Tamsulosin not effective?

An early post is most welcome. Others will be going through the same as you in the future so this will help others not just you.

I was proscribed tamsulosin at the start of my journey and it had no effect. That is because I had a prostate problem, not a bladder muscle problem. 

Tamsulosin helps the bladder sphincter muscle relax which makes peeing easier. It also can cause retrograde ejaculation which has the same symptoms you have when ejaculating. So I think the tamsulosin is working as well as it can for you, but the blockage is further down the tube (probably at prostate).

Prostate cancer usually has no symptoms, but you do have symptoms in your lower urinary tract, so BPH or prostatitis are probably the cause of your problems.

If you go back to the GP too early he will probably say give it a few more days. I would wait until you have been on it for 14 days then go back to the GP. I presume you have been referred to a urologist, if not I really think that is what is required next.

If at anytime you find you can not pee, go to A and E. It is a medical emergency and can cause severe kidney damage.

My first symptom was being unable to pee more than about 50ml (I suggest you get a measuring jug, the more you can document the more use it is to your GP). Because I could pee a bit it was not treated as an emergency, but in hindsight it should have been.

I was proscribed tamsulosin and it was of no use. A day later I went to A and E and I was fitted with a catheter. Bladder contents were 1 litre, usually at 300 ml you should have a strong need to pee. 

If you are peeing out less than 150ml and still feel full, you have probably should go to A and E, they have a device called a bladder scanner, very quick test, but usually they can't find the device or it is broken.

After two weeks with a catheter, I was taught how to use an intermittent catheter. After a week everything settled down to normal, but by then I was being tested for cancer, which in my case was positive.

Tamsulosin was  the only medication tried and it was ineffective.

Based on all your symptoms, it sounds like whatever is causing the other aches in that area of your body is also causing the feeling of needing to go. I think prostatitis can do this without showing up in a UTI test.

My problems were all sorted out about 8 years ago, so I'm good at the moment.

Thanks John, appreciate the reply.

can I ask if your symptoms are similar to mine? (Mostly strong urge to wee a lot, even after just going and some mild groin/tesicle aching type pain)

cheers

In my case the tamsulosin didn't do much, apart from causing retrograde ejaculation. An ultrasound scan of my bladder showed that even after going to the toilet, I was retaining far too much urine (300-600ml). This would be very useful to know, and something you can ask for. My prostate was quite large and I was shown how to use intermittent catheters, and the first one was an enormous relief! I then used these for about a year, often up to 6-7 times a day as I was passing very little urine naturally. I got on with them quite well. I'm not sure how long I could have carried on with the catheters, I was on the waiting list for TURPS (or similar) but in the meantime my PSA levels started to go up and after a year of using catheters I had a radical prostatectomy. Of course you can have BPH and never have prostate cancer, we are all different!