Has anyone out there had a "Prostate Artery Embolization??

I noticed some mentioning having PAE from Dr. Bagla at Inova last year.

I had my PAE with him in May, 2013 so was probably around #30 for him or ealier for him. I was 50 when I had PAE.

I had dealt with luts for years and taking flomax.

It quit working even at 2 per day and I completely shut down. I had to start catherterizing myself 3 times a day until I could get to Inova for the PAE.

I had absolutely no side effects, no blood in urine, no problems at all.

I had initial improvements and my prostate decreased from 53 to less than 35.

I had very large diverticulum in my bladder which were as large as my bladder.

Because of this I hadn't enough pressure when urinating. the urine just squeezed into the diverticulum.

I had the diverticulum removed and, after the long healing from that surgery, I did very well. I am off the Proscar.

I do not get up at night at all any longer unless I drink coffee. If I drink any at all I have problems urinating and will also get up all night.

I have no sexual difficulty at all.

My remaining problem is narrow bladder neck.

My uro kept me on 1 flomax and put me on Cialis 5mg daily because it acts on the bladder neck. I was concerned about starting it since I have had no ED, but he is using it for prostate and bladder neck patients without ED. So I did.

I've thought about a bladder neck recision but there are small possibilities for Retro. One of the main things I wanted to avoid. I choose not to at this time.

2 years ago I averaged 300-400ml residual volume. Now, anywhere from 50 to 100ml.

I am able to completely empty my bladder, although not quickly. I will choose to take longer to urinate than not being able to ejaculate.

I am no longer bothered with night-time trips to the bathroom.

I still take 1 flomax per day and 1 Cialis per day. He wants me to DC the Flomax in October. I might try it.

Some things to consider.

1. Mid-lobe intrusion. PAE nor GG are as effective when you have mid-lobe intrusion. Sometimes no benefit at all. I do have mid-lobe and it did help me, though.

2. I am 2 years post-procedure. no problems. only benefits.

3. Post-PAE (as does GG) often sees significant improvement in ED, etc. not always though.

4. I have seen numerous horror stories with Turp, PVP laser, etc. Numerous people develop urethral scar tissue that never gets better even after numerous new procedures to clear them.

5. Choose PAE or GG first. Anything else only as a last resort.

If you want to check out my progess, from May 2013 to present, you can read it on the GG thread on "healing well". There's about a dozen threads of it n that site because it can only go 9 pages before messing up, but if you start at the first thread, you can forward to the next thread at page 9 of each.

Best wishes to you all with the decisions you are forced to make.

blessings,

rphguy

4.

3.

there are many things that cause people to get up at night. sometimes drinking water before bed helps because at times the bladder can be irritated and trigger the urinary response but with more water in it, it lessens. Azo Standard might help too.

We all need to remember that night-time bladder frequency is not completely cured by merely shrinking the prostate. you might have a small bladder neck that keeps you from completely emptying. you might have a diverticulum that keeps you from emptying. you might have a neurogenic bladder, or bladder wall irritation, or long-term prostatitis (bacterial or non-bacterial) which can keep  recurring and triggering things.

Just fixing the prostate isn't the whole answer always.

I had to:

1. shrink prostate thru the PAE

2. Fix my large diverticulum

3. treat narrow bladder neck with Cialis/flomax... or bladder neck recision. (I chose medication because of fear of developing irreversible retrograde ejaculation).

YOU might need anti-inflammatories for the non-bacterial prostatitis.

You might need to give up coffee because it is a prostate and bladder irritant. I had to give it up because I immediately develop problems that last for 2 days with drinking just 2 cups.

You might need maintenance antibiotics because of bacterial prostatitis.

You might need to limit colas and acidic fruits because of bladder irritation.

You might need treatment for neurogenic bladder.

LUTS is a complicated problem and has many various factors and treatments.

btw, I am a pharmacist and, though not an expert by any stretch, I do have a fair understanding of medicinal treatments and learned the surgical treatments when I had to..... I chose PAE and am not sorry I did.

I had the PAE and no pain, actually a pleasant expreience for me. They sent me home with this orange colored aspirin and it made me pee orange red... I can see how some think they are peeing blood if they don't know it is the pills. The procedure does not enter the urethra nor produce blood or tears of any kind as far as i know. 

Also, I had been on blood pressure medication a few months before my procedure. It had been making me tired and sometimes a little dizzy during the day after I took my morning pill, so since I was also having trouble sleeping at night, I thought, why not take the blood pressure pills before bedtime each night, get the benefit of the sleepy feeling, and perhaps it would wear off by morning and not make me tired or dizzy during the day.... OK..... 

I was peeing before the procedure as much as 8 or more (variable) times a night! 

After the procedure, things were much better, I peed much better than before, even better than when I took my flowmax pills (at $2 or $3 dollars a day!).

Peeing dropped for awhile to about 5 times a night but went up over severaal months and sometimes I even hit 13 times in a night!! 

Dr. Bagla told me he thought it was due to HABITS we get into peeing a lot and after the surgery you still ahve the habit that needs to be broken. 

Well, to make a long story short, two weeks ago I had had enogh of this all night peeing and the insomnia books weren't helping any, so I thought about it a lot, and thought, why not cut my blood pressure medication in half, check my blood pressure to make sure it was within range still so not to damamge my body, and also to take that lower dose in the morning again. I checked with a local doctor who agreed with me completely that it was worth a try. 

BINGO, my blood pressure was about 120/80, perfect, I was not tired during the day, and I started peeing only 1 to 3 times a night!!! 

The blood pressure medications make you pee!!! So NEVER take them at night, and always try to minimize the dosage necessary to maintain your ideal pressure. 

I also found that taking melatonin, valerian, magnesium, and various natural herbs before bed to help me sleep also affected how many times I peed! 

So guys, it seem there are very possibly other factors you each may have that could be contributing to this peeing marathon we all go through and why some of you think the surgery was for reducing the amount of times you pee at night and it did not seem to help. 

I sleep much better now because I am not up every 20 minutes to an hour, I am more relaxed all day and when I hit the bed at night so I fall asleep better (less anxiety). 

I do like taking on melatonin as it has minimal effect on my peeing but it makes me fall asleep sounder faster. 

I hope this sheds some light on some of this and encourages all of you to look into your own situation in more detail. Experiament like I did by changing things around, stop taking some things for a few days to see the difference (asl long as it is not life threatenting medications!! check with your doctor on those) and see if you don't pee as much. 

Thanks for all of you for being out there helping each other. 

Allan in Panama