Hi all,
I had a radical prostatectomy by Da Vinci robot some 10 months ago
and I am still battling with the problem of stress incontinence. Over
recent months I've received and noted some most useful comments and
suggestions from kind members of this excellent NG, and I have been most
grateful to them. However, I'm still puzzling about the relationship
between Kegels and incontinence. Let me explain what I mean :-
I sleep very well usually, although I generally have to make a trip to
the loo (UK term - aka John, can, etc.,) to pee sometime during the
night, but when I wake in the morning the small pad that I wear
overnight is dry.
Each morning, before I get out of bed I've been doing around 15
10-second Kegel clenches as instructed by the urologist. I then get up
and go to the loo to (try and) empty my bladder. Urine flow starts
slowly and runs fairly steadily but I have to 'push' to force out what I
think is the final amount. I'm wondering if doing the Kegels before I
get up may be causing this problem because not long after going
downstairs I need to go back to the loo and I then void a similar amount
again, in the same way.
After going upstairs and downstairs a couple more times shortly after
getting-up my overnight pad will have become very wet, so I change it
for a larger daytime one.
During the day, on a couple of occasions I do another dozen or so
Kegel clenches - providing that I remember, of course (!). However
walking (or even driving the car) for more than a couple of hours
guarantees that I'll have another very wet pad. If I see a toilet when
I'm out I'll go and use it but I only void a spoonful or so of urine.
The physical action of walking seems to automatically 'pump' urine into
any pad that I'm wearing, and I don't even notice that it's happening at
the time.
My bladder never seems to really fill up these days, since each time I
feel that I need to pee I only void very small amounts of urine and
within an hour or so I need to go again. I'm trying to extend the time
between visits but the uncontrolled leakage doesn't help this situation.
I'm currently using about 4 pads a day.
This problem shows no sign of improving as the weeks pass, even though
it's now over 10 months since my operation. I DO KNOW that I should NOT
complain this relatively minor problem (compared to some that I read
about in this NG) since my prostatectomy operation last July was
successful, and subsequent PSA tests to date have all been
'undetectable' and I am SO grateful for that result. However, I'd really
appreciate hearing from anyone who can suggest something that I'm not
doing correctly, or something that I should be doing that might help. I
have told my urologist that I am not at all keen on having any further
surgery which he suggested as a way of correcting this problem.
My sincere thanks to all those who support this excellent NG which has
been really helpful to me both before and since I was diagnosed with
PCa.
TIA - Dave
--
David C.Chapman - (dcchapman@minda.co.uk)
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Kegels and incontinence 10 months after prostatectomy. 
Linear Mode
