My Urolift Recovery Experience
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My Urolift Experience: In hopes of giving others an idea of what to expect: Good info from previous posters – Thanks!
11/13/18 - By way of background: I’m 63 years old; better than average shape for my age. Have had a slow stream for decades, and got up an average of 4-5 times a night for the past decade as well. I couldn’t hold more than ½ cup of urine in my bladder without intense need to go.Had procedure done at about 9:30 this morning. It’s now 6:45 pm. Had a local anaesthetic (like everyone), and opted for Nitrous Oxide (thankfully). Wasn’t too fun during the procedure, with moments of medium pain (I know, hard to gauge the seriousness of pain!). I’m usually fairly tolerant of pain. I figure I had worse than average symptoms, so didn’t see much choice but to have it done. Generally, I’d say the literature underestimates the amount of discomfort (to put it mildly); at least in my case. My doctor has done somewhere around 50 of these procedures; he’s pretty young, though (30?).
It’s now 6:45 pm, first day: After the procedure, Dr. said I could use the bathroom; but I couldn’t get a drop out, despite extreme urge. Stayed in the waiting room, and tried to go for the next hour or so … no luck, except for about a half teaspoon of bloody urine after about 5 trips. Decided to go home and try to relax. At home, I was able to pee about a tablespoon twice, but it wasn’t getting any easier. Pain was slight burning, but severe urge to pee that couldn’t be satisfied; and it hurt. When I tried to pee, I got a wave of pain (not stinging; just felt five times worse than if I’d had way too much beer) that required me to grab tight to a door frame. Pain lasted about 20 seconds. I told myself I’d wait until 3pm before returning to the office to get catheterized, hoping situation would get slowly better; but it didn’t appear to be going well … so … at 2pm, off I went, got catheterized, with much relief (but still a lot of discomfort). Now that I’m catheterized, I still have a very strong and uncomfortable urge to pee at all times. Also, even though the catheter is in place, I still seem to have to stand up in order to pee into the bag, and the pain is pretty high while I void (still about a tablespoon at a time). I have noticed that it’s getting ever so slightly better, though, with each episode (about every 15 minutes at this point). I just grab onto the doorframe, and grin and bear it. Have to go again urgently a minute after each pee session.Tomorrow morning I’m supposed to pull the catheter out. Man! Am I looking forward to that! (Being facetious here!).
A couple of tips so far: Dr. told be to take 3-200mg Ibuprofens (motrin) every six hours (600 every 6 hrs memory device). I wouldn’t go Against your Dr’s orders, though. Can’t imagine how uncomfortable I’b be without, as Ibuprofen is pretty effective for me. Also, get a good book to help get your mind off of it! I’m gonna try the TV after a while to pass the time (since I can’t easily pass the urine!).
Please note: Don’t want to scare anyone off of getting the procedure done; I’m sure the pain will be more than offset by the relief in a few days or so! Just know what you’re up against, and Man Up! In the lead-up to getting the procedure, I was led to believe that I’d be able to get back to a home improvement project the same day, and be back to mountain bike riding as soon as I wanted! Unh-Uh!
Will report tomorrow with more ...
2 likes, 66 replies
joseph73807 daves_here
Edited
I also am considering urolift and am most concerned about incontinance. Does anyone have any info on this?
benThere joseph73807
Edited
I had a strong urgency for awhile after my procedure and several near misses. I wore some depends for about 2 weeks. The urgency has finally went away. Don't let them do it with local anesthesia it is extremely painful.
andrew23481 joseph73807
Posted
I had urolift done including inserts to the median lobe/bladder neck; no incontinence issues. Like some others have said, don't expect to be out mountain biking the next day. I had pain and UTI afterwards plus frequency for the first week. Definitely some improvement but still have bph symptoms so no wonder cure for me.
joseph73807 andrew23481
Posted
Thanks for the reply. I wish you well.
Joe
jpj6491 benThere
Posted
YES. PAIN. BURNING. CONSTIPATION. HORRIFIC BOWEL MOVEMENTS.
jpj6491 joseph73807
Posted
DO TURP. IT IS MORE EFFECTIVE PER RESEARCH. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
Markuson jpj6491
Posted
Were you on opioids for pain? If so, that's a shoe-in for the constipationtrouble.. In physical tberapy rehab after a nasty injury. I had emergency levels of bowel STOPPAGE that almost requireD surgery...all due the the massive opioids they has me on...
Its the reason I decline heavy pain meds after the urolift...
jpj6491 daves_here
Posted
Thanks. My experience was horrific. PAIN like I did not know was possible. The prednisone I used that I had for my dog was the only relief I got. AND lots of alcohol for someone who does not drink helped. BURNING for two weeks. No way I could go back to work for three weeks. Moving bowels was a nightmare of pain, seeing stars. Yelling and crying. Well, five weeks out, if I do not take 08 of flowmax, I will be back where I started. I guess that research shows the TURP is way more successful than Urolift. I did not do enough research, I was hoodwinked by the official claims that it was an in and out procedure in the office, back to work in three days. NOT TRUE. I was under general. And no one warned me about the PAIN and BURNING and long term recovery. The staff AFTER the procedure told me to expect a full month at least for recovery. TURP is 100% effective, Urolift 30%. Fake out on me . Will need I TURP if I do not see improvements in another month.
Colin2021 daves_here
Posted
Hi! I'm new here. I know this thread is old, but even before having a urolift procedure 3 days ago, I found this site while looking for personal experiences with the surgery, not just the sugar-coated fluff found on the urolift websites.
A little back story: I was diagnosed with BPH back in 2017. Not until about a month ago did I discover how bad–and serious–my urine retention was in my bladder. After peeing, I held 400ml. Two more attempts at peeing and I was still at 250ml. This required a foley catheter, which hurt like hell, due to how constricted my urethra was. Ended up having a bad UTI about a week after insertion, including a terrible reaction to a very strong antibiotic. Got it all straightened out. As mentioned, I had a urolift procedure scheduled 3 days ago (Fri. 11/5/21). This was performed with NO anesthesia. I had a valium and a vicodin, which did nothing. It was beyond any pain I could have imagined. I had five clips installed, not including the one the urologist accidentally dropped into my bladder and had to fish out! I screamed many times, ended up hyperventalating and nearly passed out.
What I didn't realize at the time is that I had gone into shock, and sent my heart into a-fib. It stayed that way the rest of Friday and all day Saturday, without a break. I kept waiting for it to resolve, but it actually got worse by Sunday morning, resulting in a trip to the ER. Good thing I went, because I was on track for either heart failure or a stroke. They managed to get my heart back to sinus rhythm and my HR down (which was steadily over 150 with the a-fib).
A day later, I feel much better.
I honestly don't know how urologists can get away with performing this procedure with no anesthesia!
Oh, here's my early take on the results from the procedure: I seem to be urinating better than pre-catheter. Stream isn't great, some dribbling at the end, not a lot of volume, but I THINK I'm emptying my bladder. I'm not entirely sure (and a bit nervous about it). If this is something that will have to be re-done in a few years, I can only do it with anesthesia. Either that, or an entirely different procedure.
Colin2021
Posted
More post-urolift comments:
My bleeding didn't last more than a day, thankfully. Still experiencing plenty of burning while urinating (the worst seems to be just after I finish). The first night, I got up 20 times to pee (not joking), night two was 6 times. Night three was 4 times. Hopefully tonight will continue the downward trend.
I occasionally feel a shooting pain from what feels like my prostate area, but that has diminished in the last day. I'm back to wearing jeans (instead of sweat pants), with no discomfort. Have no desire yet to test sexual function with the wife. Going to give that another week or so, I think.
That's all I can think of at the moment. Oh, for reference, I'm 54 years old.
bob98281 daves_here
Edited
I am a 63 year old man in better than average shape. I had my UroLift procedure on Thursday, March 10, 2022. i was put under for the procedure at 9:15am and was told I would be released by around noon the same day. I woke up and the clock read 11:55 so I thought we were on schedule. I had a catheter with one tube flushing out my bladder while the second drain tube ran into a bucket. that went on for another three and a half hours due to the amount of blood and blood clots still draining. At 4pm the nurse removed my catheter. Although my stream was strong, many clots were still coming out. At 5pm the doctor said they may have to recatheter me which I strongly resisted. By 5pm my clots were small enough that the doctor released me to go home. Taking antibiotics, an analgesic and Tylenol, I was in a lot of pain and got up to pee every 15-minutes the first night. I was very constipated from the anesthesia, which didn't help. Day-2-Friday: reduced blood in my urine and smaller clotting. drinking lots of water and Gatorade. eating fruit and prunes to help constipation with no luck. By evening I took a suppository. Very little relief from constipation. was so tired i passed out around 8pm and slept most of the night getting up only three times to pee. Urine was clear with only very small clots occasionally. Day-3-Saturday: drinking lots of water and eating fruit. Finally had a few bowel movements which started with heavy straining even though doctor warned me not to. very tired most of the day and fell asleep around 10;30pm. Day 4-Sunday: Slept until 4:30am and when I urinated, a lot of blood and passed some large clots. Again at 6:30am urinated with blood and large clots. At 8am I told my wife about the clots and she wanted to take me to the hospital. I resisted thank God as after those two incidents, no more blood or clots in my urine. Still have a strong urge to urinate and my penis hurts when I urinate and the pain lasts another 3-5 minutes after I stop. Based on how my Urologist said the pain would be minimal and I can resume normal activities within two weeks, I am doubtful but hopeful at the same time. My wife and I depart for Barcelona the end of April. Hopefully I will be close to normal by then? I will update in a few days.
Day 7: woke up at 3:30am to pee. Small amount of blood but couldn't urinate. Drank more water and by 5am my wife took me to the ER. They gave me a Foley catheter and I evacuated 700ml. Bladder spasms are excruciating. Called my POS urologist office at 9am. they finally returned my call at 12-noon. the nurse was supposed to call in meds for my spasms but two hours later the pharmacy has receive no prescriptions. My catheter bag continues to fill with dark red urine. I called the urologist office again with no help at all. I'm about to become the urologist's office staff worst nightmare. What ever happened to medical staff that give great patient care? At this point, 6-days after surgery, I would not recommend the UroLift.
Day 9: spent last two days in the hospital after going to the ER twice in one day. Blood clots were clogging up the Foley catheter so hospital hooked up gallon bags of sterile water to catheter to flush out my bladder. Two days and 15 water bags later, was flushing clear fluid out of my bladder. Hospital performed CT scan and then MRI to ensure no problems with a tumor in kidneys or bladder. All good with all my organs. Finally saw my urologist. He stated that when he performed my Urolift, my prostate was very vascular and looked "angry" so he wasn't too surprised at the amount of bleeding. Returned home last night with no catheter thank God. Slept good last night. Bladder spasms have subsided and passing only a few clots today. Praying I don't get clogged up again. Urologist said if i get clogged up again they will cauterize the bleeding areas with a cystoscope. Praying I'm over the hump and the healing begins. we leave for Barcelona in 42-days.
david63992 bob98281
Posted
How are you doing now? I'm 3 months in now and still having some issues. I keep having random sharp pains when I move a certain way, and the urge to pee frequently! This has been a roller coaster ride for sure. I'm booked to fly to Uganda on May 25th and dreading sitting in the plane seat for 20 hours, plus road travel there on terrible bumpy roads.
jeffrey68107 daves_here
Edited
thank you for all of the posts although they seem somewhat dated.
My Urologist has been urging me to take care of this but it meant a more invasive, in hospital procedure. i have been taking Cialis 5mg. and Dutasteride which is somewhat similar to Avodart. it took about 100 days to reach its full potential according to Dr. Matthew Bui at Tower Urology in Los Angeles. His..resumé is good enough for me.
Valedictorian (Summa) at Franklin and Marshall; Yale Medical for both an MD and a PhD. Then on to the Mayo Clinic and did his residency at UCLA.
He now sees patients at Tower. Dr. Bui initially suggested TURP. You can kiss your sex life goodbye if you start the medical regimen first since the decreased sexual desire and (worse) the inability to ejaculate is profound and seemingly permanent.
the doctor talked me into the Urolift .
iI had six stents put in under nitrous oxide. Don't even dream of doing it without some form of relief.
I chose Nitrous and it wsd bearable. Fair Warning: Go home with a catheter. Mine was done on a Friday with a return visit that Monday. despite the pre and post antibiotics, the doc said leaving the catheter will sharply reduce the incidence of ER visits.
I am 78 this Monday (12/12/44) and although the results supposedly last about five years, that comes pretty quickly. My high school buddy just had the Greenlight Laser and you stay in the hospital. His doctor reports that you get a 10 year result. i am conflicted because I'd sure like that outcome sine the Urolift lasts five years or so and If I chose to follow it up with anything in the hospital, i'd be 83. At 78, do I need a ten year procedure under hospital conditions and the risks?
I hope to make it to 88 but the odds are not favorable.
In all fairness to my Urologist, he covered ever realistic procedure and the risk/reward and the Urolift seemed sensible.
Main points:
Nitrous Oxide is a must
3 day catheter is a must since I had it done on Friday and anything going south over the weekend lands you in the ER. without your doctor.
If you slip and start an initial course of medication it will essentially wreck your sex life. If you are lucky enough to have the Uroloft without taking the medication first, it will revolutionize your life. The downside effects on your sex are irreversible.
So I had it today and it ain't pleasant but I believe it will change your life