REZUM--HAVE YOU HAD THIS DONE???????
Posted , 385 users are following.
I had a nice conversation today with the President of the "Urology Times". He was telling me that there is a "New Procedure" that has been approved called the "REZUM SYSTEM". The company that makes the system is called "NXThera, Inc". You can google them up and lots of stuff comes up. I called them for a referral and they gave me a Doctor in Minnepolis that has done it over 50 times now. I called his nurse and she said he would call me back and answer my questions on monday. As you guys probably know Doctors are not very good at returning calls but we'll see what happens. Iam not very good at explaining how the procedure works but basically they take the device and put it up the uretha and vaporize the prostate cells which kills them. It works with high pressure "steam" that at a certain degree will kill the prostate tissue. My question for you guys is there anybody out there that has had it done to them and how are you getting along and are there "side effects", etc etc?????
35 likes, 5645 replies
jon11303 ChuckP
Posted
HI chuck - I have had the rezum procedure in UK about 3 weeks ago and am finally showing some recovery and progress. I'm afraid I have found the whole experience very difficult and painful although I agree with many on your forum I did not want to continue with the a mentioned drugs of have procedures that ruined my sex life!
I had to have a caheter for 10 days which I personally found painful and debilitatting and then when I had it removed had a terrible urinary infection. However after this the most painful thing was having very bad retention for a day or so. I think it is a good procedure but some people need to know they could be out of action like me for about a month and recovery can be difficult
bill1095 ChuckP
Posted
I had the Rezum procedure done 3 1/2 weeks ago. I'm 59 y/o and have had BPH symptoms of frequency and urgency for the past 8-9 years. My prostate was 60 cc. The procedure itself started out very painful. The first 3 steam injections were near a 10 in pain during the last 3 seconds of the 9 second burst. After the first 3 injections the rest were uncomfortable, but not too painful. I suspect that area of my prostate wasn't anesthetised as well. Btw, the locial anesthesia is delivered up your anus and injected into the prostate in a somewhat painful procedure. The Rezum procedure was done with legs in a stirrup, like having a baby. At the last minute an unknown woman with the Rezum company came in to watch the procedure. Hmmm, always nice to have unknown women come in when your junk is all out in the open with legs in the stirrups! Not cool that this wasn't brought up for my consent before I'm already in the stirrups. I had the catheter in 5 days. The first 2 days were very painful as often I would feel like I couldn't empty my bladder through the catheter, and then it would leak and come out around the catheter accompanied by alot of burning pain. This subsided after 2 days. I took my catheter out after 5 days and by the afternoon I couldn't pee. I had to cancel work and rush back to the doctor and they put the catheter back in. I went through the same difficulty with the catheter again for 2 days before it got normal again. I had the cath in for another 5 days (10 days total) but this time I had the doctor take it out and insure my bladder was emptying. Frequency and urgency have been much worse and still are. This was expected but everything I read said it would only last 2 weeks before starting to improve. Every urination now is painful, like someone sticking a lit match up your penis. I'm approaching 4 weeks post procedure with no improvements and still alot of pain accompanying every urination (every 1-2 hours regardless of how much liquid I have had). I'm now dealing with the mental health piece of this as I am fearful I will never be normal again. I'm "p****d off" (pun intended) the reality of the healing of this procedure was so minimized by alot of what I read and saw. I was scheduled for the Urolift procedure previously but after some research I chose the Rezum as it seemed like a more permanent fix to the problem, not a "band-aid" type fix.I think I'd chose the Urolift if I had to do it again. With that one a couple of days out and your're getting back to normal. I still have alot of blood in both urine and semen. Will the pain ever subside? Will the frequency and urgency ever subside?
steven05114 bill1095
Posted
Bill,
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I am sorry to hear that your Rezum did not go as well as mine did. From your comment about the "At the last minute an unknown woman with the Rezum company came in to watch the procedure", I am wondering if you chose a urologist that was new to Rezum and not a more experienced one. Just like researching the BPH procedure, it is equally important to research the urologist too. You do not want a newbie doing your Rezum. Some of us have repeatedly made this point on this forum along with knowing how to self-cath before your Rezum.
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I had my Rezum done at the end of November 2018. I chose urologist that was recommended to me on this forum. She was a urologist for over 20 years and did Rezums for 2 years. I had 10 injections (4 per lateral lobe and 2 median lobe) and the whole process went like clockwork. The procedure was painful but easily tolerated. Afterwards, there was no pain and I never needed the remaining pain pills. At 4 weeks I started to open up and by 2 months, I was peeing normally. My PVR's were over 100 ml because of bladder damage but are now under 100 ml.
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If at 4 weeks you are still having burning pain, have you checked to see if you have a UTI? Personally, when I looked at Urolift, I chose against it because it might fail under athletic activity and since then I have heard of several Urolift failures both on this forum and from doctors who do not recommend them including one who stopped doing them.
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Bottom line, carefully chose your urologist that does your Rezum and know how to self-cath before your Rezum. Repeat, carefully chose your urologist that does your Rezum and know how to self-cath before your Rezum.
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Good luck to you,
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Steve
kenneth1955 steven05114
Posted
Good evening
That women coming in at the last minute should not have happen. They should have asked for permission before hand. I would have asked her to leave.
Good Luck....Ken
oldbuzzard bill1095
Posted
You'll get better, take heart. I self cathed after my Rezum and had a lot of burning for the first 4 weeks or so. I was cultured twice to check for a UTI and didn't have one. So burning (and bleeding) can happen from Rezum even without a UTI. But for sure, get checked because you might have one and if you do, things won't improve until you deal with it. For symptomatic relief, take AZO (an OTC medication) which will help quite a bit.
I couldn't pee well for six weeks - nothing gets better for 4 and most of the benefits come in weeks 6-12. Bottom line is other than the Foley (which added to the irritation and burning for sure), you experience was a lot like mine. By week 6, I was better than before and 3 1/2 years later haven't looked back. But get checked for a UTI - if you have one nothing will be good til you have it treated. And if you don't - don't worry. Burning can be pretty bad and it goes away.
steven05114 oldbuzzard
Posted
Oldbuzzard,
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I was not aware that you had burning for the first 4 weeks. I had bleeding for the first 4 weeks and 2 swelling episodes in the first 6 weeks where I needed a stiffer catheter, but pain was never an issue for me. I sill have the remaining pain killers. The slowest part of the recovery has been my bladder. At 11 months, my PVR's (measured by self-cathing because I don't own a bladder ultrasound device) are now below 90 ml.
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Steve
Motto oldbuzzard
Posted
I'm almost 4 months post resume and I'm doing well except for having to wear basically depends at night. even if I can have before I go to bed I only have about 200 ml. but I'm having to get up every 2 hours to pee a small amount. and I'm losing control at night wetting the depends.
is it going to get better I hope? will I regain some control at night?
singares bill1095
Posted
Bill: I had the Rezum procedure in UK 4 months ago and at 3 months was asking myself the very same question about whether frequency and urgency would ever go away. It was becoming an issue and a concern, at about 13 weeks everything improved greatly - over a matter of less than a week. At 4 months now what I would consider very much back to normal. Take heart that the damage to the bladder does right itself and there is an end to your worries. Hearing from other people helped considerably, so you may have a while to go yet but the body does heal naturally in its own good time.
I was given a general anesthesia and on balance reading on the forum it seems a good option.
Its a bit of a journey so hang on in there.
oldbuzzard steven05114
Posted
It was never bad enough that I took pain killers - it burned a lot when I peed but otherwise I didn't have any pain after the first day. If your PVRs are below 90 (and I assume still dropping) you're home free. If you stay below 90 for a month or so, you can stop measuring unless you get a sense that you're starting to retain again.
bill1095 steven05114
Posted
Thank you Steve and others for your supportive and kind responses. It is good to know that most of my problem is really just due to having unreal expectations regarding this procedure, and esp. the recovery process. That, at least offers the hope that I'm still on a somewhat normal healing path. It seems like if I had a UTI I would have other symptoms wouldn't I? If the pain doesn't subside soon I will get that checked. Steve, the doc I chose was referred by the doc that was going to do my Urolift. He told me he had done a lot of the procedures, and actually said the same thing to me, ie that I would only want a doctor who had essentially had alot of practice doing these. He also told me it took him more than 75 times doing the procedure (under supervision) before he said he got comfortable doing them. Apparently this is a procedure that does take practice to get good at. My doc didn't give me a # he'd done but said he'd done more than most as he'd trained with one of the early docs doing the Rezums. I always felt comfortable that he has known what he's doing. I have some hope that things will get better now. Thank you!
oldbuzzard bill1095
Posted
Don't wait to get tested for a UTI. You would most likely have exactly the symptoms you have it you had one. You could also have those symptoms after Rezum and not have a UTI. The main point is that if you do, you won't get any better until you treat it. All you do is give them a urine sample. Don't wait!
davidaami Motto
Posted
Motto can you ask your urologist these questions?
steven05114 oldbuzzard
Posted
Bill,
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Just to 2nd Oldbuzzard. If you have UTI-like symptoms, then pee in the cup and get tested ASAP - and - yes Rezum can give you UTI-like symptoms.
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Steve
steven05114 oldbuzzard
Posted
Oldbuzzard,
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I agree that if I stay below 90 for a month or so, then I am "home free".
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Measuring my PVR's by self-cathing over the last 10 months has been a good way to quantify bladder recovery. I may check once a week though. It is unfortunate that there are no long-term bladder recovery studies, so I am curious to maybe continue at once a week or less often.
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So how did you bladder recovery go? As I recall, it took a while.
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Steve
oldbuzzard steven05114
Posted
My bladder recovered slowly over time. I was pretty much fully functional after about 2 months, but things weren't perfect. its been 3 1/2 years now and things are still improving. 2 Months after Rezum, I was done scoping out bathrooms as soon as I walked into a bar/restaurant and worrying about locking up if I waited to long to pee, but realistically was at about 70% of normal. Now I'm probably closer to 90%.
The cautionary tale is not to wait too long to get something done as bladder damage can follow BPH and even when it rehabs, it can take some time. I waited because I didn't like the recovery/side effect profiles of the options before Rezum and my Uro was involved in the clinical trials and knew of the timeline for FDA approval.
jon11303 oldbuzzard
Posted
I had the rezum procedure about a month ago in the UK and its been a rocky road for me!
I had a catheter for 10 days and when it was taken out I had very painful retention. Then I got a urinary infection and had to have antibiotics. After a month I thought I had recovered and went back to work and also swimming. This when I got hit by a second really bad urinary infection where the lymph gland in my groin swelled up and one of my testicles - I got emergency antibiotics and found it very painful and difficult to walk - It is subsiding but I still havent quite recovered!
I had to have some procedure as I was not happy taking drugs everyday to stop my prostate from enlarging and also damage was being done to my bladder - In my experience though the Rezum procedure can have very bad consequences and takes a lot of time to recover from!
steven05114 oldbuzzard
Posted
Oldbuzzard,
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I hear you on not waiting too long to get something done as bladder damage can follow BPH. If I knew then what I know now I would have done things differently. One of the more interesting articles that I read was:
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The Detrusor Muscle: An Innocent Victim of Bladder Outlet Obstruction
Vincenzo Mirone*, Ciro Imbimbo, Nicola Longo, Ferdinando Fusco
Urologic Clinic, University Federico II of Naples, Naples, Italy
European Urology 51 (2007) 57–66
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The title says it all. Any guy with BPH should be informed that "sooner is much better than later".
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After they took 2 liters of pee out of me, it took 3 months of self-cathing until I could feel any sensation to pee. My Rezum went like clockwork but it took 10 months for my PVR's to drop below 100 ml (normal for our age).
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So since your urologist was involved in the NxThera Rezum clinical trials, who was he or she?
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Steve
raygar13 jon11303
Posted
Infection or UTI can have adverse affects on this procedure. There is a lot of thinking that over catherizing can lead to infections. The urethra is going to be sensitive after Rezum. I had rezum jan. 31. prostate 150. 15 injections. Foley 3.5 days. I was able to urinate on my own immediately. Very slow at first. No infections so my recovery went smoother. My urologist didnt see me for 90 days post rezum. If you are going to have problems with UTI it usually happens within 2 weeks of the procedure. Hang in there, my results are ipss 22 to 8. leaking got better around month 3 and continued to improve even last month to where I am in total control of both leaking and ability to hold off urination. Keys to my success: finesteride 10 days prior to rezum (no bleeding). for the procedure, prostate block 2 shots via the rectum. antibiodics before and after for the first week. flow picked up a little around week 2. At 9 months procedure was a total success. there are some good and bad days during the process but overall continued improvement. wish you the best, keep posting.
oldbuzzard steven05114
Posted
James Ulchaker at the Cleveland Clinic. I highly recommend him.