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Vacuum pump and incontinence

User
Posted 28 Oct 2025 at 04:16

I'm about 3 months post RARP. My PSA is back down to almost 0 😀

I'm still leaking pee and using about 3 pads a day. 

I'm now using , and have pretty much got to grips with, a vacuum pump (Soma) for penis rehab. 

But the combination of leaking pee and penis pumping isn't something I'd expected to be dealing with. In fact the pumping makes leakage worse. Looks like it's actually sucking pee out from bladder. And leakage is worse for a good few hours following a morning vacuum pump session 

Anyone else got experience of this? Got any advice? 

User
Posted 28 Oct 2025 at 13:53

I have experienced what you have before for some months after surgery. I suggest you go easy on the pump while you recover your bladder control. Concentrate on Kegel exercises. I have a thread here which may help you in handling urine leakage with vacuum pump use:

https://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t28948-Re-establishing-Sex-Life

 

Edited by member 28 Oct 2025 at 13:53  | Reason: Not specified

 'Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.'                    Richard Feynman (1918-1988) Nobel Prize laureate

 

 

User
Posted 28 Oct 2025 at 13:59
Leakage also happens as a direct result of sexual stimulation and orgasm after RP. It took me several years to resolve this issue, still wouldn't trust a blow job!

3 months out is still early days, if it's not improving week to week get yourself referred to the incontinence clinic.

User
Posted 28 Oct 2025 at 20:33
I agree with the above, 3 pads at 3 months sounds means you are probably heading in the right direction.

For now you may need to adjust your use of the pump to fit with the rest of your lifestyle, although use has been shown to be beneficial in general there isn't a proven routine so you need to adapt as necessary.

User
Posted 28 Oct 2025 at 22:10
Thanks everyone. That's all very helpful.

I'll go easy with the pump and hope that the dribbling stops before too long.

Another question if I may..

How much do you think a couple of glasses of red wine a night (12.5° or less) has an impact on post RARP incontinence?

I've managed to easily switch to caffeine free tea & coffee, but finding kicking the wine difficult.

User
Posted 29 Oct 2025 at 21:43
ManncubDad, I think there isn't a right answer to what affects incontinence, there is individual variation. But you can play around and check what works for you.

Although I was very cautious at first, for me experimentation showed I had little problem with tea. (Though to be fair, there are some pretty tasty decaff teabags available).

Coffee was different, it took at least a year before I could manage caffeinated coffee, and even then no more than one cup a day. And then after I had salvage RT six years later I again became sensitive to coffee with caffeine. Happily I prefer tea to coffee anyway.

I found I couild cope with modest amounts of red wine after a few months, though I can't remember now exactly how soon. It was probably in part because at the end of the day I am unlikely to do other activities which increase the risk; I remember the first time I went out to a party somewhere locally, managed OK with careful drinking but started leaking on the walk home. These days I don't have problems with the equivalent of half a bottle.

Good luck, it is a journey many of us have shared.

 
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