Urine Retention

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I am 76 year old in good health except for retaining large amounts of urine. Since I have prostate seeds from 20 years ago, the various TURP options are not good. There is no back up into my kidneys and that has been confirmed with multiple MRI. I feel fine and live an active happy life but worry the retention problem will impact my kidneys sometime in the future.

 

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Can you not self catheterize to remove the retained urine and thus stop or at least reduce the chances of Kidney damage? Hope you get some relief soon, Good Luck

 

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Perhaps that may be a wise option. I would prefer another approach, such as trying a new medicine that folks have had good luck with.

 

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Hi George, not much luck with meds for me. I'm self Cathing several times a day and trying to decide if I should stick with this or try surgery. There are so many horror stories about surgery, that I don't know what to do. Cheers Phil

 

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I would definitely look into self catheterization for the short term relief then wait to see what new meds may help you. I have never had retention problems just the opposite lots of leakage Hope you find relief soon best of luck

 

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George, CIC here also,4-6 times per day, the new catheters from Coloplast you can carry in your pocket, very easy to use. But personally here I must go in for a large Foley catheter to use for about a week or longer. As my bladder neck is just plain screwed up with my neurogenic bladder. This gives my bladder rest time as my urologist calls it. And a little time off from CIC. Plus dilation. I just email my PCP's nurse and she asks me when I want to come in to see her. I like the flexibility

 

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If you do decide to do a TURP be sure to get a very definitive assessment from your doctor on will you likely suffer from permanent incontinence, and how bad will the incontinence be. I had a 2nd TURP (and after prostate cancer radiation treatment to boot) and never discussed this issue with the doctor (he didn't bring it up & I didn't know this was a potential long-term effect). If I had known then what I know now, I likely would have gone a different route with my treatment.

 

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Thank you. Did you have prostate seeds? My urologist stated because of my seeds a Turp would not be advisable.

 

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I had a procedure called High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy. The radiation is delivered via seeds, but they are only inserted temporarily, to deliver the radiation, and then removed. When I had my 2nd TURP my urologist said I had some sort of blockage in my bladder neck, which he felt like needed to be removed. Evidently he removed too much tissue, as I have had constant drippage ever since. Compared to most people on this site, my problem is very minor, more of an annoyance than anything, but what I learned from my experience is to really understand the long-term implications, both good & bad, about any serious medical treatment you are considering. Good luck with it!