Incontinence 3 years after prostatecomy and radiation

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I had prostate surgery and followed by radiation in mid 2016. I had wonderful results, and still do, with an undetecable PSA and no incontinence. Well, a year ago I had a bout with a bleeding bladder which included several visits to ER to have a catheter. My urologist, at that time, finally cauterized the blood vessels in the bladder and stopped the bleeding. I was able to get rid of the catheter but have been almost totally incontinent since. Now, I have almost no leakage at night and minimal leakage when sitting. If I am working around the house, or playing golf, I go thru a maximum absorbent pad every 1.5 hours. As a result I still am going thru 5-7 pad per day. I have been doing Kegel exercises religiously for 4-6 months and seem to be getting nowhere. I am really trying to avoid more surgey but may have to opt for the artifical sphincter. Would love to hear from anyone experiencing similar problems.

 

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I'm 2 months after my surgery, my leakage has gotten worse it seems. How often do you do Kegel exercises?

 

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I had radiation treatment for prostate cancer instead of a prostatectomy. I had a TURP for BPH prior to my radiation, and I had a second TURP to remove prostate stones after the radiation. I know that anytime they operate on previously radiated tissue the healing result is not ideal, as the radiation permanently alters the ability of the tissue to heal properly (something about radiation destroys the very tiny blood vessels in the tissue).

Anyway, your experience sounds like mine. After the second TURP I developed a low-level case of incontinence. As long as I am horizontal (ie. sleeping) or sitting my leakage is very slight. But any physical activity of any kind is a different story.

I do Kegels everyday, and I think they probably help somewhat, but my problem is mostly my INTERNAL sphincter, and Kegels do absolutely nothing for the internal sphincter as it is under involuntary control (like your heart muscle). With a prostatectomy you have a weird situation where your external & internal sphincters must come together, once your prostate is removed, so I'm not sure which sphincter does what.

I would guess you are going to have a "new normal" that is something to get used to. I don't consider my problem big enough to consider an artificial sphincter, and I was told that men who have had radiation are not very good candidates. I'm holding out for stem cells!

Good luck!

 

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J, M & C,

A story I've told before that you have probably missed: the easy answer is just stop the leakage and the problem goes away... the difficult detail is how does one do that? In my case, I'm more reliable; I leak all day and to a lesser degree every night. I've solved my issue, not with any device that is presently on the market, but with a soft silicone device that my engineer partner and I have designed (4 yrs in the making) and filed a patent on. I would be happy to include you in our test group and forward one for you to try. I sometimes wear mine up to 22 hours in a day, particularly if I have hydrated, one way or another, in the evening. Because it is of flexible material, it is to be used with a backup pad for the occasional moments of stress leakage. Let me know if you have an interest. Duane amhelp@comcast.net

 

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Where does the device go?