Posted , 11 users are following.
I'm traveling from North America to Europe. I traveled previously with BPH and found it fairly disruptive. In that I have to find washrooms all the time. Is there any strategies for traveling on airplanes for long time and in foreign countries when one has retention and BPH issues?
0 likes, 11 replies
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joseph34828 johnny90372
Posted
Sit near toilets. Get up every 1 1/2 hours (or less) to go. Go 1 hour before the plane lands.
john98818 johnny90372
Posted
get some single use catheters
Tim-B johnny90372
Posted
I second the comment about single use catheters. The Speedi-cath flex product comes in a very compact form. Having these as a backup gives peace of mind and a quick / relatively easy solution when problems arise.
DaveCanPee johnny90372
Posted
Hello Johnny:
Pardon the directness, but why not fix your problem so you never have to worry about it.
Dave
johnny90372 DaveCanPee
Posted
I just started trying alfuzosin as a medication to treat BPH. I don't like any the other medications because of their side effects. My symptoms have gotten worse in the last six months. The only surgery they offer where I am is TURP which I definitely do not want. I also do not want to self- catheter.
TKM johnny90372
Posted
Johnny,
It looks like, if you don't have time to get a procedure done, or don't want a procedure, the options are:
Tamsulosin , 0.4mg or 0.8mg
Afluzosin
Cialis
Cathterization
The drugs may allow you to void on your own enough to get by with frequent trips to the rest room. You can talk to your doctor about larger doses of the drugs, so you can go longer between trips. The combination of drugs and cathetreization can work well. Once you cath you are good for another 5 to 6 hours, and if you can void on your own you might stretch that to 7 to 10 hours, until depending on how much liquid you drink.
Thomas
alanatcroydon johnny90372
Posted
Think about PAE. Through a single hole in your groin, the surgeon pushes a thin tube with small globules to block the two main arteries to your prostate. This causes the prostate to reduce in size as it blocks blood supply. My op took 2 hours and i felt nothing under sedation. Done in June 2018. MUCH improved frequency. Here in the UK, only this year approved under NICE
tgt111 johnny90372
Posted
Look into PAE .. There's a ton of info out there. It's the best, first option imho, with the lowest risk/highest reward if you don't want to take drugs or have something put up your penis and manipulated. Yes, it's not for everybody and there have been some cases of bad side effects but they are a very low percentage ...lower than other procedures. Also the guys with the bad side effects tend to report it on these sites, and that's exactly what they should do for everyone's benefit, but the successful guys don't report report back as much. They're happy and move on with they're lives... That skews things. There's probably a name for that effect. It happens with all sorts of reviews.
arlowood johnny90372
Posted
Hi Johnny
I feel your pain. I also suffer from BPH and in the past I used to dread foreign holidays because of the problem of finding a toilet when I needed to go. In fact on one cruise holiday I restricted any shore excursions to those that lasted less than 3 hours and even then I sometimes struggled to cope.
I live in the UK and have travelled fairly extensively throughout Europe so maybe I can give you a few pointers that might help.
In some countries like Italy there seems to be a dearth of public toilets and the situation is little better in other European countries.
My advice is to always plan ahead if you can. If you know which cities you will be spending time in then use the internet beforehand to search out likely spots for a "comfort break" These will include places like main railway stations and underground/subway stations, museums, art galleries and other public buildings. Don't forget to that major hotels usually have public restrooms on the ground floor near to the Reception desk. If you're worried about not finding them then what I do is go to reception and ask for a hotel brochure (you can blag about wanting to stay on your next visit) then ask to be directed to the restroom. They're unlikely to refuse. Also many major department stores and supermarkets have restrooms - generally situated near to their cafe/restaurant if they have one.
One thing I have found is that some countries seem to charge for access to their public toilets so be sure to get some small change coins before setting out. In some cases you may be faced by an attendant who will expect to be tipped either before you enter or when you leave. It's best not to ignore them if you don't want an education in the swearing culture of the locals.
In cities where there are a lot of al fresco cafes then you can usually be brazen and just walk in as if you were a customer from their outside terrace. The toilets are normally at the rear and should be relatively easy to spot. You can if you wish just sit and buy a coffee or soft drink then use the facilities but that then just "tops up the tank" for the next episode.
There is also an app called "Flush" that is available for I-phones and Android devices. It claims to guide you to public toilets in many European countries but I'm not sure how reliable it is
TasmanianDevil johnny90372
Posted
I deal with this almost every week as I am always flying somewhere for work. Normally involves several flight legs or very long ones. Sometimes the urge hits just as we take off and can’t access the toilets until at altitude. Lived and worked in Europe and on my last project was flying back and forth from Europe to the US every week (for almost a year) so had to deal with BPH more than I wanted. I would stop at the toilet before every flight. I also cut back my fluid intake tremendously before my flights. Less fluid is generally a bad thing when flying but it saves me a bathroom stop or too on an international flight.
My life has hell with BPH and having to travel so much. Getting up 6-8 times a night in an unfamiliar hotel room (different hotel every week) has led to a lot of stubbed and broken toes. Stumbling down the aisle on the plane is no fun either. A condom catheter might be an option as well. I could then pee discretely into a bag while on the flight.
Use the drug options as mentioned. That can help. Alfuzosin helped a little but not sure if it was enough to even bother taken it. It maybe went down to 5-7 times a night. Everyone is different so it might work better for you than me. I’ve totally eliminated caffeine (a BIG help). Pee before the plane and look for major fast food restaurants on your gps in the area you are traveling in. Normally they have toilets that are decent but this presume you’ll be in larger or more developed areas. I’d rather not recount how many times though I had to duck down an alley to relieve myself when I couldn’t find a toilet in time. As a last resort, I’ve resulted to having an adult diaper if I know it may be a really troublesome area or where you might get arrested for peeing in public.
As for PAE, sadly it didn’t work for me. I likely am one of the few that it didn’t. I am going to give Urolift a shot in a few weeks.
johnny90372
Posted
Thanks for that! Great info!