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
steve53523 ChuckP
Posted
Hi Gentleman,
This forum has been great! It is amazing to me how different each physician seems to treat us men with these prostate issues. Even performing the same procedure, they seem to use many different forms of anesthesia and post surgical methods. Everyones' situation is a bit different so there can't be the same "road map" to hopefully get to the same result, a satisfied patient.
So I had the Rezum procedure on Aug 27th. I have posted I believe 3 times since. I have been fairly satisfied up until recently. So prior to surgery I was taking Tamulosin , two .4 mg tablets. each night. Just prior to the procedure I had purchased a 90 pill supply so my physician said to continue with that dosage for a month then go to a single pill for the next month. So it has been about 4 weeks not on any.
A few questions to see if anyone has experienced this.
Ever since the catheter was removed, 3 days after the procedure. When I urinate there is a strong sensation, not painful , I am a bit embarassed to say, but almost like the start of an orgasm, I have to really take a deep breath. Once the flow starts it immediately goes away. I also still experience some odd discomfort, stinging just pressure, once in a while which doesnt seem to be associated with having to urinate.
The other thing is I have definitely noticed a backwards step in flow and frequency of urinating. Flow has reduced and I am back to getting up 4 to 5 times a night vs p*ssing like a race horse and only getting up 1 to 2 times prior to going off the Tamulosin. Wasn't sure with there again is an adjustment period for your system once stop taking meds.
Has anyone else experienced this? I have a follow up in January but am thinking about going in sooner.
Thanks
jimjames steve53523
Posted
Hi Steve,
Do you know what your post void residual (PVR) was prior to Rezum, when you were on Tamsulosin, and now when you're off Tamsulosin? The numbers would tell you a lot if your increased nighttime bathroom trips are caused by going off Tamsulosin or something else. If that is the issue, you might consider trying Daily 5mg Cialis instead. Works in a similar fashion but many prefer its side effect profile.
Jim
kenneth1955 steve53523
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Yes that is true all doctor have there own way of doing thing you just have to find a good on. I have he's great. He is allway learning new thing to keep up with the new procedure. I saw him today all is fine. no problems. I was scare because of the procedure I had on monday with the catheter and I did not want to get a infection. Thank god all came back normal. He told me that I'm in better shape now then I was 6 month's ago. I have to see him for test in 3 month's to make sure all stay well. He allway like that he like to catch things early so they can be taking care of. I wish you all well and good health for the holidays Ken
edo_85551 ChuckP
Posted
Hi chuck , just had the rezum procedure on dec . 1 2016 , so far all I see is a little stronger stream also some blood in urine . It's only 12 days since procedure therefore I will not make any judgement based on such a short time since procedure . Will follow up in a few weeks as to where I stand and how much improvement , if any . The worst part was the cathater I had for 4 days .
tsolano ChuckP
Posted
alex20949 ChuckP
Posted
Right now I am at Day 27 after the Rezum procedure. I only had to catheterize intermittently for a few days after the procedure. I think I used about 20 catheters in that time. I have actually logged all my urine output and at what times of day I produced the urine because I have a checkup at Day 29. And this helped me to see my progress over time.
At first, I had frequent urination and could produce mostly just 100 cc of urine on my own, at most. However, my own data for Day 26 indicates that I urinated 14 times (still pretty frequent) at an average of 163.6 cc per episode. For me, that is quite an improvement, with a high of 290 cc. I fully expect this to improve, i.e., frequency will go down, cc per episode will go up. I expect steady improvement for the next two months.
However: At Day 20, I started to get burning urine, and on Day 27 I still have that. On Day 21 I gave a urine sample for a culture and have not heard back from the lab yet. I expect it to indicate a urinary tract infection, though I have few other symptoms (one of which is passing blood on occasion). Can't wait to get that resolved. I have no idea why I would develop such a thing at Day 20 --- it had been a long time since I had cathed, for example.
I still take Flowmax and Finasteride but expect that the doctor will take me off those soon. I hope never to cath again. I still have some real sudden urgency to urinate and I hope that abates soon.
As for the pain: during the Rezum I rated it at about a 4 pr 5 on a scale of 10. Pretty bad but not unbearable. The pain is not a reason to postpone this procedure, and I think twilight drugs would be great, but would add a lot of cost and complexity to what took just a few minutes (though an INTENSE few minutes). I endured 6 bursts of steam at 9 seconds each, and by the time the last one came, I was ready to call it quits.
I hope this information helps those looking into this procedure. At Day 27 I can urinate much better but still need to resolve that burning sensation, hopefully later today.
oldbuzzard alex20949
Posted
Burning. blood and urinary urgency are all pretty common at this stage. IF you have a UTI (probably don't or they would have called you back by now) they'll deal with it. I never had one but I had the burning, blood and urgency you're having now.
FYI - most of the improvment is in weeks 6-12 and you may have to give your bladder time to retrain so you don't go as often.
randy_85492 oldbuzzard
Posted
How long should bladder retraining take?...I've been off the foley for ~ 2 months and am going 3-5 times at night and 3-4 times throughout the day...
oldbuzzard randy_85492
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3-4 times during the day is good. I don't think many teenagers go less frequently than that. Nights can take longer - try going back to sleep when you wake up needing to pee. I had Rezum done in March and my night time frequency seems to still be improving. If you're peeing really well, ask your doc about Myrbetriq - it might help with the might time frequency. 3-5 times at night is a lot.
Outtatoone ChuckP
Posted
Hey - ChuckP. I had this procedure done last week on 12/14/2016. Much of my apprehension to do Rezum came from the discussion on this thread. I learned much from everyone's experiences and the better for it. I started a new discussion group - because I detailed my experience leading up to BPH diagnosis and why I chose the Rezum. Overall, I will be going on 7 days and see modest improvement from day to day. Definitely, chocolate and spicy food cause me to void more often and caused more discomfort. Despite the pain injections, Rezum is painful but not unbearable. However, you do not feel the needle injections - but you do feel the force and heat of the steam at about 3 or 4 seconds thru each injection. So, about half of each treatment or round is painful for a short time. After the procedure, my biggest discomfort was the painful urge to go and void, I just couldn't hold it. Like the Cystourethroscopy, they probably pumped me up w/liquid to make the procedure easier or to help them see my bladder. Since the discussion here has been with various types of procedures people used, I started a new thread only on my Rezum and to help people learn from my experience. While I am still improving, I would do the Rezum treatment in a heartbeat. Thanks for asking the question!
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/rezum-treatment-details-553352
leon67555 ChuckP
Posted
I had the rezum done a week ago. I'm so unhappy..... so far. I am much worst off than I was than before. I had to come home from the hospital with a cat and had it taken out two days latter. The dr office didn't tell me what to expect. I coun't pee at all. I was in awful pain the entire day and the dr office would'nt return the call. So had to go to the er and have another one put in . Man it hurts to have it put back in. I'm 58 and never had anything like this done to me before. First of all having to pull down your pants in front of these young nurses has been very diffulult to do. But now I can drop my pants anywhere now. Also after the surgery you will look down and your man hood swells up to a size you have never seen before. After coming home from surgery they put this cat attached to your leg with awful tape on it, and the swelling goes down, what do you think happens??
So make sure if you ever had a cat they tell you how to adjust it so you can do to the restroom and make number 2. Back to the procedure, I went back to dr after the second cat put in and had it removed. Having to pee was still bad but I have decided to push as hard as I can and when you do that you have to make number 2. SO I have lived and still when I go I not peeing like I did before I had the rezum done. The dr said if there was anything to go wrong it happened to me. SO WE WILL SEE WHERE I WILL BE IN ANOTHER WEEK... I woun't have it done ..... so far............Also I coun't have it done in the office cause of the pain with the shots up your ass into your prostrate so I had to be put to sleep.
edo_85551 leon67555
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randy_85492 edo_85551
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Leon - I had the resum in mid-August and, yes, it takes 6-12 weeks to experience the best results...Prior to the procedure, I had big problems with urgency and frequency caused by retention...After the procedure, I still have frequency problems having to pee ~ 9+ times within 24 hours and 4-5 of those times being during the night....You'll pass some dead prostate tissue and blood caused by the rezum, but that should stop after 30-45 days..I've experienced No Pain after the procedure ...If you don't experience normal voids, have your doc's nurse teach you how to Self-Cath..GOOD LUCK!....
kenneth1955 edo_85551
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oldbuzzard leon67555
Posted
Your experience is not typical but its not unheard of either. The good news is that it isn't indicative of the outcome. I couldn't pee at all for over 2 weeks after and wasn't back to my pre-procedure level til about week 5. From week 6 on I got better and better.
Some suggestions - hve your doc show you how to self cath. It is SO much better and less painful than a foley. You can live an almost completely normal life that way. Get those Coloplast cudee 14s, keep em in your pocket and if you're out, just slip into a stall. It takes about 15 seconds more than doing it the old fashioned way and I was doing heavy weight lifting before I could pee again. Leaving that foley in for too long can actually slow your recovery (to which Randy can attest) so get that thing out and self cath. There is a Korean doc who says that he gives his patients steroids for a couple of weeks to ge them over the initial swelling - you might ask your cdoc about that too. What will happen is your ability to pee will come back slowly. But your results can still be awesome - take control, start self cathing and my guess is that in 6 weeks you'll be better than before, maybe a lot better.
jimjames oldbuzzard
Posted
Just wanted to add to what Oldbuzzard says about the catheters.
Coloplast has several models. The one several of us here are very happy with is the Coloplast Speedicath 14F with Coude Tip. It's possible that Oldbuzzard is referring to another model because the Speedicath doesn't fold that well to fit into pockets but there are workarounds. The main thing it's a very comfortable and easy to use catheter to get started with.
Jim
leon67555 jimjames
Posted
I'm hoping for now I can go enough NOT to have to put anything back into me. Sometimes it starts to flow then stops to dribbles??? Not sure why. But as long as I don't take any sleep aids that will help my prostrate. As long as I can also hold onto the wall in the bathroom i'm going to keep doing that. I see the dr on Wednesday next week and we will go from there. Thanks for the info. When did you have the Rezum done?? How long did you wait till you had sex? Just wondering?? Thanks
jimjames leon67555
Posted
Hi Leon,
I wasn't suggesting you start self cathing, just commenting on the choice of catheter should you ever need to per "OldBuzzard's" post. It is also almost a better life-style choice to a Foley should that ever again be suggested by your doctor. I have never had Rezum or any other surgery but have instead used self cathing to address my BPH problems. It has rehabilitated my bladder to the extent that it functions fairly normally now even without the self cathing.
Hopefully your difficulties are just from the trauma and inflammation from the recent procedure.
Jim
jimjames
Posted
TYPO CORRECTION:
Second sentence in my previous post should have read:
" It is also almost always a better life-style choice than a Foley, should that ever again be suggested by your doctor."
tom86211 oldbuzzard
Posted
oldbuzzard,
Two years ago I had radiation to my prostate for cancer and got tissue swelling that completely blocked my urine flow. Had to go to the ER for a Foley. Was in tremendous pain heading to the ER. After the Foley drained off 1200cc of urine the pain went away. I had 6 Foley's put in over a 5 week period waiting for the tissue swelling to go down. The urologist also suggested self cath, and I tried it multiple times - each time was a very bad experience - painful, scary, difficult. For me it was MUCH easier to just have the Foley in. I taped the drain tube securely to my leg, had padding in my underwear so that the tube rested and didn't move around, kept Neosporin on the tube and where it inserted into the glans penis so it was lubricated. No infections. Very comfortable. The key for me was to keep the tube from moving around and keep it lubricated with the Neosporin so it was slippery. If the drain tube isn't secured and lubricated it's going to move and tug and cause discomfort.
The whole self-cath experience was horrible for me. I would only do this in an absolute emergency. The catheters my urologist gave me were horrible - couldn't get one in. I sent for samples of self lubricating caths of various types. They went in easier, but not without much difficulty. Didn't know whether to sit or stand. I don't have three arms, so had to use two to guide the cath in, then what to do when the pee started coming out? If I had to do this again I would only use the caths with a collection bag attached, and only the self lubricating type (hydrophylic). If I ever had to do this again I would not hesitate to have a Foley. The Foley was comfortable, easy, and I was able to sleep at night and not have to get up to go to the bathroom - except once to empty the leg bag.
Just my experience - maybe completely different than for others. Getting used to self-cath is definitely something that has to be eased into gradually. It's just not natural to push a 12" tube into yourself and push past the obstructions of the prostate then into the bladder.
Glad it has worked for you in the past,
Tom
kenneth1955 tom86211
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jimjames tom86211
Posted
I empathize with your experience on self cathing (CIC). The first month or so with me was as you describe, even worse. That said, many here seem to have had no issue with CIC right from the beginning. So for short term issues CIC seems to be a very good solution for some and not so good for others.
Longer term is another story. In most cases, the discomfort and logistical issues disappear within a few weeks. As much discomfort as you describe -- and mine was worse -- I can say without exagerration that self cathing today is a non-issue and about as traumatic and time consuming (actually takes less time) than brushing my teeth.
Jim
tom86211 kenneth1955
Posted
Ken,
Sounds like the second catheter insertion caused some tissue damage, perhaps to the bladder neck, or bladder itself. The nurses inserted my catheters quickly and with some force - they didn't fool around - a fast
"ouch" then it's over. I realized right away that the discomfort was caused by the tube moving around, so I used the little white butterfly tapes that they nurse gave me to secure the tube to my leg so it wouldn't move or tug. The Neosporin also helped a lot - kept the tube slippery and antiseptic. Had I not figured this out my experience might have been quite different. The nurse/doctor gave me no guidance about this. They just inserted the Foley and sent me off on my merry way.
When my urologist first gave me the horrible rubber catheter to self cath - and I failed to get it in after trying for a painful 20 minutes - I asked him if he had ever done that to himself, and he said "no". OK, if he's going to tell me to self cath at least he should know what it feels like!
Good to hear you're doing better now,
Tom
kenneth1955 tom86211
Posted
leon67555 edo_85551
Posted
Since you had it done three weeks ago and this Wednesday will be two weeks for me. I have a few questions... It hurts so bad to pee so at times I sit down instead of holing on to the wall. I don't want to self cath and I doing the right thing?? i'll see the dr Wednesday what should I ask him to make my life better. I sure din't know there was going to be so much pain will peeing.... Someone said I should ask for steroids they would help with the swelling. What do you think?? He also put me back on flomax so when ever I have sex I know it will be a dry one. So wish me luck. I'm afraid to drink too much during the day and of course at nigh. I have stopped drinking soda's but still drink one cup of coffee a day. Have a fantastic holiday.
oldbuzzard leon67555
Posted
If it hurts that much to pee then either the Foley irritated your urethra or you have a UTI. You should have a culture done to check for a UTI and in the meantime, Phenazopyridine (generic for Pyridium) will help a lot. It will make you pee orange but will provide almost complete relief and is now an OTC drug. Swelling in the prostate is likely to make it hard to pee but much less likely to make it hurt. If you're able to pee and it burns, I think self cathing will only make the burning worse.
edo_85551 leon67555
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leon67555 edo_85551
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You think one cuf of coffee could be causing me problems?? I only drink water. Maybe leoonade??I have no pain, just when I go pee?? I guess I will take the Advil staring today and maybe that will help???No sex for me either>>>> Everything works fine and ready but don't want any issues. The Dr didn't even go over that me. He told me I could drink coffee. I dislike him so much. He gave me his cell the last time I was there a week ago when they took the second cath out. So I feel he knows he was wrong the way I have been treated by him and his office. The office is so large with 42 Dr's but they want let you change Dr's if they did surgery on you??
Anyway there was more blood today, but I guess its ok as long as I am going peeing!!!! Thanks for your info!!
oldbuzzard leon67555
Posted