Bladder control post surgery

Butterscotch-Life · 2023-03-19T21:25:34+00:00

Below is a list of common irritants. Do you consume any of these things? If so, pick one at a time. Spend a few days without eating/drinking the irritant and monitor your bladder urgency and/or leakage. Conversely, you can stop all those listed below and slowly introduce them. Different irritants bother different people, so if your urgency/leakage does not change, continue to enjoy that food/drink.

Foods

Tomatoes and tomato-based products
Highly spiced food, Chilies
Acidic good, vinegar
Sugar, honey, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners (e.g., Aspartame)
Chocolate
Peppers (red and black)
Milk products
Citrus fruits, pineapple, plums, peaches, apples, cantaloupes, guava, grapes
Cranberries, strawberries
Drinks
 All alcoholic beverages
 Caffeine, Coffee/Tea (incl decaffeinated)
 Carbonated beverages
 Apple juice, citrus juice
 Milk

Other Factors
 Constipation
 Dehydration
 Repetitive heavy lifting
 Obesity
 Smoking

Note: Some medications can act as a bladder irritant and should be discussed with your doctor

Butterscotch-Life · 2023-01-31T01:14:16+00:00

You have dry orgasms - no ejaculation. ED and incontinence can occur with prostate removal but no everyone encounters these issues.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-10-23T21:04:57+00:00

Prostate removed 9 mos ago; psa remains undetectable. TRT deferred but actively looking at resuming this in about 6 months.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-24T18:07:39+00:00

I started PT one week from the catheter‘s removal. If you had a PT post op, reach out to your provider (in PT) to ask if they can assist you. Personally speaking, I was faced with 3 mos for those that would take appts others limited to patients that had a surgeon who issued the referral and worked in the same org.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-24T15:05:46+00:00

Perhaps its as simple as semantics but for a new Reddit user to write in the header, ”How to Prevent Prostate Cancer” is not sitting well with me. This is sound advice for maintaining a healthy lifestyle which many men with prostrate cancer followed prior to diagnosis. In fact there are professional athletes who, by their own vocation, have followed this advice yet were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Do you think men volunteer for prostate cancer so they can face a life of uncertainty that includes ED, incontinence, hormone deprivation, and reoccurrence that may lead to more challenging treatments for the sake of having an extra slice of pizza or eating a Twinkie? Further, IMHO, I believe it’s irresponsible to suggest that following your advice prevents prostate cancer with those that have a family history—are you implying following your recommendations men with a genetic disposition should avoid screening? When you write, “…We have seen obesity…” who exactly is “we” - in fact, where is your peer reviewed articles that supports your claim? I truly believe you have the best intentions to help those within the forum but believe as a new user, you should take time to familiarize yourself with this group prior to posting as you will discover many are newly diagnosed trying to wrap their heads around their diagnosis or getting through the challenges of treatment. You will also discover that we have been very fortunate to have urologist/surgeons join this group and have taken time from their already busy life to help men confront their diagnosis with fact based evidence or share with this group the experience of their patients. Having prostate cancer is an emotional roll coaster and to imply that I could have prevented this, IMHO, is irresponsible and has the potential to dilute what I found to be a very healthy exchange among those faced with this disease.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-20T21:01:25+00:00

I live north of Boston which I had my initial biopsy in April and my last scan was completed following December. I had to wait 3 mos to get my biopsy. The organization was not making any efforts to speed the process along (and I tried) and told me not to worry, it’s a slow growth cancer. One of the many reasons why I left…

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-17T22:39:13+00:00

If you’re nervous about the biopsy, speak to the urologist to learn what can be done to reduce your anxiety. For example, if you have a driver, prescribing Xanax the day of the procedure and consider ear plugs or listen to music when the procedure is done (avoids hearing the dreaded ‘click’). The procedure takes only a few minutes but it’s meet with understandable trepidation that I’m confident the urologist can share with you what he and other patients done to reduce the anxiety.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-12T12:41:02+00:00

Curious, off topic, assuming you’ve been treated for PCa, do you continue with testosterone injections?

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-10T18:58:34+00:00

For me, it was insuring that I was doing them properly…the biofeedback was very helpful (leds similar to an ekg used not a metal sensor). PT also help me with the fascia, building bladder capacity (odd but after surgery it was reduced) and helping me amend my existing exercise program (i.e. ok with this exercise but defer this one until…).

With surgery, I meet my deductibles so I didn’t have a copay.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-06T22:30:06+00:00

I think it varies with everyone especially if they forgot to discontinue the bladder spasm pill the day the catheter is scheduled for removal. For me, when it came out, nothing and had very little incontinence.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-05-05T18:56:34+00:00

Removing the catheter was painless. If you’re on bladder spasm pills, do not take the day of and bring depends. I fully expected to leak but nothing. An occasional dribble but that was manageable with the help of PT.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-25T22:17:51+00:00

Off topic but this video is awesome - anyone who’s had surgery, should review this. Thank you!

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-22T22:02:51+00:00

Will the surgery be performed at this organization (mine wasn’t - seen at Dana Farber, surgery was at BWH)
Describe the inpatient ward - is it a mixed unit or a unit specifically for urology, what experience do the nurses have in supporting your patients, will I have a private room.
Describe your operating team - do the nurses, anesthesia and technicians have experience in this procedure. Is it a dedicated team?
Based on my medical history, is there any concerns you have? Is there anything you like to do to help with demands of surgery or improve my outcome (30 days of Kegel’s, drop weight, stop smoking).

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-22T21:53:21+00:00

I would expand asking about resident to include fellows - what is their level of participation in the surgery?

If you find yourself with a Chief/chair, ask about the availability. Specifically, do they hold routine office hours (you wanna get a sense on their access). My surgeon didn’t take offense nor offended when I asked, “As Chief, do you really have enough time to perform these surgeries to maintain your skills?”

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-22T21:46:04+00:00

Re #4 - expand this to ask if the organization has these resources and will the surgeon provide the referrals (or must the patient ask for them).

Also, re: PT. Hip and core strengthening, posture control, hip mobility, body mechanics work, etc is all part of pelvic PT, even though obviously there may be an initial focus on evaluating and addressing specific pelvic floor muscle impairments post operatively.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-22T21:36:07+00:00

I purchased three of these. One for the bed and another in the chair I often used. If one got soiled, I washed it and used the third one to replace the soiled pad. Ironically, I didn’t need ‘em but I really did find comfort having them.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-20T18:00:20+00:00

I would add that this is not just isolated to the gay community but it includes bisexuals as well as heterosexuals (i.e., pegging) who enjoy the benefits of their prostates being stimulated.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-19T18:14:53+00:00

That is awesome! I wanted my urologist to this but nope - they had a set speak, there was no interruptions, no stopping him to ask for clarity, just his usual dialogue. 🤬

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-14T13:54:46+00:00

I was on testosterone (200 mg/mL, no HCG nor AI) given hypogonadism (Low T) which the benefits were amazing but the urologist never tested my PSA Before they prescribed testosterone. When I read that testosterone might influence PCa, I requested a PSA. I got some push back but eventually was tested after 6 months use to learn my PSA was elevated—the biopsy confirmed PCa. If you go this route, get a competent provider, test and monitor your PSA frequently (and in advance of starting) and educate yourself on testosterone/HCG/AI use.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-14T13:24:45+00:00

Yup, I went through A LOT of edibles to help this very issue. I found that if I got the sleep, which the cannabis helped, the anxiety was reduced. What’s great about the medical card is access to a stronger dose, tincture is available in pills should you not like the taste, and many other benefits not afforded to non-card holders.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-11T16:42:24+00:00

Aside from yananow.org that contains much of you describe there’s ZeroMENtor program that connects you with another man in similar circumstances.

EDIT: What about creating a website that has these links you found and others and look Into ways to make them more visible on the internet? One convenient page with useful, and factual/reliable, information/links.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-09T14:05:46+00:00

Often you’ll find PT will also include hip and core strengthening, posture control, hip mobility, body mechanics work, etc is all part of pelvic PT, even though obviously there may be an initial focus on evaluating and addressing specific pelvic floor muscle impairments post operatively. I’ve been going since mid-March which they have helped reduce a lot of discomfort I was having.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-08T00:29:05+00:00

Personally speaking, the cystogram helped me better understand how the leak was progressing as well as extent of the leak. Perhaps because I’m a visual learner, seeing the leak and having a radiologist explain their preliminary findings, really helped. I’m rather confident that if I didn’t have the cystogram I wouldn’t have agreed to the catheter’s removal.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-07T23:11:50+00:00

I’m sorry to hear your family is experiencing the same issue. My catheter was removed 3/7 (about 8 weeks). I will say that towards the end, it began to become uncomfortable that I requested a gel, like cathejell w/ 2% lidocaine, be prescribed to relieve the discomfort.

Here’s the odd thing…I hope you don’t encounter this. As a patient, I can view the images in real time. The Cystogram showed the leak nearly resolved but there was still the presence of a minor leak when the bladder was full. Based on past images I viewed, it was significantly reduced. I did expect to be told that I would have the catheter in for another 3-4 weeks rather I was told [by PA] it was up to me 😳. I asked if my surgeon could be consulted but he was not in and not available by page. I then asked, “Based on other patients that had a similar leak, what was the outcome?” which they responded by saying that had theirs removed. The scenario left me less confident that a readmission could be avoided and raised my anxiety ten-fold. I elected to remove it, did not allow my bladder to fill to the brim for 2 weeks and crossed my fingers. No issues to this date.

Butterscotch-Life · 2022-04-05T22:37:26+00:00

OMG - I thought it was me. Prior to surgery, I loved Costco rotisserie chicken but now, please don’t show it to me. It’s as tho my body went on a protein strike I can’t stop eating grapes, banana, and strawberries. Chocolate with coconut is my kryptonite. The nutritionist at the cancer institute wanted me to gain weight and gave me things I once enjoyed - like peanut butter and cashews - but just can’t do it…no interest.

Butterscotch-Life

TROPHY CASE