1 year post FLA update
Posted , 10 users are following.
Hey guys, I hope everybody is well, and having a MERRY CHRISTMAS? I have not done an update for a while, mostly because nothing has really changed. It seems that after 13 months post FLA I would have to say I am worse now than prior to the procedure. My flow is about the same as before, but the dribbling afterward is much worse, I also now have almost complete retro grade ejaculation, which I NEVER had before, not even while taking the medications which normally cause it. I still get up to pee at least 2 times per night,but sometimes 3 times. I know some guys say the retro ejaculation does not bother them, but to me it is a real bummer, sex just has not been anywhere nearly as enjoyable since the procedure.
The only good news I can report is that after several years of trying I seem to have gotten my prostatitis under control, if not cured. Thanks to an open minded Dr. who specializes in chronic Lyme disease treatment. I have not had any prostate pain, nor infection for several months now, so cautiously optimistic there.
I am not sure what if anything I may try next, considering having an cystoscope performed just to see if there is a blockage of some type that could be causing the retro.
Also as some of you might recall, my brother had the procedure performed a year ago this month, and he has similar results to mine, including the retro ejaculation. He was a part of the "study".
As always I am open to anyones ideas or suggestions. I certainly do not post this to trash the procedure, but to give information to others. Since I had already tried PAE with no success I knew there was a possibility this would not work either.
And just to remind everybody, I am 55 with a relatively small,hard prostate 43 gms. History of prostate infections. I did not qualify for urolift, due to large median lobe(which DR K said he did not see). Failed PAE IN 2016, failed FLA in OCT 2017.
DR K seems to be a great DR who cares a lot about his patients, but I have emailed a couple times and called once over the last several months, but got no reply.
I will update if anything changes, or I have a scope performed.
Thanks
0 likes, 28 replies
hank1953 joe74831
Posted
Thanks Joe for sharing. Do you have retention ? If yes, how much ?
joe74831
Posted
Hello Hank, I do retain some I can feel, but have no idea how much. I have not had any testing done since the procedure.
thanks JOE
hank1953 joe74831
Posted
Hi Joe, what are your current problems? I've been looking into results of Urolift. Other than having a very low risk of retro, which you already have, Urolift does not give very good results, even when it works, which it does not very often. Hank
lew82832 joe74831
Posted
What is FLA ? Thanks
Tim-B lew82832
Posted
Lew - FLA stands for Focal Laser Ablation. There are not many practitioners in the US as it isn't yet covered by most insurance, including Medicare. It is performed by interventional radiologists using an MRI to position the laser and track the progress of the ablation. There are some videos and more information you can find by doing a web search on the procedure name, if interested. It is approved by the FDA and has been used more for other forms of cancer (brain, liver, etc). A few doctors have used it for prostate cancer for 6+ years (maybe a little more) and fairly recently (~2 years) some have being using it to treat BPH. I had it for both.
emil54651 joe74831
Posted
Hi Joe,
Surprised to hear in this thread that two people having the FLA procedure have retro-ejaculation. From Dr. K I understood that this would not happen. I seriously considered it, but then had treatment with Dr. G and he recommended PAE / Rezum. I did well practically from early on, except a few incidents with incontinence in the first two months. I do Kegel exercises, exercise in general. After reading many comments of men on this, I think every person is so different and surgery is every time a new challenge for any urologist. There must be many variables which play a role in every case.
Good luck to you all!