Happy New Year to All !
75 days post surgery ,
No Blood in Urine.
No pain at all .
Still some minor dribbling.
Urge incontinence is Much better.
Erection is back to normal.
Very Pleased with my progress in the last week.
hamzamale,
I noticed your surgery was 2 days after mine, so I took an interest in your post.
Did you do any pelvic floor exercises prior to surgery ? You stated you are not experiencing any dribbling but still have an issue
with urge incontinence. I am still wearing a pad as I still have some minor leaking ,although it is getting better. I still experience
some urgency every now and then.
My theory as to my slower progress was the size of my Prostate but yours was larger than mine and you are progressing faster in
the incontinence department than I am.
Your itching could be a Urinary tract infection, something I did not experience fortunately.
Thank You for your contribution and comments.
just me
I am 54 days post HOLEP. Bleeding stoppage took longer than I expected, but is fine now.
All other urination parameters are good, particularly the flow, which really froths up the toilet water.
I still have the same level of pain for about 2 minutes post urination. I also still have peri - anal discomfort and a dragging down feeling in that area for a period post urination. Urine tests indicates possible inflammation but no infection, and it has been suggested I take an anti-biotic nevertheless, which I don't want to do if I don't have an infection.
Recently I have the occasional feeling that my bladder is not completely empty after urination, but attempts to immediately urinate again, indicates that this is not the case, as I release just a few drops.
I can also have a very strong urge to urinate at times, but as I am usually at home when this happens this is not a problem. On the few occasions this has happened elsewhere, I can hold it for 10+ minutes until I reach a toilet. I have never had an accident.
I never had problems with erections pre HOLEP, but I am awakened to spontaneous strong ones virtually every morning and through the night when I wake. This is the same as I had in my youth.
I remain a strong advocate for the HOLEP procedure, and have no regrets whatsoever.
Wishing you all continued good progress.
Just Me,
I’ve actually been following your posts + progress before Christmas . Good to hear you’re doing well .
Do we tend to forget how we used to feel before the procedure ? and immediately after ?
I’m now also 75 days post ops (since Oct 24) and have said good bye to the last drop of blood several days ago. The old post ops bleeding stopped long ago, but I continued to wee a burst of dark colored blood at the start of urination (particularly in the mornings) until around 5-6 days ago when this totally disappeared .
Unfortunately I wasn’t told about pelvic floor exercise at all until I saw my surgeon on my follow up appointment a month after surgery . I’ve been exercising since then ( just over a month ago) and I think that I’ve been getting better at it (exercise) , although I’m not sure if it made any difference to my urge incontinence.
I still have an issue with urge incontinence , and really couldn’t tell whether it is improving, meanwhile I’m still wearing diapers . If it is improving it will be doing so slowly.
That itching was in fact an infection . I took a 5 day antibiotics course which promptly dealt with that , and did a sensitivity test a few days after completing the course and was infection free. I still however have that faint itchy feeling, with an occasional twitch .
Anyway, all in all , I think I’ve come a long way . My surgeon has made another follow up appointment for February 14th by which time - I think - he expects me to be totally recovered since he .
We shall see .
All the best
Hamzamale
It`s 83 days post surgery and I can see improvement in the stress incontinence, and Urge incontinence especially.
Last night I slept through the night and urinated first thing in the morning. I measured 340 mls . I have consistently felt a need to
urinate when I reached 110 mls. Later in the afternoon , I urinated and measured 190 mls. This is a very big improvement . I am
still wearing a pad ,and have some dribbling issues but I have improved a lot in the last few days.
Hamzamale, I don`t want to forget what it was like for me prior to surgery . Life was difficult for me before surgery . Two family
celebrations were interrupted by Acute retention . I had to leave both of them . One ended in the ER , with a catheter.
Acute retention can be very painful and difficult to deal with. I`ve noticed how much less stress I am under as a result of the
anxiety being removed that comes with completely shutting down. I am very grateful to the Drs who worked so hard to
learn this procedure . Keep posting as to your progress , I am interested how you are doing especially since our procedures were
done so close together.
How are you doing jonal ? You should be getting close to the time the pain goes away. It went away abruptly for me. I hope the
same for you.
Hi just me, It is good that you are continuing to progress on the urination front.
I am now 61 days post HOLEP and still experiencing the same pain and perineal discomfort at the end of urination. Perhaps my decision not to take an antibiotic post surgery contributed to this.
As you know I am against precautionary antibiotics. I waited and had a first urine test which was clear. A second urine test a few weeks later was inconclusive. The lab said no infection, but evidence of increased pus cells and blood over the previous one. A third urine test about a week ago indicated an infection, so I commenced a seven day course of 2 X 500 mgs Ciprofloaxicin antibiotic daily. I am at day 5.5 of the antibiotics and still no reduction in the pain.
The pain still builds at the end of urination,and gets more painful when I contract my bladder to expel any remaining urine. Was your pain similar? Did it reduce in severity over time? How many days before it ended?
I am now considering an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen, once my urine tests as being clear.
Hello again just me,
I would be interested to know of your experience when drinking tea or coffee. I don't drink coffee but I assume the result would be the same as for tea.
Before the HOLEP procedure I urinated about 4-6 times within an hour after drinking a mug of tea. It was much the same after a glass of wine. Post HOLEP I lasted for an hour to 90 minutes before urinating and without the above frequency. Now after a mug of tea I seem to have reverted to the same pre HOLEP behaviour This has only been the situation in the past two weeks.
Hi jonal,
I`m sorry to hear of your infection and the resulting pain. As you know I had no problems with infection but did experience pain during and after urinating. The post urination pain lasted about 30 - 60 seconds after the end of urinating.
The pain you describe sounds similar to mine. It did not reduce in severity over time, it stopped abruptly at approx day 50.
I drink a cup of coffee at breakfast and 2 cups after work in the afternoon. I have noticed the same thing with the coffee as you did with tea. My son lives in the UK so we do drink quite a bit of tea. More than the average American.
It seems I`ve made progress in duration and volume only to revert to my old ways from time to time. My Dr said I should measure progress from week to week , not day to day.
Wine, coffee, tea, and beer are diuretics, in other word they have a lot of vitamin " P" ! Coffee seems to work on me more than any of them. I often have a cup of herb tea before bed, as it does not effect me as much. Wine does not bother me so much but a glass of beer will keep my feet busy!
All the best to you
Hello just me and jonal,
I hope that you’re both doing well and continuing to improve .
As for myself , as I said before no blood any more and that was a major concern .
However , I had that persistent itching perineal sensation, similar to yours jonal which in fact turned out to be another infection .
I did another urine test 4 days ago which revealed that infection just like I suspected, so I’m back on antibiotics for 7 days. We shall see.
I haven’t quite made it through the night yet, but I think I’m getting there. Nowadays I get up only once .
My incontinence is getting much better . Yesterday and today I didn’t wear a diaper the whole day and am very pleased with this improvement.
All the best
Hello hamzamale and jonal.
I hope both of you can get your infection cleared up soon . It sounds outside of the infection you are both progressing very well.
I have made some more progress concerning Urge incontinence. I am still experiencing stress incontinence and still need to wear a
pad. There is no more pain ,discolored Urine,or blood. I am sleeping through the night and voiding 300 + mls. in the morning.
I am able to hold off urinating for a few minutes ,but not any longer.
All the best to both of you ,
just me
Hello hamzamale and just me,
It seems that we are all making progress but at a different pace and in different contexts. There is obviously no one situation fits all when it comes to HOLEP. Perhaps the initial physiology at presentation has an influence as well as the surgical techniques.
I completed my 7 day antibiotic course with no change to the pain at all. I therefore commenced with ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. There was an immediate and significant reduction in pain, but I wonder what will happen when I stop them. I am a little concerned that I may have a deep seated prostatitis which can result post HOLEP. Prostatitis can be very difficult to eradicate with both antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. There is a natural broccoli cure for prostatis that I have used successfully in conjunction with antibiotics in the past, which I may resort to.
My flow remains excellent, but I have regressed a little in that I noticed I am dribbling slightly. This was something that had ceased. I also have significant urge at times to which I have to respond to within about 5 minutes or so. My urination frequency has also gone up a bit. Overall my urination parameters are not quite so good as they were initially. This could possibly be put down to infection and or inflammation. I also ceased the pelvic floor exercises just in case that was irritating my prostate. I will have to reinstate them.
However, I am still so grateful that I only get up once during the night and urination only takes about 20 seconds rather than 20 minutes.
I am sure we will all end up in a good place eventually albeit perhaps a little slower for some.:-|
Jonal ,
I’m wondering about your infection . Did you do a urine sensitivity test to see which antibiotic the infection responds to ? ?
In my case I did a urine sensitivity test which came back with several different antibiotics, of which I was given ‘ Highbiotic’ and I already feel the difference after 3 days and still have 4 to go . The itching is already reduced quite considerably . Let me know how you get on ?
All the best
Hamzamale
Hi hamzamale
Thanks for your good advice.
I find that GP's generally, and including those at my surgery, are quite remiss in arranging certain procedures. They never arrange a follow up urine test after a course of antibiotics. This is something I have to request and arrange myself. Similarly they never request the lab to undertake a urine sensitivity test. It is just the usual verification of infection then the use of a broad spectrum antibiotic. I have never been happy about this, but am reluctant to tell them what they should be doing. However, given that I still have some pain and discomfort, I enclosed a note requesting a urine sensitivity test when I handed in my urine sample at Reception. Hopefully the nurse who sends off the samples will comply with my request.
My pain seems to differ from yours. The pain which I have had post op, comes at the end of urination only, then it subsides within about 2 minutes. At the same time I have discomfort in the rectal area which takes longer to subside. It is an irritating dragging down sensation specifically around the rectum, which eventually ceases. I don't have this tickling sensation that you mention.
Best wishes
Hi Jonal ,
While I fully appreciate your point about doctors being a bit careless etc, I quite honestly I don’t see anything wrong in being a bit blunt and explaining your point of view. I hate to intrude , but that’s what I would do if I were in your shoes, especially that it’s such a simple and yet annoying thing. Keep in touch and let me know how you progress.
All the best
Hamzamale
Jonal and Hamzamale,
3 Months and 4 days,
I No longer have Urge incontinence ! I am able to hold off a little when I feel the need to go.
I am still wearing a pad due to stress incontinence .
When at home I have very little issues to deal with.
Thank you Jonal for the encouragement with the pelvic floor exercises, they have really helped.
How are you both coming with your infections?
Jonal ,I understand your point of view on the follow up test. Just like you , I do not like to take antibiotics , so when I do , It has to
be an issue that needs to be dealt with. After taking the step of antibiotics, I feel as you ,that a test should be a given.
I believe many GP`s prescribe so many meds they get used to doing it. This is why we have some of the Superbugs we do.
I hope the best for both of you.
just me