REZUM--HAVE YOU HAD THIS DONE???????

Glad it's working for you.  Take is easy Sit on a a soft chair.  I think they should have gave you something to relax you.  I have heard from other it does hurt  That is a lot of trama to the urethra and the prostate.  Take care  Ken 

On the REZUM Web Page(For Physicans/IFU)you can find Instructions for physicians how to use the REZUM system. On page 15 of the document "Rezum instructions for use" you will find guidelines how to perform the REZUM vapor treatment.

Those information might help you to get an idea if your treatment was done correctly.

Anyway, provided the treatment was done correctly the REZUM treatment requires patience and confidence as your body has do the main work with its own forces an that will take a will. Significant improvements can be expected in the weeks 6 to 12.

All the best for you.

Mine hurt a lot when they did it - they last spray actually did make me scream. The pain goes away petty fast, within a couple of days but the blood took me about 4 weeks before it was completely gone. I was a slow healer, but it took me 6-7 weeks before I peed better than the day I had it done.

Any idea what the size of your prostate was before the procedure? After? Also have you had any side effects after the 6-7 week healing period? I am evaluating the procedure and from the comments on this board it is much more significant that how it is being made out to be.

Old Buzzard, Ken - Your experiences are similar to mine...I had my REZUM on August 15th, ~ 3 months or 12 weeks ago...I'm close to being normal, but I'm going too often, ~ 3-4 times at night and ~ 4 times scattered throughout the day...I'm 72 years old and 6-8 times per day is suppose to be normal...I hope my bladder settles down into the normal pattern soon...

First - the healing period is way more than 6-7 weeks. It takes 6 months for the results to be fully reaized and the most significant improvement comes in weeks 6-12.

My prostate was only 30, but was growing atypically inward, so I had symptoms that were more typical of someone with a 60 or so sized prostate. I also have an underactive bladder, which was/is contributing to my issues.

As for side effects, sometimes I have RE, sometimes not, The surgery definitely set me back there, but not completely. Sometimes its pretty normal, usually I end up with about half as much semen as before and once in awhile its there is no semen at all. Drive is fine - same as before.

Otherwise, when I have issues its usually more bladder related, as my flow is much better - at times almost perfect, so my doc says any lingering issues aren't prostate related, or they would be more consistant.

What you should know about actual side effects vs. the marketing spray is that some people (I was one) can't pee right away. It took a little over 2 weeks before I could dribble anything out and close to 6 before I was as good as before the procedure. My results were on the bad end of the spectrum, but not a total outlier. Make sure that your doctor lets you up to self cath rather than leave you on a foley with an every couple of weeks check with one of those voiding tests. Those foleys hurt like hell and you'll be able to manage without cathing or only occasionally long before you could pass one of those tests. I might not be able to pass a voiding test now, yet I'm way better than when I went in and manage much better than I did - yet some docs would still have me hooked up to a bag based on their criteria.

Also, it will hurt like hell, but only in 9 second bursts - most docs do 4-6 of them.

Please read my prior comments today...I've found it takes sometime for the bladder to relearn its function after my being on a foley catheter for ~ 4 months because of retention and I couldn't pass a Trial Void...Initially, I had some dribbles and a little leakage, but that's stopped...Also, initially, my bladder nerve didn't notify me when I needed to go, but it has regained its function...Thus, I haven't really had any Negative Side Affects with REZUM that others tend to experience with the other prostate treatments and especially TURP.........I thouroughly researched the many procedures and determined that the REZUM to be the most successful for my condition...And so far, it has been..GOOD LUCK!.....

While I'm not a doctor, I think Randy was on a Foley MUCH longer than he should have been and probably would have recovered much faster had he been allowed to self cath and recover at his own pace. As I said, if I had his doc calling the shots, I might never have gotten off of the foley, yet I function better than I have in at least 15 years. In fact, his experience was some of the inspiration for my post.

Randy - I'm glad that everything is getting back to normal for you!

My prostate was 30 too, which is suppose to be the best size for a REZUM, but not other procedures, ie. a PAE, per prostate experts..I changed URO Docs 3 times...The 1st wanted to do a TURP Only...The 2nd was keeping me on the Foley way too long, ~ 2 months plus I wasn't able to pass his Trial Void...The 3rd took me off the Foley after a partial successful Trial Void and taught me Self Cathing and encouraged me to try it...I only had to Self Cath ~ 1 week before I could go on my own..Like Old Buzzard, I've been slow to recover, but I'm almost normal now...Jim James, Old Buzzard, Ken, Neal and others on this thread have helped me through...I'll be forever grateful!....

Old Buzzard - I know you're right...I seemed to recover quickly once I started Self Cathing...

I do not know how big my prostate is .... but I know it is BIG, I have been told so and I know they when it get's irriated pooing can also be comprismised or nearly so, yep it that big!  So this is one of my fears is my prostate is so big a little steam isn't enough .... but it is worth a try.  The TURP idea scares me big time!

The good news is that other than time and money, there isn't any real risk to any of the less invasive procedures (Rezum, PAE, Urolift). IF any or all don't work, you can always have surgery. If you end up having to go that route, Holep is a MUCH better option than TURP

At 9 days now.  Had sex with my wife after the required seven days past, all went well, of course there was blood, but no pain, ejaculation might be better than in many years but need more experimention over time to know for sure.  blood spotting on "tidy whitey" underwear continues some blood in urine.  Some very minor pain from prostate covered by tylenol, not at all enough  to affect my sleep.  So far all good!  So my advise to someone would be "do it" but if possible get opiod painkiller onboard, along with xanax and lidocane to cover pain during short procedure. 

Hi Alex,

Glad things seem to be going well. Since you're urinating so much (22 times) you might want to check your post void residual (PVR) with the catheter right after you urinate.

If it's more than 400cc, consider going back to a catheter schedule even if you are able to urinate naturally.

Ideally you never want to be cathing out less than 400cc.  Carrying around too much in the bladder puts more of a strain on the entire system and might slow down the healing process. 

The procedure then would be to urinate when you feel the urge and then cath right after to make sure you're emptying out. Increase cath frequency if more than 400cc comes out. When less than 100cc comes out of the catheter for two consecutive days you can probably stop with an occasional spot check now and then especially if frequency returns. Of course run it by your doc.

Jim

CORRECTION:  First sentence, third paragraph should read:

Ideally you never want to be cathing out *more* than 400cc.

I decided to try this because I was a bit worried that I was urinating a lot, but not voiding the bladder well enough. I urinated 100 cc, as I usually do after this procedure, and then cathed myself. The catheter yielded just 20 cc of urine, which put my mind at ease. I have eight catheters left from the supply my doctor gave me, so I may do some spot checks. So far, so good. I take Uro-MP for burning urine, which turns urine blue. More on this in a few days.

20cc is not retention so obviously something else is going on with your frequency. You may never need them, but now that you know how to self cath, might be a good idea to keep a few around just in case.

Jim