Is total retention from BPH inevitable?

Mine progressively got worse. sometimes i could barely get anything out. thats when i gave in and seen a doc. found out even when i thought i had a complete void i was only voiding 1/3 of my bladder capacity. retaining 2/3. after i had a operation to fix it it took a little while before my bladder relearned to void completely. retention puts you at risk for infections bladder stretching and a whole bunch of other things. do some reading in this forum. lots of valuable info

.you don't want to get to the point where you have acute urinary retention. That's a horrible experience. if the medications work they'll probably keep you out of hot water for a few years but you'll need a procedure sooner or later. the key is to get your procedure done before you're desperate and losing your mind because you can't sleep in your urinating every hour.

Hi, it may become inevitable, in my case I had a cheap, quick ultra sound which found the problem-an enlarged median lobe, I briefly went down the drug path but keep in mind the side affects can be destructive and they don't tell you all the while your bladder and kidneys are being wrecked while you put off the likely inevitable, find out what your particular blockage issue is, definitely a 3tesla mp MRI will show all the detail, start researching what options you have based on your particular blockage, dont leave it too long if you need to get something done as ongoing loss of sleep and internal damage is very destructive, if someone suggests turp do your full research as to exactly what they will do to you eg turp for an enlarged median lobe is something to avoid !

Johnny,

I'm 61 and my story sounds like yours. I decided to do Rezum (done this morning), to try and avoid bladder and retention issues since it only gets worse. Time will tell.

Tim

I'm 10 years older. I took meds for awhile, but they didn't help, and now I self cath to empty my bladder. My bladder became enlarged, and I was retaining 1.5 liters. If you have not already done so, see a specialist - urologist. With ultra sound, they can determine how much urine you are retaining. They can do a cystoscopy to examine your plumbing. You may also be referred for urodynamics testing.

Yes, it would appear that you're on a path to full retention. I would see a good urologist, get scoped and have a urodynamics test and see where you are. I would also have that urologist teach you to self cath, give you a prescription for catheters and order some coloplast speedicath 14 coude tip single use catheters to keep opn hand and have in your car and suitcase(s).

Take it from me, self cathing can transform retention from a miserable, hours long trip to the ER followed by days to weeks with an agonizing foley cath, to a 45 second minor inconvenience. I've had both experiences.

FWIW, I ended up having Rezum done and it solved my problem.

I'm imagining that self cath-ing is extremely uncomfortable and painful. Unless one has numbing gel I don't see how it is even possible to self cath.

I was told by my urologist that symptoms do not inevitably get worse. They can remain stable or even improve. However from what you say your symptoms are not stable and are getting worse. I managed on tamsulosin and dutasteride for about six years where the symptoms although troublesome seemed fairly stable. However in the end I felt things were getting worse. In particular I sat still in a cinema for 2 hours and found I could not pass urine when I left. It cleared up when I walked around a bit but it scared me into getting treatment. I had a bipolar turp which caused me no real problems and cured the symptoms completely. I wish now I hadn't waited so long but I was really scared of getting that operation before I went in.+