Frequent urination during the night after radiotherapy

Good evening. Thank you for coming here and hopefully we can offer you some reassurance. 

I am currently coming to the end of a course of radiotherapy and my nighttime habits have gone from once a night, sometimes not at all if I'm on a good night, to every 2 hours. 

I could fully understand that it would get your husband down because it's driving me crazy. 

I was also aware that it would be a possible side effect and that it will last for a period of time after the end of the radiotherapy. 

At the moment, I am in the grin and  bear it stage, but have a review with the radiographers on Monday when I will be raising as a possible problem. If anything comes out of that, I will add it to the list..

I would also say that, had this stage of the radiotherapy, I am encountering fatigue and the two of the things taken together are wearing me down. 

However, I'm also hanging in there remembering what this is curing and I think it's useful from time to time just to put in front of yourself what it is you're trying to do. 

My best wishes to yourself and your husband. 

Steve

Hi Pots , I've had similar issues after completing radiotherapy, and for me the solution was bladder training. I've wrote a post about this a few months ago - Bladder re-training 

Hope this helps.

G

Hello Pots 

Radiotherapy can affect the number of times you get up and go to the toilet - usually it's a short term problem and clears up a few weeks after Radiotherapy. I am 69, had 3 years Hormone  Therapy, Radiotherapy in the middle of this and also a TURP operation to help my flow.  I am still up 2/3 times in the night for a pee.

I have talked to my team and they came up with a number of suggestions - cut out fizzy drinks, alcohol, coffee, don't drink anything after 6 pm - however none of them worked.

My GP has suggested it's a combination of old age and treatment that is the cause and has put me on medication about a month ago - there has been a slight improvement - however I am one of those "lucky" ones who gets up - goes - and am back to sleep in 30 seconds.

Honest opinion - chat to your GP about the issues - it's a very common problem.

Best wishes - Brian.

 Pots I went up to 5 to 6 times a night.

Finally after 3 years I finally got Tamsulosin prescribed.  Down to once now (touchwood).

Thank you for all your replies. It’s good to know so men of you are having similar problems. I’ll speak to my husband about what you’ve said. Very interesting to hear about the exercises. I know we’re nearly at the end of our journey but still worrying so much that the cancer will flare up again. Good luck and best wishes to you all. Pots

Haven't started my radiotherapy yet, hopefully early into March,  I'm already having to get up 2 or 3 times a night so my doctor prescribed me Trasulosin to try, can't say it's helped at all 

My husband is on solifenacin. It doesn’t seem to make any difference either. Hope everything goes well for you

I know Tamsulosin doesn't work for everyone, hopefully things will quieten down through the nights for you.

After radiotherapy I was up 6 or more times during the night, I've always been a light sleeper so waking up so many times made me extremely tired, along with the effects, on me, from the hormone therapy my mental wellbeing crashed, but I read that using a bottle to pee in at night might help. It has helped me amazingly, last night I only woke twice for a pee, my brain is getting back to normal.I have a small night light at the side of the bed so don't disturb else.

Keeping myself busy all day long is a great help mentality and physically.

At last my doctor agreed to do the blood test that I should have had before starting my treatment on hormone therapy. 

I went to the doctor's with a sore hip and leg after falling down some icy steps, he suspected something else might be causing my sore hip so took a blood test for a PSA which turned out to have doubled in 13 months to 6.1, the next blood test was after radiotherapy  in mid January giving a reading of 5, the online consultant said it was fine. I haven't had a face to face meeting with my consultant, all three being ten minutes nearme session on line.

I badgered my doctor into taking the blood tests mentioned in the leaflet that I eventually got when having my second 6 monthly hormone injection, yesterday I was told that all is ' fine', again,  I am still waiting for blood test to see if I'm diabetic, I'm 76 yo and being diagnosed with prostate cancer was mind shattering.

My mother  and two brothers and a sister had diabetes. 

I only know one other who has had prostate cancer and he's diagnoses was much the same as mine, 9 years on he tells me it does get better, it does.

The bottle at night has been a godsend.

As long as you don't drink Lucozade...

It does honestly get better.  I would have been shot if I had a bottle at the bed.

The frightening thing is what if you are a heavy sleeper?  Would you wake up...

I always tried to make a joke about it at the time.  I used to be checking my Macmillan online forum in the middle of the night.