Bladder training and PTNS (percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation) alternative to prostate procedure

PTNS is new to me, can't comment there.  But until you have enough info to make a choice, I would recommend CIC (cathing), which I and others on this forum are doing pending finding a reliable choice.  I cath before bedtime, and unless I've been drinking alcohol or too much water late in the evening, I sleep through the night.  Yes, through the night.  Going to bed with an empty bladder gives one a head-start on that possibility!

I looked up some terms:Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) is a minimally invasive neuromodulation treatment marketed by Uroplasty, Inc. for use in overactive bladder and associated symptoms of urinary urgency, urinary frequency and urge incontinence when more conservative measures have failed. 

Not sure if this would relate to my problem which is, I think, a combination of two things; weakened bladder by overfilling and an obstruction of my urethra most likely enlarged prostate.  For years weak flow; urgency, waking at night; culminating in overflow incontinence which has gone away since I started CIC.  Don't know if this relates but one of the best pees I"ve had since I can remember followed a short ride on my ATV which the seat, of course, goes between my legs and there is a lot of vibration.  I often wondered if that vibrating down there helped.

Hi Tom,

Don't know a whole lot about PTNS but I would think that you should first try the more conventional therapies for overactive bladder such as Kegels and timed bladder retraining, or maybe you have? Also, in addition to overactive bladder your retention numbers show you also have underactive bladder as well which would be an independent factor with your nocturia in addition to overactive bladder. Not sure if PTNS will help or actually make that worse.

In an event, I suggest you do a 24 hour void log before you start anything so you can track your progress. Just write down the time and amount of each void.

Jim

 

PTNS sends electrical stimulation along the tibial nerve to the bladder and helps the issue of overactive bladder. My uro believes that a lot of prostate treatments to improve flow and reduce the issue of frequency/urgency are really bladder issues similar to overactive bladder syndrome and further prostate treatments, like Urolift, Greenlight and TURP might not help and actually could make things worse. 

An update on my bladder training progress that everyone here should find interesting and hopefully useful.

I am not scheduled for my first PTNS treatment for several weeks, so I decided to work on retraining my bladder to hold more urine before triggering the urge to go to the bathroom. Prior to last week, I would go to the bathroom every time I felt the need to pee - and that was about every hour to hour and a half. When I measured the flow it was usually about 75ml, sometimes less, sometimes more. Then, I started to do the opposite - trying to hold in the urine for as long as possible before running to the bathroom. My average flow is now almost twice what it was before, and a couple of times I have achieved a 250ml output "record". This was in the early morning after waking up. I have been able to almost double the amount of time I can "hold it" and have been able to sleep longer than before without waking up. So, I have cut my trips to the bathroom from about 5-6 per night to 3-4. Doesn't sound like much, but I am feeling better when I am finally up. The rate of flow is still slow - less than 4ml/second - normal is 20-21ml/second in the average male. So, I am still blocked, but at least I can sleep longer and believe I could sit through an entire movie if I go to a movie theater.

In a few weeks I will start my PTNS treatment and perhaps that will help me to last even longer before triggering my urge to pee. After that I am scheduling a second PAE to help increase the flow since I still believe my primary issue is that I am being blocked by my large prostate, as are most here on this forum.