My large prostate reducing my bladder volume. Info anyone please?
Posted , 9 users are following.
A recent cystoscopy and mpMRI Tesla 3T scan reveal my large prostate pushing into the bladder and reducing the bladder volume,I believe, by over a quarter.
However my void flow is presently only slightly reduced, although in the past few years the urgency and frequency problem increases. Fortunately nocturia isn't too bad, averaging about one or two times a night.
I have recently restarted taking tamsulosin which is to an extent helping with the frequency/urgency symptoms.
With not being able to specifically locate anything about a large prostate reducing bladder volume condition on these prostate related forums . I was wondering if anyone has any useful relevant treatment info etc about this condition please?
0 likes, 13 replies
gbhall ben_87928
Posted
Eventually it could cause retention of urine, and ultimately total retension - a medical emergency. My advice (but I am not a doctor), would be to begin research with a view to having the central lobe of your prostate reduced or eliminated sooner rather than later.
tgt111 ben_87928
Posted
As far as I know, your condition is part of BPH. BPH reduces your bladder volume. Everyone with BPH has different degrees of symptoms and different degrees of severity.. You may be on the ealy side of BPH with more tolerable symptoms. But its all part of the same thing. As BPH continues all the symtoms get worse.
glenn77 ben_87928
Posted
Ben,
Whatever you do, do not get scared into rushing to have TURP if you have any other options. Learn about CIC, if you progress to needing it. I had been living with BPH for years when a cardiologist got concerned about the number of nighttime visits to the toilet, and said there were better meds now. He referred me to a urologist who scared me into rushing to surgery... the first was GreenLight in March 2016 and Gyrus TURP in May of 2016. I've been totally incontinent sine the Greenlight, and don't know where this will all end.
lester07305 glenn77
Posted
jimjames ben_87928
Posted
Hi Ben,
What is your PVR (post void residual)? That's the amount of urine left in your bladder after you void. Many urologists measure it in the office with a bladder scanner or have it done at an imaging center as part of a bladder/kidney ultrasound study.
-- Jim
oldbuzzard jimjames
Posted
What jimjames asked is key. If you're retaining significantly, you should look at doing one of the less invasive procedures (urolift/rezum/pae) and self cath (Cic) until you either decide to to one of them or wait. Prolonged bladder stretching can lead to permanent damage which could leave you with big problems.
If you don't have a retention problem and aren't bothered by your symptoms, there is no need to do anything. They are developing more and better procedures all the time - so if you can deal with your current symptoms and aren't retaining enough to stretch your bladder, I would suggest doing nothing and checking for retention regularly..
Supertractorman ben_87928
Posted
jimjames ben_87928
Posted
What O. Buzzard said, and why don't you take the IPSS (International Prostate Sympton Score) test to help put things in perspective. You can google it. The test takes less than 5 minutes to complete. Also, what is your age?
-- Jim
dai12345 ben_87928
Posted
Hi. I had a greatly enlarged prostate in which one of the lobes was pushing into the bladder and blocking flow. It had caused my bladder to grow to twice normal size and risking bladder muscle 'death'. As yours appears to be doing something similar you need to discuss a prostate reduction with the urologist. I had a HoLEP done which has been 100% successful apart from retograde ejaculation which being 72 doesn't matter.
oldbuzzard dai12345
Posted
His flow doesn't appear to be blocked - so its a different set of circumstances. Also, many men find RE diminishes sexual satisfaction quite a bit.
ben_87928
Posted
To; glenn77, gbhall , tgt111, Supertractorman , jimjames , dai12345. Sincere thanks to all. I'm indebted to one and all for taking time to send the useful, encouraging, helpful and to an extent new information. New, as gbhall mentioned, how the bladder can expand to hold up to about 3 litres! That's around three times more than I was previously aware the bladder could hold. Also I wasn't aware of jimjames's mentioned IPSS (international prostate symptom score) I will look into that test. Incidentally I'm 70 years old.
I have to say, thanks to this excellent prostate related forum/s first-hand forum participant contributors, I have been able to acquaint myself with various prostate related information choices, that without the forum, it's likely I and very many others would never get to know about.
However these treatment options seem to one extent or another to be more readily and available in the US rather than here in the UK!
And certainly here in the UK, choosing anything other than the standard NHS (National Health Service) BPH treatments is well nigh impossible. That is other than having comprehensive personal insurance cover, either through an employers scheme or making individual private health insurance payments. But I think even with private health insurance the choices in the UK are somewhat limited.
Personally I'm in the position of having to put my hand deeply in my own pocket to fund minimally invasive procedures like for instance PAE. This situation is probably a situation I share with the majority of the UK's population. Please understand, I don't mention this as a complaint, just stating what I believe is the general UK funding situation and likely to remain so for a long time to come.
Well, as gbhall pointed out, my symptoms are only likely to become more problematical as time goes by. So, without being bounced into anything, I'm obviously going to have to soon weigh up my options.
I do have more than one urological consultant on my case as it were , so in the next few days I'm expecting to be hear from them.
Again I'm really most grateful to one and all.
jimjames ben_87928
Posted
Ben,
Yes, take the IPSS test. At face value, your symptons really don't sound very bad and Tamusolin (or Daily 5mg Cialis which works in a similar fashion) may be all that you need. The Standard TURP seems like overkill for you and even the minimally invasive procedures are not bullet proof when it comes to unforseen side effects.
And definitely ask your doctor what your PVR (post void residual) is. If he doesn't know, make sure he finds out with a simple bladder scan.
-- Jim
ben_87928 jimjames
Posted
Much appreciated for the further input jimjames, oldbuzzard, supertractorman and others.
As regards PVR , in December 2016 I had the ultrasound test and it came out at hundred and 50 mL. That was a time when I was particularly stressed out. As from time to time I do find it difficult to relax. However since that test, thanks to contributors to this forum I am more aware of the important issues involved. So occasionally to roughly check for PVR for myself, using light pressure on the abdomen, it appears my PVR's are nowadays significantly lower than 150 mL. But I suppose I should get it checked out at the local hospital again, so thanks for this kind of reminder jim …
Regarding the issue of my prostate pushing into the bladder. It would be useful for me to know the typical prostate shrinkage that is generally achieved when having say one of the more minimally invasive procedures, e.g. PAE. Any input on shrinkage would certainly be of interest.