Long term use of Flomax?

Day 25 of seeding recovery. I stopped taking Flomax 4 days ago, but am now
getting up 4-5 times nightly again. Started taking Flomax again today, and
relief! My urologist wanted me to stop after 20 days, but I feel as if I
still need it. I still have six days left on the original prescription. He
said to call the office if I needed a refill. Several searches turned up
nothing about long term use. It's cheap under my drug plan, but is it
addictive or damaging to other organs? Confusing signals from the
urologist? Take it? Don't take it?

On Jan 25, 10:40 pm, "3Putt from South Carolina" <3putt@secoastofsc>
wrote:
> Day 25 of seeding recovery. I stopped taking Flomax 4 days ago, but am now
> getting up 4-5 times nightly again. Started taking Flomax again today, and
> relief! My urologist wanted me to stop after 20 days, but I feel as if I
> still need it. I still have six days left on the original prescription. He
> said to call the office if I needed a refill. Several searches turned up
> nothing about long term use. It's cheap under my drug plan, but is it
> addictive or damaging to other organs? Confusing signals from the
> urologist? Take it? Don't take it?

I used it for about 3-4 months. Didn't notice any ill effects.

My prescription was for two pills a day. I weaned
myself off of it gradually, first trying to do one pill a day.
When I was finally able to do that I tried one pill every
two days. After a while on that I was able to get off
altogether.

Alan

On January 25, 3Putt from South Carolina wrote:

> Day 25 of seeding recovery. I stopped taking Flomax 4 days ago, but am now
> getting up 4-5 times nightly again. Started taking Flomax again today, and
> relief! My urologist wanted me to stop after 20 days, but I feel as if I
> still need it. I still have six days left on the original prescription. He
> said to call the office if I needed a refill. Several searches turned up
> nothing about long term use. It's cheap under my drug plan, but is it
> addictive or damaging to other organs? Confusing signals from the
> urologist? Take it? Don't take it?

3Putt is asking a group of non-professionals for medical advice as to
whether to take a medication. Any of us who presumed to give him such
advice would be dangerous, and 3Putt would be foolish to follow it.

I recommend checking http://www.rxlist.com/ where I don't find any
cautions on the points raised by 3Putt.

And calling the manufacturer.

I don't understand what is meant by "confusing signals from the
urologist." Seems to me that it is the professional duty of the uro to
answer the patient's questions.

Also: there are other similar meds that should have essentially the same
effect. Ask the uro.

Regards,

Steve J





>
>

I am telling you that I have been on Flomax for 45 months - 2 times a day.
There is little to no concern about any addictiveness or damage to other
organs.

In fact, I just got a new Rx for another year's supply.

Gourd dancer
"3Putt from South Carolina" <3putt@secoastofsc> wrote in message
news:45b9781a$0$18857$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Day 25 of seeding recovery. I stopped taking Flomax 4 days ago, but am
> now getting up 4-5 times nightly again. Started taking Flomax again
> today, and relief! My urologist wanted me to stop after 20 days, but I
> feel as if I still need it. I still have six days left on the original
> prescription. He said to call the office if I needed a refill. Several
> searches turned up nothing about long term use. It's cheap under my drug
> plan, but is it addictive or damaging to other organs? Confusing signals
> from the urologist? Take it? Don't take it?
>

"3Putt from South Carolina" <3putt@secoastofsc> wrote in message
news:45b9781a$0$18857$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Day 25 of seeding recovery. I stopped taking Flomax 4 days ago, but am
> now getting up 4-5 times nightly again. Started taking Flomax again
> today, and relief! My urologist wanted me to stop after 20 days, but I
> feel as if I still need it. I still have six days left on the original
> prescription. He said to call the office if I needed a refill. Several
> searches turned up nothing about long term use. It's cheap under my drug
> plan, but is it addictive or damaging to other organs? Confusing signals
> from the urologist? Take it? Don't take it?
>Thanks for the input guys. As far as confusing signals: The urologist
>just wasn't clear on continuing to take it/quit taking it/ or wean yourself
>off of it. No, I wouldn't take the advice of non-doctors. I would
>certainly check back with the urologist if problems continued. Like most
>of us, I was seeking opinions based on experience, not professional advice.
>Isn't this how the drug companies build on their statistics?

On Jan 25, 10:55 pm, Steve Jordan <mycrofts...@cox.net> wrote:

> 3Putt is asking a group of non-professionals for medical advice as to
> whether to take a medication. Any of us who presumed to give him such
> advice would be dangerous, and 3Putt would be foolish to follow it.

We're not prescribing Flomax. I'm telling him what happened to me,
what my doc's said, how I am doing.

The 1st month after seeding was the hardest for me. I was getting up 3
and 4 times a night to pee, about every hour and a half. It was the
same during the day. Every hour to hour and a half, I was taking a
comfort break.

My office was 30 minutes from home, I never had to pull over, jump the
guard rail, and run for the woods. My desk was 20 feet from the men's
room. I'd get up, walk a few steps, and dribble for a minute.

I was on Flomax for exactly 6 months after seeding.

At the 6 month exam, the rad doc at INOVA asked me if I felt I needed
to take it longer.

If *I* felt that *I* needed it.

I told him that I was sleeping through the night. Although my stream
was still weaker than normal, I pointed at the far wall of his
examining room, I could write my name there.

At 18 months, I had some stinging and burning while going and my stream
slowed down. I was still sleeping through the night.

Once again, the caring docs at INOVA asked me, if *I* felt *I* needed
to go back on Flomax. I told them that as long as I was sleeping
through the night and could write my name on the wall five feet away,
I'd defer on the medication.

At 27 months, I still have some burning and urgency. Once a week or
two, I'll pass a few drops of pink-ish urine. Once a month, I'll pee a
teeny-tiny blood clot. This has been going on since month 18.

I don't expect 3Putt to take any action from my comments but perhaps he
will feel emboldened to speak with his docs.

-kh

On Jan 25, 8:40 pm, "3Putt from South Carolina" <3putt@secoastofsc>
wrote:
> Day 25 of seeding recovery. I stopped taking Flomax 4 days ago, but am now
> getting up 4-5 times nightly again. Started taking Flomax again today, and
> relief! My urologist wanted me to stop after 20 days, but I feel as if I
> still need it. I still have six days left on the original prescription. He
> said to call the office if I needed a refill. Several searches turned up
> nothing about long term use. It's cheap under my drug plan, but is it
> addictive or damaging to other organs? Confusing signals from the
> urologist? Take it? Don't take it?

Hi 3Putt...One thing to file away is that Flomax needs to be
discontinued prior to cataract surgery...Best wishes and good health,
ron

FDA APPROVES LABEL CHANGE FOR FLOMAX FOLLOWING REPORT OF CATARACT
SURGERY COMPLICATIONS.
The FDA has approved a label change for Flomax and other prostate drugs
warning that taking the drug may complicate cataract surgery in male
patients. The action came after results of a study showed a connection
between the incidence of Intraoperative Floppy Iris Syndrome (IFIS)
during cataract surgery and the patients' use of a prostate drug. The
FDA then asked surgeons to track the incidence of IFIS in cataract
patients on Flomax and other prostate drugs such as Hytrin, Cardura and
Uroxatral and to report verified cases. While Flomax does not affect
vision or eye health, it does block the dilator muscle in the iris;
during cataract surgery, the pupil must be dilated. A patient with IFIS
will not only have a poorly dilating pupil but will also have an iris
that behaves erratically during cataract surgery, increasing the risk
of complications. Dr. Chang suggests that cataract surgeons inquire
specifically about prior use of Flomax, since IFIS can occur several
years after the drug has been discontinued.

On January 26, "kh" replied to me, in pertinent part:

> We're not prescribing Flomax. I'm telling him what happened to me,
> what my doc's said, how I am doing.

3Putt's explicit questions were, "Take it? Don't take it?" Clearly, that
was a request for advice on whether to take a certain medication or not.

Recitation of anecdotes, while as I have written many times is sometimes
interesting but IMO of little concrete benefit, is not the same thing as
telling a patient what medication(s) he should take.

Regards,

Steve J

"What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the facts?
Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget 'what the
stars foretell,' avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think,
never mind the unguessable 'verdict of history' -- what are the
facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an
unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!"
--Lazarus Long

On Jan 26, 12:12 pm, Steve Jordan <mycrofts...@cox.net> wrote:
> On January 26, "kh" replied to me, in pertinent part:
>
> > We're not prescribing Flomax. I'm telling him what happened to me,
> > what my doc's said, how I am doing.3Putt's explicit questions were, "Take it? Don't take it?" Clearly, that
> was a request for advice on whether to take a certain medication or not.
>
> Recitation of anecdotes, while as I have written many times is sometimes
> interesting but IMO of little concrete benefit, is not the same thing as
> telling a patient what medication(s) he should take.

That's true. It's not the same thing.

I was telling him what happened to me. As for any benefit, that's up to
him to decide.

-kh known purveyor of many anecdotes, mostly about gorgeous, high
libido women.