1. Community
  2. Men's health
  3. Prostate Problems

Green Light treatment for BPH.

Posted , 13 users are following.

kirk43
kirk43

Has anyone had this treatment and what was your experience with this treatment? Iam a new member.

 

0 likes, 32 replies

32 Replies

Next
  • kenneth1955
    kenneth1955 kirk43

    Posted

    Welcome to the forum Kirk.  Green Light is very good for some men.  What ever you do you have to look at the full thing.  What are the benefits and side effects.  Do you have any concerns with retro ejaculation.  Also look at how many patients he has done and talk with a few.   Was this the only procedure you were offered It is also good to get a second opinion.  Good luck in your search  Ken   
    • kirk43
      kirk43 kenneth1955

      Posted

      Tks kenneth, I had Laser treatment for PC 3 years ago, So. I was really interested in Green Light. I like to do my own research as I Find some med people are overly fond of their specialities. None of em liked the idea that I wanted Laser Treatment.
  • Sansrx
    Sansrx kirk43

    Posted

    GreenLaser aka PVP, or any other procedure. The uro who works on you

    determines the outcome.

    • kirk43
      kirk43 Sansrx

      Posted

      Tks Sansrx, The Uro who works on me will have my complete confidence or he won't work on me!.

       

    • derek76
      derek76 kirk43

      Posted

      I was my Uro's eighth patient in the  trial and about the 36th for the team in 2004. The equipment has since gone through at least three upgrades. 

  • jay111
    jay111 kirk43

    Posted

    Here's a guy that gave a weekly sort of 'diary' as to his experience during recovery after his Greenlight... His outcome was good, great flow... although he did have a meatal stenosis post surgery, and also has retrograde ejaculation. He doesn't seem to mind about the retro though.

    https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pvp-greenlight-12-6-16-my-experience--551713?

    Cheers-J

    • kirk43
      kirk43 jay111

      Posted

      Hi  Jay111 they said the post of 12/6/16 is too old to show now. Thanks for your help. If you have heard of any good new  treatments for BPH  i would like to hear of them. I had laser for PC 3 years ago and it was a great treatment, no side effects, no downtime, and no pain.

       

    • jay111
      jay111 kirk43

      Posted

      Hi Kirk- For me when I click on the link it goes to the correct page and it reads at the top "This discussion has been locked due to a period of inactivity"... which means that you can no longer comment on it, but ALL of the info, previous comments, are still there. Scroll down a little bit and it should all be there... Cheers- J

  • derek76
    derek76 kirk43

    Posted

    I was a patient for it in 2004 in a UK trial when I was 69. I had a 75 grn prostate and had waited for a good laser procedure to get here. No pain overnight Done on a Friday afternoon and catheter out the next morning.. With an empty bladder it took me about six hours to pee and it gushed out red. That lessened as the day went on but as I was sill retaining and had a long train journey home they kept me for another night until I was only retaining 50 mls. I felt fine was up a few tines that night. Life was really  back to normal and I went to the races on the Monday. Had several cups of coffee during the afternoon and was surprised that unlike before I did not go to the toilet several times during the afternoon just once before going home. No urgency and just a spurt of red at the beginning of urination and only one biggish clot a few weeks later. My flow was not a good as I had expected but that was not a problem and I still had the habit of wakening to go during the night but not as often as before.  I had a check for retention after a month and it was described as minimal. My median lobe had not been the problem area and the team did a bladder neck sparing procedure so I did not have retro. My prostate gradually regrew to 135 grms by 2013 when I had a  Thulium/Holmium procedure that is similar to Holep. That did lead to Retro but it had already started when taking Tamsulosin. .
    • kirk43
      kirk43 derek76

      Posted

      tks for your reply derek76. I did a trial for prostate cancer 3 years ago, Focal Laser Ablation, here in Texas. Cancer free since.Still have my prostate as the laser took the cancer only. And still have the BPH. I use Tamsolosin. Please describe your experience with the other procedures you did 2013 and after.Including the bladder neck sparing. I was in England 1962 thru 1965 RAF chicksands and also high wycombe. Loved it.

       

    • derek76
      derek76 kirk43

      Posted

      The 2013 procedure was also a successful one but as I had been taking Warfarin I bled more and they sent me home with a catheter in. It was supposed to be left in for a week but due to a misunderstanding it was left in for two uncomfortable weeks. It was blood tinged all of that time but crystal clear a soon as it was removed.The surgeon took away 80 grms of tissue and 37 grms was sent off to histology and no cancer cells were found. My PSA went down from around 8.0 to 0.74 and retention was zero. Again my flow was not as good as I had hoped for and no reason has been found for that. For other reasons I sleep badly and get up twice in the night and go to the toilet then. During the day I have no urgency and can drink as much as I want.

      I meet a lot of Americans who were stationed in the UK with good memories of their time here.  

    • kirk43
      kirk43 derek76

      Posted

      My guess on the slow flow is the size of the prostate. They took 80 grams of tissue and 80 grams is considered  very swollen for the Prostate itself! I have urgenc a lot of mornings, and sometimes during the day without much warning. I do not want to wear pads, So I am looking to choose a treatment and get on with it fairly soon.Like you my PSA is around 7 or 8 and it drives my Dr nuts. I explain to him that I had laser for the cancer and I have a 3T MRI every year to detect reoccurance. I heard him mumble once, I don't think you had any cancer treatment. LOL

       

  • william10248
    william10248 kirk43

    Posted

    I had it with excellent results: no RE, no retention, great flow and great stopping power.  Outpatient basis with catheter over night.  Minimal to no bleeding and urgency for a few weeks.  I would recommend with an experienced surgeon.
    • kirk43
      kirk43 william10248

      Posted

       tks William, If that is your birthdate, you are about 5 years younger than I. nOTE MY 43. You did really well. I had Focal Laser Ablation 3 years ago for PC. Tamsolosin makes my BPH bearable but there are problems with travel and such, so I am looking for the best treatment with the least side effects such as the FLA treatment was.
  • keith42667
    keith42667 kirk43

    Posted

    I was just taken aback when I was finally began treatment for incontinence.  I put up with that very uncomfortable condition for a few weeks before we finally figured out that I was retaining a lot of urine even after my frequent visits to the john.  My bladder nerves evidently were not function anymore (probably because of a stretched out bladder) and I didn't feel it; didn't feel the 500 or 600 cc that I was retaining.  Then I got a uti and did two rounds of antibiotics.  My GP was telling me that once the A/Bs got rid of the prostititus my prostate would shrink back enough so I could empty.  At least that's what I understood him to say.  

    Of course that didn't happen and when I finally got in to see the Urologist he saw me for about ten minutes and did another digital exam and then scheduled me for a preop in two weeks and the GL laser the next week.  I have never tried any of the alpha blockers or any drugs up to that point except for some herbs.  I had no idea my condition was that bad but when they cathed me I was holding @1600 ml and couldn't even get out a drop - that is until I fell asleep.  So I can maybe think that the Dr. thought this was urgent; but he sent me out with a GL broshure and a GL DVD which went over how great the procedure is with none of the downsides.  I asked the urologist while I was there if it "left any scarring or anything like that".  He said a definite no.  So, when I had to self-cath for about two weeks waiting for surgery I found myself thinking "I'm not ready for this"  I wonder if I could just do this for awhile because it felt so wonderful to be fully emptying my bladder.  The incontinence stopped (it was overflow incontinence) and I was unsure about surgeons and lasers.  We had a procedure done on my wife for endometriosis in the early '90s and I wasn't at all happy the way that came out.  The procedure didn't work but the laser surgeon got his money.  

    I don't know,  I still haven't done anything yet.  Cathing does get kind of cumbersome and tedious sometimes but at least everything else is still untouched until some of the new procedures become mainstream.  I took to cathing pretty easily and the hydrophilic disposable catheters are easy to use.  Haven't gotten another UTI since the original one where I was retaining lots of stale urine.

     

    • dennis47445
      dennis47445 keith42667

      Posted

      keith, I had three surgeries so far on my prostate within 14 years,or around there.  I am doing self-cathing now, because after my third turp, I couldn't urinate.  complete retention.  With self-cathing, it feels great!  I think to myself, what if I had not done the third turp, and instead  did self-cathing, would I be better off?  If I had known  then, what I know now, I would have skipped the third turp, and go to  self-cathing.  No damage to the prostate, by surgery, and with the catheter, I can empty my bladder completely, and again, it feels great!!!

       

    • des89335
      des89335 keith42667

      Posted

      Hi Keith

      I am 61 years old and had a similar situation to what you have experienced but had Turp op a few weeks ago .  Initially I was put into ER after I retained over 1 litre of urine in my bladder that I couldn't pee out, after an ultrasound result.

      They drained me and put catheter in which I had in for 2 months all together .Went on to using a Bard Tap Valve after 1 month which was a god send and got rid of the bag and was  able to  fill my bladder again. I had to make sure I emptied out every 3 hours and disinfected the valve every day although I used 3 alternating. I did get a couple of infections along the way which was treated with antibiotics and anti fungal medicines.

      Had the op all went well and was let out of hospital after 2 days once I proved I had a low retention in my bladder.

      The surgeon told me after a blood test on day one my GFR was down to 29 and before the the op it was at 40 .

      This was a bit of a concern, as previously because I had the BPE for some time (5years) I was told that I had damaged my kidneys because of having a fullish bladder for such a long time.

      The renal specialist said because my case was so extreme I had lost about 30% of my kidney function because of the back pressure from the retention of so much urine in my bladder.My urine was not being expelled from the kidneys and basically it was poisoning me. He told me I was on a downward spiral and some kidney function once lost is gone forever,so luckily I was having the op to fix my problems.

      Anyway after a CT scan and other test at the hospital they worked out I had a infection from the op and that  op trauma  were to blame . Also want to mention the hospital experience was quite good abeit lack of sleep and lots of drips and testing .Met some nice nurses and staff and was treated very well.

      Eventually after a couple of weeks of rest  my  kidneys went back to normal and are as good as they probably will ever be which they say is ok as long as I be kind to them.

      Still after 3 weeks have a bit of blood in my urine which seems worse at night but at least I can pee freely and only get up a of couple of times to pee during the night. Since being in ED I have had nearly 3months off work but luckily covered by work insurance.

      Honestly though if I was you I would have an op as having a catheter in  all the time is crap  and basically very irritating even though it can be managed quite well as I found out .

      But the main reason for having the op for me anyway was to get my peeing right again (forgot to mention I was wetting the bed beforehand ) which has happened and to stop anymore kidney damage . 

      Hope my experience helps others to make up their mind about  what to do and if anyone has got  any questions let us know.

       

Back to top
Next

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.