TURP procedure and subsequent incontinence

Hi Daz46  welcome to the forum. That sounds really distressing for you and must be affecting you form going out an about. I dont know enough about this to answer with any certainty and information for you. However, my fellow Champ "Millibob" is very knowledgeable and so are the other lovely people on this thread, whom I feel sure will be along soon to assist you with your query.  I certainly hope that you manage to get some resolution to this for you. Very Best Wishes. 

Hello Daz46 

A warm welcome to the Macmillan online Prostate Community from me too, although I am so sorry to find you here.

I had a TURP operation 2 years ago, my issue being the Prostate had grown reducing my flow (see my profile by clicking on my avatar for full details) and I have had no problems since.

None of us on the forum are medically trained but has your team considered you for AUS (an artificial urinary sphincter) which should help control the flow?

I am not aware of anyone else on the Community with a similar problem (there may well be) and I hope we can come up with some ideas to help.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Daz46

welcome to our group albeit not for great reasons obviously but you’ll find a load of helpful people here.

 I can only tell you about my experience of a radical prostatectomy and the incontinence part. To ease things, before I had my op, about 3 weeks beforehand I started pelvic floor exercises, I then had a break from that for the 11 days that the catheter was fitted, but as soon as it was removed I restarted the pelvic floor exercises and went hard at them totalling 2 to 3 hours per day for the first fortnight post catheter, then after that fortnight I reduced to two half hour sessions per day, by week 12 I was dry, and apart from one silly mistake during that time things weren’t too bad.

Im no medic (and I can’t answer for others who have had the same as me) by any stretch of the imagination but if I had to have the same op over & over, I’d choose this route every time, so from my point of view the incontinence wasn’t as bad as it maybe could have been but that’s maybe due to the way I went about the exercises before & afterwards. 

Whether or not pelvic floor exercise for TURPS procedures would be beneficial, someone more expert than me should answer that question.

Best wishes & good luck

John

Hi Daz, and welcome.

Sorry to hear of your very difficult experience.  This forum is cancer-focussed, so may not be best placed to assist with what is a non-cancer issue, but I can certainly appreciate why you reached out for whatever help may be available.

As a suggestion, for general context it might be useful to add to your profile your age, general health, and pre- and post-TURP prostate volumes, and any other info which you consider may be relevant.  

For what it is worth, which it may not be much, I also had a significant BPH issue, and had to select what I thought was the best procedure for me.  TURP was on my shortlist, and was strongly recommended by my urologist.  However I eventually decided on Aquablation (which I was able to do privately) due to its effectiveness, lower impact and better overall risk profile. 

The published main recovery period for that procedure is a month, with 'full benefit after 3 months'.  My recovery was actually very non-linear, and although the end result was very good it eventually took about four months, and considerable patience and latterly bladder retraining effort, to achieve.  I was aware of the stricture risk, but thankfully avoided it.

I see that your TURP procedure was only 3 months ago, and that unfortunately you have had a stricture along the way, which may well have delayed progress.  So in brief, although I am not able to provide you with any practical advice, I suggest that you 'hang on in there' in the hope that recovery is simply delayed rather than denied.  

All the best for now.  

(disclaimer: no medical expertise - just an amateur on an unwelcome learning curve)

Hello John (JohnyBoy )

Thanks for your reply.

JohnyBoy said:

Whether or not pelvic floor exercise for TURPS procedures would be beneficial, someone more expert than me should answer that question.

The answer to the question is yes, they are beneficial, official guidelines on TURP recovery here:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/transurethral-resection-of-the-prostate-turp/recovery/

Best wishes - Brian.

Hi Daz46, my pathway has been different to yours but the outcome the same. After a radical prostatectomy I was totally urinary incontinent. I was told I had a strong pelvic floor. After research I found the official guidance to be that action could be initiated 6-12 months after the operation. My consultant was very arrogant and only reluctantly referred me for “a second opinion”. I was able to side step and go private and have now had an Artificial Urinary Sphincter fitted. What a game changer! All I can say is do your research and assert yourself. Good luck.

Thank you for your message.

Daz

Thankyou Milibob for your reply.

Daz

Hello John

thankyou for your message and sharing your journey.

i am trying to do Kegals and have had a session with a therapist. You clearly mastered the technique which I find difficult to do consistently and certainly not doing them to that degree.

I think I have a long journey ahead but hope to make a recovery at some point

Daz

Hi Peroni

Thank you for your message.

with hindsight I should of done a lot more research before agreeing to the urologist recommendation for turp but unfortunately none of us can turn back time.

I think I have a long journey ahead my urologist I feel is committed to my recovery and I am waiting for referral to another urologist for consideration of reconstructive surgery at some point.

i am hopeful this can be made a lot better in time if not 100% 

Many thanks

Daz