REZUM

Leon,

The REZUM procedure applies heat to the prostate in the form of steam. As with all prostate treatments that apply heat, there will be tissue swelling for a while. It is likely that is why you are having difficulties. This should have been explained to you by the doctor before the procedure. After a while the swelling goes down and the tissue that was steamed dies, and the prostate shrinks. Things should improve after that.

If you are completely unable to urinate, you will need to go to the emergency room and have a Foley catheter inserted.

ou should ask your doctor for a measuring beaker so you can find out how much you can urinate at a time. It's important that you are able to almost empty your bladder no matter how long it takes. Keep a log. You will notice improvement rapidly over time. 

Tom

I had a REZUM in mid-August and am still having some negative issues....I am having to pee too often, ~ 4 times at night and 4-5 times scattered through-out the day....If you are having a problem peeing or pee very little, either you need to be on a foley catheter or do Self-Cathing...Your URO Doc's nurse can teach you how to Self-Cath...After you pee, then Self-Cath to finish emptying the bladder....Your peeing will improve over time and it takes 6-12 weeks to experience maximum improvement from the REZUM....Most men prefer the Self-Cathing over the Foley...GOOD LUCK!..

Randy - if you're able to empty easily now, Myrbetriq might help with the urgency. Day time you seem to be fine - 4-5 times a day is pretty normal, but 4x/night sucks. Try it - you'll know within a couple of weeks if it's helping and I had no side effects from it at all.

You might experience both Sleeping and Doing # 2 Problems for awhile...I did...I took the OTC sleeping pills when I needed them..........FYI - URO Doc's Don't Tell You about possible complications and continued problems....You learn about the problems from this forum and experience...

Self cath and dont' worry about sex. It doesn't hurt anything...my uro told me I could do it the day I had the procedure if I wanted to. I waited a couple of days and was fine.

I would like to raise another issue. I am following all forums about Rezum for last 6 month. What concerns me is not even one what patients experiencing within the first few weeks but was is long term results. Does any one can comment on it. Rezum just published 2 years follow up reports and results are encouraged. But I can't find any comments from the patients who had this procedure more then 6 month ago. If someone can comment I would appreciate it.

I had it done in March of 2016. I am much improved and so far not retrogressing. I still have some bladder issues (underactive bladder) but pee much better and no longer look for bathrooms everywhere I go or fear trips there. My recovery was slower than normal (couldn't pee at all for over 2 weeks, couldn't pee better than before for 6) but so far, even with the slow start, I'm glad I did it.

I am an airline pilot and I am concerned about have a long term catheter.

Thanks

Phil

Hi Phil,

Yes I would recommend it - it helped me a lot. To answer your specific questions:

1) It hurt a lot when they did it. 5 Sprays that lasted 9 seconds each but most of them hurt a lot. If you can get insurance to pay for putting you out or twilighting you, I'd recommend it as my life was not enhanced a bit by experiencing it. About half have a fair amount of pain, the other half, not so much.

Most people can pee well enough to function within a week of the procedure, but some take longer and I was one of them. I couldn't pee at all for over 2 weeks, wasn't back to my old normal for over a month and realized that I was better than before at about 6 weeks. Most men recover more quickly thanthat, but I'm not the only one who took longer.

My doc said that it takes a month to see amy real benefit from the procedure, that most of the help comes weeks 6-12 and at 6 months yu're as good as you're gonna get. 

I STRONGLY recommend you get set up to self cath after the surgery (and before if you're on a foley now). I find the foleys unbearable and self cathing no worse than mildly annoying. Most guys don't need any cath within a week or less, but in case you take longer, self cathing would let you live pretty normally - even fly if you wanted to (you can hide caths discreetly in a jacket pocket if you have to). I'm active - runner, weightlifter and was able to do pretty much anything I wanted even though I couldn't pee. You'll have some urgency for the first 6 weeks or so (never bad enough that I had an accident, but came close once or twice) and you'll get a fair amount of bleeding when you pee weeks 3-5.

One warning - although most people don't end up with Retro (dry) ejaculations after Rezum, my sense is that the % that do is closer to 10-15 than the 4% they cite from their trials. I'm not dry, but I ejaculate less than before and usually delayed by 3-10 seconds.

Bottom line is it works for most people, most cani get back to normal life within a week or so, some take longer. Bigger prostates take longer to see benefits apparently.

I am trying to schedule the procedure sometime soon. It seems to be my best option. (I think)

The Focal Laser Ablation sounds interesting but very few docs are performing the procedure and it is quite costly without insurance.

You have been very kind to share your experience, I thank you

Phil