Frequent urination after surgery

I find the same thing. Again I've tried drinking less after 830. Alcohol has a negative affect as expected. I also some is physcological, I wake and since  the feeling for requiring toilet has changed, I go just in case, laking confidence. 

Look at bladder retraining, trying to ensure you train the bladder to hold more and gain confidence in your bladder ability to hold

Good luck

Although I didn't have a prostatectomy I have bladder problems so still get up to urinate during the night.  I only ever drink decaff tea and coffee and do not drink anything after 6pm - apart from water with tablets.  My urologist told me that elevating my feet during the evening may help as it would make all the fluid drain up and make me want to urinate a lot in the evenings and it does.  Quite often I can get up 5 or 6 times a night but when I am able to follow this advice I find it goes down to 2 or 3 times.  Anything is worth a try it may work for you.  You are probably on tablets for this and it may be that you are on the same ones you were on before your prostatectomy and they could need changing.  I have been on many different ones and none have really worked because i have an overactive bladder.  I have had a great improvement since being put on furesemide for my heart problems as I was collecting fluid in my ankles.  I take this early morning and then probably go to the loo 3 times or more within the first hour but generally get up fewer times in the night - I am not for a minute advising you to go on this it is just a silver lining to my heart problem!

Hello JoBu. 

You would expect some incontinence immediatety after surgery, I don't know if you did.  I had to wear incontinence pads for at least two  months, especially at night.   Now 7 years on, I don't need pads but I still have some minor leaks, e.g. when crouching down with a full bladder.  Some men never regain full control at all

It  sounds as if you have  regained sone control, but possibly not full control.  If you did the Kegel exercises before and after surgery I suggest you carry on with these.  When you do wee also, don't  just let it flow, stop and start.  I found this helpful with control.

There is another possibility, if you have any of the following symptoms,

1. a little difficultly starting to wee
2. don't feel as if you've completely emptied your bladder
3. Not a good flow, no stream more of a trickle
4. And especially if the flow splits in two!

If this is the case you may have a urethral strIcture,   this is due to scarring of the urethra following the surgery and it's creating a partial blockage, (like an enalarged prostate gland would do).  I have expereinced this myself, but it has mainly eased and doesn't cause me a problem.

The other possibility is that you have coincidentally, or because of surgery developed an unstable  bladder.  There is some medication that can help with an unstable bladder if that is the case, but it would need to be investigatede first,.  I know about this since I was investigated myself many years ago, but in my case nothing was found.  I was given the medication to relax my bladder because I was suffering prostatitis.

Mention it to your urologist at your next follow up appointment, or see your GP if it's causing problems.

JoBu

I have found some information that suggests in some men, nocturia can increase after Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy or Robot Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomy.

So this seems to be fairly normal.

It is more so if you suffered symptoms pre-operatively i,e, frequency, urgency and nocturia.

Thank you all for the input, I appreciate it. Today I met with my practitioner, who prescribed medication to improve urinary flow. She fears I have a stricture, which we will test for in a few weeks if there is no improvement with the medication.

JoBU. 

I suspect the medication is an "alpha blocker" e.g. Alfuzosin

This is given either to increase flow or for unstable (iiritable) bladder..

I also found a herb “Saw Palmetto” helpful, it was for inflammation, but it may help you.

If the medication doesn’t work, I can’t say what the next step may be. 

Only to say, if it is a stricture there are various treatment options available.

Thanks again Uroboros. The medication is an alpha blocker. If that doesn't improve the problem the next step is for a urethral scope procedure to check for a stricture. There are a couple surgical treatment options for strictures, but I'm hopeful not to need one. I'm only 6 months past my surgery, so my practitioner is hopeful I'll still continue to improve without intervention.

Hello again

I did supect a "cystoscopy" would be the  next step. 

That in itself might relieve a stricture if there is one.  Also, it's best to avoid any further intervention as much as possible

There may still be some inflammation around after six months, so yes, things could settle more. 

I did have a bit of a stricture at one time, largely because I had a massive infection "up there" after surgery, catheter removal postponed twice, constant bleeding for several weeks, re-admitted to hospital twice, IV antibiotics etc.

Let's keep our fingers crossed the alpha blocker works!