A wee problem....

User

Posted 07 Feb 2022 at 12:29

Hi,

I am now 3 months post radical prostatectomy and have a small problem.

I am pretty much continent and have been for a while but on some occasions (probably about 10% of the time) when I go for a wee, the flow is perfectly normal but when I've finished, it turns out I haven't actually finished and that for several minutes afterwards, if I cough or exercise my pelvic floor, more wee comes out. This can go on for several minutes until finally it is all out. Doesn't happen every time and I have been unable to pin down any particular cause.

I know this is quite a minor problem compared to what some people have to endure, but I wondered if anyone else has experienced this or knows what causes it or if it will eventually stop happening?

Thanks

User

Posted 07 Feb 2022 at 14:51

Your experience is familiar. I think it is probably because the damage to the sphincters during surgery has meant they don't close off as quickly as they used to. Everyone is different but I think from 3 months post-op you can expect further improvements. In my case the vulnerability to a little further flow rarely lasts only a matter of seconds now.

User

Posted 07 Feb 2022 at 16:20

Thanks JB, that is reassuring. I think that one of the problems with all these things is never knowing whether this is as good as it gets, or whether further improvements are likely.

Dave

User

Posted 07 Feb 2022 at 18:04

Thanks for the post Dave and JB. My husband has the same feeling, he is 7 weeks post op and we too wondered if it is just normal and if it is just how it is now. Reassuring that this might improve, although like you say considering everything it’s not too bad 👍🏽

User

Posted 07 Feb 2022 at 19:35

It can take about a year for continence to settle in some cases. Improvements are generally noticed around 5 weeks as stitches around the reconstructed bladder neck soften and improve bladder control. This was a turning point for me in terms of full confidence. Then over the course of the first year the scaring will soften and settle with hopefully further improvement.

Simon

User

Posted 07 Feb 2022 at 20:59

My experience too was a year overall. To be fair, continence mostly was OK by 7 or 8 months, but was easily thrown out of kilter by small amounts of caffeine (coffee much more than tea) or alcohol. By a year, and subsequent, the odd coffee has been fine and moderate alcohol similar.

User

Posted 07 Feb 2022 at 21:41

I'm 12 weeks post RARP and still suffering heavy incontinence, though gradually improving, read somewhere maybe in another post good tip is after urinatiing press the perineum at your rear end and urine will flow again just shake as normal after that, discovered I'm a squirter😂but it helps

Brian

User

Posted 13 Feb 2022 at 11:17

Having read the comments on here I tried a couple of things which have made a bit of difference.

Firstly, I tried Beejay2112's suggestion of pressing the perineum and found that does indeed make the urine flow again. Needs a few presses sometimes to fully empty but definitely short cut time-wise.

The other thing I found was that, when this happens, if I force myself to hold on, the urge to release more urine goes away temporarily. About 10 minutes later I have a strong urge to go again and when I do go, all the remaining urine comes out in one go.

So, two possible methods that may help others suffering from the same problem.

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