Pads , coffee and wine

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 16:51

I am 6 weeks out from RP surgery. I am doing ok (I think) with incontinence having gone from tears of humiliation and numerous pads to 2 / 3 pads a day and dry at night , when I say dry I mean I haven't peed the bed but get up every 2 hours to pee and have little leakage. During the day I'm leaking a bit when sitting and more when moving , walking , this has improved in the past 2 weeks.

I have 2 questions :

1) I am asked how many pads I use but this seems to be very subjective . I change them when I think its time , they don't leak but they are sometimes pretty yellow especially after a walk. The number of pads seems to be used as an indicator of progress how do I know if my 'pad policy' is the correct one for 'clinical' purposes ?

2) When should I be having a glass of wine or proper coffee ( I forgot to ask the consultant ) ? The information says to avoid both but for how long ? Is it for the rest of my life ? I would love just one glass with dinner and a proper coffee in the morning. What he others done ?

Many thanks

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 17:35

Gosh, John was back on the caffeine immediately and probably having a glass or two of red wine by 6 weeks / beer was a bit longer because he couldn't get to the pub. This idea of no caffeine or alcohol after RP is only a recent thing and I am not convinced that it has any basis ... it certainly isn't guidance across all hospitals.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 17:43

I didn't have RP myself, so I can't answer from direct experience, but from my experience of clinicians they won't be too concerned about exact numbers, one or zero will be classed as continent (even if you wouldn't class it as that) 10 would probably be classed as severely incontinent and anything in between as moderately incontinent. Your pad policy is probably in line with most peoples anyway.

The much more important question is when to have a glass of wine and coffee. There are plenty on here who would rather die than give up wine, I don't think anyone has given it up for life, unless they were planning on going teatotal anyway. I think the main problem is whether it irritates your bladder. I think after six weeks you can start experimenting, perhaps half a glass early in the evening (if it gives you any problems you don't want to be up all night) and a moderate amount of water, if no discomfort when peeing and it doesn't make the incontinence un-managable try upping the amount each night, similar with coffee (but you can have that in the morning).

Dave

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 18:25

Hi,

I must have missed the bit about wine and coffee 😂. Think I left it maybe a week after the op for wine and never stopped drinking coffee.

My leakage was mostly about tiredness so definitely on a walk and generally I'd leak as the day progressed. I know a number of people say they were dry from the off, I wasn't. As the weeks went by it would be later in the day before the leakage started so always felt I was making progress. I'd just keep at it, sounds like its heading in the right direction.

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 18:56

Mike W I see your picture shows a cyclist. I am a cycle tourist and hope to be on my bike in another 6 weeks as I had a big op - I had aggressive L9 - did you buy a prostate friendly saddle ? If so can you recommend one ?

Thanks

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 20:18

Nigel

Has anyone on your medical team ever mentioned weighing your wet pads ? This is sometimes used to gauge the amount of leakage.

Simply weigh a dry pad and note the weight. Weigh the wet pad and deduct the weight of the dry pad, one gram equals one ml. ( Corrected my error)

Obey appropriate hygiene protocols if using the kitchen scales 😀.

Thanks Chris.

Edited by member 19 Apr 2021 at 22:46 | Reason: Corrected weight unit

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 22:11

One mg increase in a pad weight equals one ml of urine absorbed, says Chris.

Is that correct?

Assuming a urine density the same as water - which cannot be too far off - a milli-litre of urine would weigh a gram, not a milligram. Absorption by the pad fibres doesn't affect the weight, as long as none trickles away down your leg before weighing.

Anyway, no kitchen scale can read milligrams, only grams.

User

Posted 19 Apr 2021 at 22:48

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

One mg increase in a pad weight equals one ml of urine absorbed, says Chris.

Is that correct?

Assuming a urine density the same as water - which cannot be too far off - a milli-litre of urine would weigh a gram, not a milligram. Absorption by the pad fibres doesn't affect the weight, as long as none trickles away down your leg before weighing.

Anyway, no kitchen scale can read milligrams, only grams.

Well spotted James, thanks for pointing out my error.

Thanks Chris

User

Posted 20 Apr 2021 at 07:51

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Thanks for your comments and experiences. I shall drink with a moderation which would please my father ( he drew a line on his wine glass -125 mm - he was an engineer). The coments on the pads and coffee was informative too.
Mike W I see your picture shows a cyclist. I am a cycle tourist and hope to be on my bike in another 6 weeks as I had a big op - I had aggressive L9 - did you buy a prostate friendly saddle ? If so can you recommend one ?

Thanks

I bought a Specialized Power Expert Saddle. Its a proper prostate friendly performance saddle

User

Posted 20 Apr 2021 at 08:49

Thanks to all . I shall try the weighing idea. Thanks Mike I shall look up the saddle,in my current state it will be an improvement on my 25 year old brooks.

User

Posted 20 Apr 2021 at 17:04

Never mind the saddles and pads, tell us about the important thing in life how is the wine drinking going?

Dave

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