it takes quite a beating from the instruments used and ends up like a blood filled sponge.
Hi peter06554.....it is now 19 days after the TURP and I too am passing blood and other than that I have had no trouble passing urine. Yesterday morning while I was peeing, without warning it all stopped for a few seconds then Bang...out shot a whole lot of blood clots and what looked like pure blood...same thing again last night....it frightened the daylights out of me. It's all good today except for the small amouts of blood I usualy get.
I have a few questions, how long after your Laser treatment did this happen, is it working well now? and did you get any more clots after that ?
Thanks
About 18 months after my GL something burst and I had a serious hematuria from my prostate and bladder neck. I was used to blood that looked like burgundy wine (it doesn't take a lot of blood to turn urine into a dark red), but this was blood that looked like tomato sauce. I collected some in a cup and it coagulated within a minute into a jello like substance. This was "frank" fresh blood. I was in hospital a week and had emetrgency surgery to cauterize the bleeders and resection my bladder neck and remove stones. Over the course of the week I need 8 pints of whole blood.
Where was the blood actually from and did you get a reason for it?
It must have been a scary experience
18 months! You would think all would of healed by then, were you still getting the burgany wine like urine 18 months after or was this out of the blue? can you remember anything out of the ordinary you were doing at the time like very heavy lifting etc? How long ago was that and has it settled down now?
I was warned after PVP and Thulium laser surgery that a bleed often happens out of the blue after six months.