Turp experience and questions

Say 50 two bladder infections still have burning at the end of my peeing bladder discomfort feel like s**t some could be mental I pray I start get better he removed a lot of material as my prostate was huge he said expect 4-6 month recover not uncommon 

Hi John,

When you have a bladder infection you need to complete the course of antibiotics. If you stop the antibiotics early it will come back. Be careful of what you eat, don't eat with your hands, things like unwashed lemon peel can cause problems. I had a lot of prostate removed and it was about 9 weeks for the symptoms to subside. Just before and after my Turp I bled fresh blood for about 30 days (not burgundy colored pee, but spaghettic sauce colored fresh blood). I needed a total of 6 pints of blood just before and after the turp. Maybe you should get your blood counts checked (mainly Hemoglobin and Red Blood cells). That caused me a lot of fatigue because I was anemic for several months. But the burning and urgency were gone in 9 weeks. I don't know what prostate symptoms would last 4 to 6 months.

Bob, when you had the catheter in you did you get any pain I sure do and I get the shakes too.

My god ray yea! Havin something like that shoved up through your pee pee An through your prostate into your bladder then a ballon filled with water An they better get it in not too far and all the way through it problems and real pain it is not uncommon to have the shakes I have had a few An this to the common man is a big deal make your dr give you bladder relaxing medicine An pain meds damit I had one in for a damn month of beyond hell with that sometimes cheap bag An cheap straps my god I feel your pain be strong my brother drink plenty of water 

Hi Ray -- I had my TURP about 3 months ago in an outpatient facility so I went home the same day. That night I was in extreme discomfort. I had urgency to urinate every 20 minutes or so. Some urine would squirt out between my urethra and catheter. The next morning I went to the doctor and it turned out that the catheter was pluged up with blood clots and my bladder was filling up and having spasms. Once a new catheter was inserted everything was fine for the next 2 days. The catheter was removed and I expereienced urgency to urinate every 30 minutes with a very short fuse to make it to the toilet. After 4 days pain during urniation stopped but I still expereienced discomfort for about 4 weeks. There was also blood in my urine for several weeks and intermittant blood clots out to 8 weeks. I would have several days of clear urine and then blood and clots would reapear. Now at 12 weeks everything seems to be fine. Hang in there. I hope you start feeling better soon.

How long ago was the surgery and are you doing now

Thanks for the reply art123 and that's good to hear that you are doing well.

Yes I did get intermittant pain with the foley cath. It came on as bladder spasms every hour or so that would last for about a half minute. I'd walk out of the room and hyperventilate  to mask the pain. I think it was due to the inflatible balloon rubbing aginst my bladder mouth. When in hospital with a three way irrigating cath I asked the nurse to remove a bit of the sterile water in the baloon, which helped a bit.

I'm assuming that you're doing well now.

I've had no problems to date. I still take dutasteride daily. My yearly sonogram in Nov, 2016 showed my prostate was 235g., compared to the 313g. when I had the TURP in June, 2015 and the 205g. in November 2015, when I started the dutasteride. I had expected the dutasteride to shrink the prostate but so far it has only slowed the growth rate. But so far, so good. No problems voiding or urgency or leaking. Sex is fine, the retro didn't effect the sensation for me at all. Because the bph reduced my bladder capacity, I go every few hours. I usually go 3 times at night but use a couple of plastic urinals in a basket by my bed, so I can sit on the edge of the bed in the dark, use the urinal and get right back to sleep.

dutasteride, can take up to 6 to 12 month for it to work. Are you having any side effects with it.

No side affects at all. If it works I expect to take it for life.  My uro wanted to give me finasteride but I asked for dutasteride because I had read it was more potent. My uro was worried about side effects but I haven't had any. No breast  growth or tenderness or hair growth. I had been taking it for 12 months when I had my last sonogram which showed an increase from 205g. when I started to 235g. 12 months later. Hopefully my next sonogram in Nov. will show a slow down of growth.

P.S. Ray, There actually was a side affect of decreasing my PSA from 8.7 to 1.6 after a year of dutasteride. They say you need to double your PSA score if on dutasteride, but that puts it at 3.2, the lowest I've been in at least a decade. My PVR also lowered a bit from 32 mls. in Nov. 2015 to 22 mls in Dec 2016.

It's great, from 8.7 to 1.6. Are you certain it is all due to dutasteride ? Hank

Can't think of what else it could be. I had 2 Greenlight lasers and the turp in three years from 2012 to 2015. My PSA had been climbing about a half a point a year for the past 10 years. This was the only time it went down.

It's great to know. Your prostate should be much smaller now I would think. I just started Finasteride. Did think about dutasteride but it's not on my insurance list. Hank

Well I am at 60 days but I spent a week after surgery in another hospital after having completions three days post op. That cleared up fever and rib pain probably rolled wrong off operation table to bed they figured after every test Ct scan IV pain meds and same antibiotics.  My doctor told me direct as he has done thousands of these over the years he said and with the size of my prostate and part removed he said some men take up to 6 months to fully recover so I pray I am

Not that. Today the pee pain has gone way down

Last week, still have dull pain in

Bladder and under my ball

Sac, hard time sleeping and

Just don't have the energy to do anything but lay in bed and relax, I feel best there after I get my chores taking care of my 92 ur old

Mom daily out of town 65!mile round trip. I soak in hot baths use a

Sh it heating pad which now as my old hot one quit the new ones are a quarter as hot go figure lawsuit city probably. I hope I am turning the corner but the two for sure bladder infections have slowed things down damn antibiotics make me sick, and the third I thought I had he said no infection and the urin is normal with some blood bla bla so that clears

My mind. Trying to think positive and get with it

Sounds like you are seeing some improvement. Good luck John. 

Art I pray I get better soon 64!days but I spent a extra week in the hospital with fever and back pain plus two bladder infections so it has slowed me down damit I cannot sleep pain under ball sac bladder spasms and dull pain burning at end of pee gotten anlittle better laying

In bed with heating pad or soaking in hot bath only relaxing thing I can do I take Tylenol as needed one at a time probably three a day still passing scabs and drinking lots of water Dr warned me this could be a 4-6 month recovery as my prostate was huge and removed a lot I want to get back to normal as my wife is sic of me laying around, I do take care of my 92 yr old mom daily 65 mile round trip and do the lawn

And Chores but no heavy lifting and feel best in my back in bed 

Hi Art -- Had a TURP in Australia on 22 Aug 17. I'm now 4 weeks post TURP. My doctor told me he removed about 50% of my prostrate. Like you I have had intermittent blood in urine and passing small bits of material. Over the last few days I experienced clear urine interspersed with some bleeding.That all changed today when I passed about 6 large blood clots. I note that in your case blood and clots went on for 8 weeks - can I ask how big your clots were? On average when looking at mine they were about the size of a 10 cent piece.

Thanks

At three months since Turp just getting better he said 4-6 months is not uncommon to recover and I believe it he removed a ton and I had two

Bladder infections to slow me down and thought I tore my colon again in the same place but ended up being thrombosis no tear thank god. This has been a nitemare but the nitemare before was worse being cathed when I could not pee

Werner -- Passing clots was at the top of my scary list after surgery. Especially when I would go 5 days with a clear stream and then out came a clot. The largest clot measured 1cm x 2.5cm, but was flat in the thickness direction. I’m an engineer and did some research during the first 2 weeks post surgery since my urination frequency and fuse was short requiring me to be close to a bathroom. In addition to keeping track of void volume per doctor’s order I also measured my flow rate. I urinated into a kitchen measuring cup. I had to buy my wife a new one after this experiment.  I used an “oxo 500ml kitchen measuring cup” with a 10ml scale on it from Amazon. I measured the time using the stop watch on my cell phone. Then, dividing the measuring cup volume by the stop watch time gave me the flow rate. GOOGLE the text “maximum and average urine flow rates in normal - malcom frazer” and download the document. Figure 4 in the document shows percentile flow rate for men over 50. Placing my flow rate data point onto Figure 4 made this whole TURP experience and long recovery worth it. I sincerely hope you have a similar outcome. This site objects to posting a web address so I could not include the Amazon or Frazer document link.

Art - Thanks for your quick reply and the additional info on void volume and flow rate. So far today all my voids have been clear - much better than the fright I had yesterday when I saw the clots!!

12 weeks post Turp last two days still,passing large scabs damit feel a burning pain then thy come out

Good morning. I had a TURP on August 25, 2017 and from time to time my urine is real blood red and it has some large blood clots in it. I'm wondering if this is normal

 

Bob I messaged you before about having to self cath. I just can't find your message at the moment when you said your cousin had to do it all the time. I am still having trouble. I get really strong urges to go to the toilet but when I get here nothing. You said your cousin did not get any urges to go. Is that correct. If I have to go for a bowell motion I do urinate at the same time. The urologist who did my TURP said me bladder had failed. I would have thought that I wouldn't be able to pee at all.  To me it seems like there is a blockage of some kind. Any thoughts.

Hi Charles, I had my TURP on 22 August 2017 and my doctor told me that it could take a number of months to get over the operation - this includes bleeding and passing clots/scabs from time to time. In my case, going on 7 weeks post TURP now, I have experienced some heavy bleeding with large clots on two occasions so far. The last event was only two days ago which was after 6 days of voiding clear urine. Like you I was most concerned and worried after the first event, in particular due to the size of the clots. As was explained to me this is quite normal and as I mentioned earlier, could take several months (if not longer) to completely heal, remembering no two persons are the same. I would suggest that at this stage, what you are experiencing can be considered quite "normal". I believe the benefits of the TURP, including long recovery, far outweighs the situation being pre TURP. My advice is that if you continue to pass "heavy" and deep red blood get to your doctor, otherwise take it easy and hang in there. I wish you well in your recovery.   

Charles, it's only been about 6 weeks and I think 8 weeks or so is a normal time to recuperate. Most of what looks like blood in urine is a little bit of blood coloring the urine. It looks like burgundy wine. Frank blood (whole blood) is like thick spaghetti sauce. (I have had both.) If you are worried, when you see blood, pee in a small bathroom plastic or paper cup. Blood colored urine stays thin, like red wine. Frank blood will form a film like pudding over the surface in a couple of minutes. As far as clots, they have to come out. I had two Green light lasers and a turp, Time to get clear urine ranged from 6 to 9 weeks. Clots continued to appear from time to time after that. Clots from the turp were stringy or little red lumps. Clots from frank blood were like purple or black peas that dissolved in water.

Hi John. My cousin's husband's bladder had lost all elasticity. It had been stretched out. He was not able to feel the need to urinate and still doesn't. So he caths on a regular cycle of 3 to 4 times a day. When he caths, he empties completely, otherwise he doesn't go or feel the need to at all.

If you feel the need to go but can't you can cath into a one litre plastic urinal with ml markings and see how much comes out. This amount that comes out is called PVR (post void residual), what remains in the bladder once you have emptied all you can naturally. A PVR of 50ml. or less is considered normal. A PVR over 250ml means your bladder can't push out the urine.

This is the main determinant of whether you can cause damage to your kidneys by backing urine back into the kidneys. Before my first Greenlight, my PVR was about 400ml. But when I was blocked and went to the ER to be cathed it was 1400ml. That's when I learned to cath myself.

With 400ml. of urine in my bladder I felt like going all the time (every 20 to 30 minutes). After the GL I still had a pvr of 125ml, so not emptying all the way. This can be caused by a median lobe protruding into the bladder (which I had) or a thick overgrown bladder mouth (which I also had). The second GL removed bladder stones, trimmed the bladder mouth, took off some of the median lobe, but still wasn't successful. I still had a PVR up to 250ml.

The more your bladder stores permanently (the more your pvr), the faster it fills to the point you feel like you have to go. But sometimes you go easy, somethimes you don't. I'd wake up at 3AM, feeling like I was busting, but couldn't go. I'd drink a shot of whisky and walk around the house for 10 or 15 minutes and then I could go. Sometimes I'd be blocked and had to cath. Sometimes I'd go a lot on my own. Finally after my turp two years ago, it got under control. My stream is good. My PVR is just 32ml. No blockages ever.

n ultrasound can tell if you have a blockage due to a median lobe. A cystoscope would show if you have a stricture or some skin grown over the urethra path (which I also had, and was removed with the cystoscope tool).

The main thing is the PVR, which can be tested for by the uro filling your bladder with water through a cath, then letting you pee on your own and cathing to see how much is left. PVR can be easily measured with an ultrasound after you drink, take an ultrasound, then pee, then take a second ultrasound of the bladder to see how much is left. Or you can measure it yourself by cathing yourself into a urinal after you have emptied normally, and measuring how much urine was left and taken out with the cath.

P.S. John. I reread some of your recent posts and the last one a couple of months ago you had been to the incontinence nurse who cathed you and there was 800ml. taken out. She recommended you cath several times a day, and I recommended you check your PVR when you cathed to see if it was getting any better. You said you were going to do that and your stream was getting better. What happened? Did you cath? Did you measure your PVR over time?

Since I went to the incontinence nurse and starting self cathing I am not able to pee on my own. I have tried to pee before I cath but cannot do anything. Then I went to the urologist and he told me my bladder had failed because I cannot pee. He originally said if I couldn't pee he would have to go back in and see why but he never did. I still get really strong urges to go, sometimes it hurts. When I can't pee I then cath. I always measure what I cath and it usually is about 350 to 400. I do that about 4 times a day and then wake up usually once or maybe twice and cath again with about the same amount. I am thinking of getting a second opinion toe see if there is something that is stopping me from peeing.

Hi John. It sounds like you are doing the right things. Cathing at 300 to 400ls will keep the bladder from overfilling and backflowing urine into your kidneys. Your doctor may be right or may not be. He is saying there is no blockage, that your bladder is the cause, it's not able to push the urine out. There's no reason not to seek a second opinion and/or to get an ultrasound to see if there is any blockage which could be:

1. median lobe protruding into the bladder and blocking the bladder mouth

2. an overgrown bladder mouth which is blocking flow coming out 

3. bladder stones

Bob

It is not troubling me that much doing the self cathing. I could handle it if I have to do it on a permanent basis. Much more than if I had a catheter put in permanently. When we travel, I have no trouble stopping and doing it, even in a roadside stop. I only had the one internal camera and then the TURP. Have not had an ultrasound since then so there could very well be something blocking it for a normal pee. My own GP I am not very happy with and am going to change, maybe that will be the time to seek another opinion on my bladder.

Thankyou again for all your help in the past Bob as you have been a real help to me.

You are very welcome. Wishing you the best.

HI Werner I see you had the surgery in august...I had mine a month ago on September 25....not seeing  blood anymore..some burning when I pee...my biggest issue is bouts of burning in the prostate area...prostate is irritated...did you have that problem?

Hi Jack. Although I still feel uncomfortable at times in the general area of the prostrate, I can't say I experienced bouts of burning. Sorry I can't offer you more other than hang in there and give it another week or two as its only 4 weeks post TURP for you. I wish you well in your recovery.

Best water to drink is filtered water, because tap water contains chlorine and hormones. Also Saw Palmetto helps shrink an enlarged prostate, helps keep the prostate healthy.

Saw Palmetto, Beta Sitersterol, etc do NOT shrink the prostate, only script meds like Finseterside do and that can take 2-6 months.

4-6 month recovery from TURP is not all uncommon, it could take up to a year for full recovery; it all depends on how big the prostate was and how much work was done, the Urethia takes a beating, there is swelling and raw tissue,remember a 12" rod was placed up there.

Thanks for this posting! At 4 weeks out I am questioning my reality. Doctors stating 4-6 weeks is not my experience. Hearing people who go back to work in 2-3 weeks really not my experience. But 8-9 weeks, maybe? Thanks

hi i am in week 7 after my turp, i have split urine stream develped and i was wondering if it is normal, i had blood urine in week 6 with several pieces of blood prostate tissue clots in it. do you have any idea on this?

hi i am in my week 7 after turp, last week i had blood clots in urine and split urine stream and i am worried what would happennext.