Trouble urinating at night

Hi MountPeter , in my simple terms, your prostate is being mushed up. In getting to it, there is irritation in the surrounding tissue which causes some side effects.  It all sounds very normal to me but I would always suggest you talk to your team about any side effects.  I would suggest you limit your liquid intake from 6pm but keep the intake high during the day.  I still get up in the night feeling like I am bursting and sometimes just manage a dribble.  I don’t get the same feeling during the day and can go hours without needing to pee, so I think it is due to being in a lying down position.  Best wishes, David

Hi MountPeter . You must mention this to the radiologists and they will be able to help you. It's most likely that it is just inflammation of the prostate which is squeezing the urethra where is passes through. I'm not medically trained but I was prescribed Tamsulosin when I had the same problem in week three of my 20 sessions of RT. I took it for the remaining sessions of RT and for a couple of months afterwards then my GP called to say that I should stop taking it but gradually reduce the dose over a week or two.

Hi MauntPeter,

My husband had problems urinating within two days after the first session of RT. It was like a block for few hours and then it started to come out. As the guys said, speak to your RT team, they heard it all before.

With my husband it sorted itself out and his flow was back after 24 hours. His RT team recommended to take normal paracetamol. The rt team said that the prostate became inflamed and this what causing it.

His flow is normal now ( 2 months after finish the RT) but at night he has to go every hour. 

I hope it will all sorted out for you.

Lots of love

Dafna

Dafna, Jacob should not be peeing every hour at night. Knowing you, you will have tried all the usual tricks of limiting liquids in the evening, caffeine, alcohol so maybe it is time to speak to your doctor about some tablets to help out short term, otherwise you are both going to get very tired. There are also some bladder training exercises like holding off going for a minute using the pelvic floor muscles and gradually building the time up. Very often the body gets into a routine of needing to void so breaking it for a short time with sleeping tablets can also help.

Enjoy your summer weather at the moment - you can have some of our heat.

I am nervous about commenting here, because I don't have the experience of others and my report is odd.

My visits to the loo match your own, but usually twice a night, about 3 hours apart. This started before my diagnosis.

I am not having radiotherapy, that is to come. I am on Zoladex.

I do have a very enlarged prostate (121cc) referred to as "chunky" by the oncologist and "enormous" by the nurse who did my biopsy.

The reason for me writing this is because my lovely wife has exactly the same kind of symptoms.

She has a vaginal prolapse which causes a sizeable bulge.

Both of us find that waiting, and standing up for a relatively short time ease the problem. When we get up in the morning the problem vanishes.

So, in my case the medics have laid the blame on the size of the prostate.

My wife and I have formed a theory.

When we lay down and sleep our organs arrange themselves accordingly. That interferes with the clear flow through the urethra. When we stand up and move around, everything jiggles back into a different position.

So, you now have a completely uneducated and unscientific thought, which I am submitting in case it is any help.

My oncologist, drawing attention to the size of my prostate, told me that I would be on the HT for 6 months, to shrink it in preparation for RT.

I really hope that helps.

Hi Ah,

Yes you are right. We spoke to the urologist few days ago and he is sending over some measuring tools to check the amount and give him exact quantities etc. However, this is the urologist who gave Jacob the Fenesteride and miss the cancer, reassuring us that nothing wrong with him 6 months before the bomb thrown at us. So I am not trusting him although Jacob says we have to let it go. Sometimes, I cannot do this ( letting go). He is still doing the floor exercise but it does not help.

Do you think sleeping tablets will help in the short term?

No, I do not want your heat! 

Lots of love

Dafna

Insomnia can be a root cause of nocturia. The sleeping tablets for a short time might help but make sure that Jacob wears a pad to prevent any accidents at night. I give my husband just a half tablet for 3 or 4 nights and this is enough to get him back into a sleeping routine and only getting up once in the night instead of 3 or 4 times.

The after effects of the radiotherapy could also be a cause. I take it you have ruled out a urinary infection.

Thank you AH!

Have a lovely weekend!

Hi MountPeter,

It was near the end of week 2 of my RT when I started having the same problem & seemed as if I was getting up almost hourly during the night for a pee coupled with poor flow & slow starting.  I mentioned it the following day when having my next fraction & was initially advised to try not having anything to drink after 6pm but that made little difference.  I was then proscribed tamsulosin tablets (which help relax the muscles / tubes involved) & these seemed to do the trick & I was only then waking once or twice each night so had a much more restful sleep.

I found I only needed to take a tablet every 2 or 3 nights to get the benefit & was slowly lengthening the frequency to do without them.  Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago I suffered a kidney stone (boy is that painful) & am now temporarily back on the tablets daily for a month in the hope that I will be able to pass the stone naturally.

Best advice to you is to tell the radiologists what's happening at night so they can support you.

Hope all goes well with your remaining sessions.

Brian