Urolift Diary
Posted , 7 users are following.
I know there is an endless Urolift thread and I have already read it but it's so long so I'm starting a new one based on my (very) recent experience.
I got my Urolift 2 days ago and I'm worried. The first day was pure hell. The pain was extreme. There was a lot of blood in my pee but I peed once so they let me leave. By midnight the blood had blocked my ability to pee. Ended up in the emergency room, bent over and howling/sweating/crying, and they put a catheter in me.
Yesterday they took the catheter out, sent me home with DIY catheters if I need them. In my opinion they should give DIY catheters to everyone who doesn't have a foley catheter when they leave, in case you get an obstruction, like I did, from the blood clots.
I was feeling quite a bit better when I got home and suddenly I had an extreme urge to pee and no control and I peed all over myself. That happened one more time. Since then I find I have to go to the bathroom at least once per hour, often more. I am drinking a fair amount of water which I was told was very important to relieve the blood clots. The last few times I went to the bathroom I did not see any more blood/clots in my urine. That's a big improvement. Still painful each time I pee. And I feel like if I don't get to the toilet immediately I will pee all over myself.
I also have a fair amount of leakage when I am just sitting so I am wearing a diaper pad in my underwear.
I have not had an erection yet.
The doctor now tells me no sexual activity for at least two weeks. I would have liked that information up front. Everything I previously read about the procedure made me think it's all fine after 2 days. The doctor also says extreme urination urge is normal and lasts 1 to 3 months. He says if it's not better in one week they will give me a prescription. Fingers crossed on that one.
Another thing. I couldn't sleep more than hour last night without running to the bathroom. Alsto, usually when peeing now I poop a little bit. And seems to have aggravated my hemmroids quite a bit from all the involuntary straining.
I wish I had read some of the horror stories on this board prior to getting the procedure. I literally was planning to travel four days later to visit my girlfriend but now that trip is on hold.
Right now I'd just like to get back to where I was before the surgery honestly. If I heal fairly quickly I'll likely change my mind. Right now I'm worried about when will I pee without it hurting, when can I have sex/masturbate again (if ever)/when can I go back to the gym? I'm very tired/worn out.
That said! It's still early. Literally only the 3rd day. Maybe it will clear up quickly and I'll be able to get back to life. I will try to update this report as time passes. But people should know this is a heavier surgery than they make out, in my experience, and you will not be back to normal life in two days probably.
0 likes, 12 replies
michael55618 stephen44792
Edited
I can't comment directly because I had a much different procedure (Aquablation) back in August. I can offer a couple of things though. First, when I was 2 days after the procedure, I also felt terrible (both mentally and physically) but I have slowly gotten better and now view the procedure as a success. I peed blood for 16 days and occasionally since then, such as after sex.
In terms of you wanting to know in advance how you would feel post surgery, I know what you mean. I would say based on my own experience and from reading many threads on this board, that the doctors as a whole tend not to tell people how bad it will be post-surgery. I was under the impression that I would be fully healed within 3 weeks, but here it is 2.5 months after my procedure and I am still healing. I'm not sure why this is so. Maybe the doctors are concerned that people will not have the procedure and will stay on pills longer if they know how tough the surgery will be. Or maybe because they are also treating people with prostate cancer that they don't consider BPH and recovery from surgery to be a big deal, so to speak.
Good luck and I hope you feel better.
stephen44792 michael55618
Posted
Hey Michael, thank you so much for this. That's a little scary to me. I'm currently planning to visit Asia in 3 weeks. I'm hoping I'll be healed enough. My girlfriend lives there and if I can't have sex I would honestly rather put off the trip. I'm hoping I don't have to do that a second time.
michael31017 stephen44792
Edited
Thanks for sharing your story Michael! I hope things calm down soon for you. Just keep drinking water and flushing the clots/blood out of you. I do agree with you regarding the CIC (DIY) catheters and they should be given to patients immediately after the procedure. I ended up in the emergency room twice when I was totally blocked post TURP or when the Foley plugged due to clots floating around in the bladder. Most urologists are not really thinking about life after procedures, I think they have lost touch with the patient side of the story.
compiler stephen44792
Edited
That is because patients do not ask how long it takes to FULLY recover from the procedure. The doctor unlikely disclosures discomforts and complications. The patient needs to ask it DIRECTLY.
stephen44792 compiler
Posted
I wish I had known to ask this.
stephen44792
Edited
UROLIFT DAY 3
Yesterday I drank a lot of water, which was difficult because my urge to urinate is so urgent. But the result was I wasn't seeing blood in my urine. I was going to the bathroom probably every half hour.
I stopped drinking water at 7pm thinking this would allow me to sleep, but I still woke up every hour with urgent urination. Also, there was blood clots again, which I believe is because I stopped hydrating so much. I ended up needing to self-cathertize 3 times last night. Sometimes I was able to pee, sometimes not.
So today I'm super hydrating again. It clearly helps with not getting blocked and clearing out the blood.
Also, I have a lot of discharge between going to the bathroom. I'm wearing diaper pads (like a cross between a diaper and a tampon that you wear on the front side).
From the catheterization I realized that my urge to urinate is happening at 100 mls, or 4 ounces for Americans. Reading up on the subject a normal self cath you should only have to use it ever 4-6 hours and should pass 400 mls (16 ounces).
Today I'm going to measure the amount of urine each time I use the bathroom so I will be able to see with certainty if I'm making progress or not. I do feel better than I felt yesterday. I have more energy in a general sense. If things improve regularly it's possible I'll feel the surgery was a success despite the awful start. But this urgent need to urinate, which seems to be improving, is still very distressing and I'm afraid to leave the house.
stephen44792
Posted
UROLIFT DAY 4
Ok, I decided I would follow up even if I didn't feel like it, just to make sure people reading this get the right picture of the experience.
If you've read this far you know the first couple of days were hellish. I still wish I had explored all options more thoroughly. I think I was sold the urolift as an easy procedure that takes two days to heal.
Anyway! I am much better now. I've become scientist at this point. I track how often I have to go and how much I go. Yesterday I was doing better but I had to go to the bathroom urgently every 20 minutes for the first half of the day. And when I went I would pee exactly 100mls. It was actually bizarre how it was exactly the same amount of pee each time. However by the end of the day it was less urgent and I peed as much as 200mls.
The most obnoxious thing is when I sit down to pee, or stand at the toilet, I suddenly have to go very urgently. Peeing itself is uncomfortable. And when I'm done I'm just done. There's no second push/extra spray. But the horrible thing is I never feel like I'm done peeing, even though pee stops coming out. This morning I timed it at 7 minutes until I was feeling comfortable again without the burning/feeling like I still needed to pee. It's very unpleasant. I want to feel like I've peed and I'm done/complete.
That said the strength of the pee is already more, significantly I would say, than before the surgery.
There is also a lot of post drip after. I'm wearing a pad still in my underwear. This is something that was happening prior to the surgery, but it definitely seems worse now.
So the points I'm making are do more research prior to getting urolift. But also at the rate I'm improving now, which is really shockingly fast, I might not regret the surgery. I might, it's likely even, that I will be glad I got the surgery. I'm not there yet but let's check back in a week.
A couple more things. You have to drink a lot of liquid otherwise you will get blood clots and need to self catheter. Using a DIY catheter is uncomfortable but also much easier than people seem to think. Trust me, you can do it. Every person who does this surgery needs to have DIY catheters just in case. If I had had these I would not have needed to go to the emergency room that first night.
Even last night I still used a self catheter once when I felt blocked. It might not have been necessary but once you know how to do it it's not a big deal. It's a little messy and I recommend doing it in the shower.
Good luck everyone! If anyone has any insight into when it might be comfortable peeing again please let me know.
stephen44792
Posted
UROLIFT DAY 5
Not much to report. It's still uncomfortable when I pee but as Andrew mentioned below I guess I can expect that for three weeks. The worst part is not the burning when I pee, which is definitely better every day but rather the feeling that I still have to pee even after I'm done. Like it often feels like I haven't peed at all.
There was still a little blood in my urine yesterday, which I've read is normal for the first two weeks but that means I can still get a clot and still need to use a self catheter which I mentioned in the last post. It seems to me that sending people home without the ability to self-cath is an enormous oversight.
At one point yesterday the feeling of having to pee still, after already peeing, was so strong that I used the catheter again. It's obviously not fun and it's painful but it's also not so terrible. I really encourage people not to fear the DIY catheter which is less likely to cause an infection than the Foley catheter they put in at the hospital.
Anyway, I cathed and did not get more out. It's just the feeling of still having to pee was so strong that I thought I was retaining, when in fact I wasn't.
Generally now the real urgency to pee doesn't hit until I'm just about at the bathroom, like in anticipation. It's getting better.
Today I'm going to take my chances with not over hydrating like I did yesterday. I'm going to drink liquids as I normally would. So I'm not avoiding drinking fluid either.
I suppose if I am actually fully better within 3 weeks of the operation I'll be happy. I was invited to an event today but I turned down the offer. It would have required exertion and I was worried about not being able to get a bathroom quick enough. It bummed me out to turn down the invite. But I'm going to get some shopping done at the home depot and I also plan to go to the gym and just walk on the treadmill for a while.
stephen44792
Edited
UROLIFT DAY 6
Quick update. I hope this is helpful for people.
Everything is getting better. At this rate I think I'll be fine when two weeks has passed, which is what I read is often normal. Still, I'm a long way from comfortable.
Like a lot of people the urge to pee hits most when standing after sitting/laying for a long time. I'm generally able to walk to the bathroom (as opposed to running). By the time I'm at the toilet it feels like the clock is ticking. This must be partly psychological.
It doesn't burn as much when I pee but it definitely burns, and when I'm done I still feel like I need to pee, which is a result of the lingering burning feeling. It gradually dies down after maybe 5 minutes. The feeling of still needing to pee is the most uncomfortable part.
I'm yet to pee more than 200mls, which is about half of what's considered "normal." I do pee faster and empty my bladder much faster. That's the one marked improvement.
TMI but I masturbated yesterday, basically as an experiment. It was quick and felt kind of wierd. The first time I couldn't get there. Masturbating made me want to pee. But I got there the second time.
OK, with that I think I'll stop this diary and check back in a week with some final notes.
My number 1 piece of advice with anyone undertaking this procedure is to learn how to DIY catheter and make sure you have some self catheters in the home. Your urologist surely has a bunch of these and will send you home with a few for free if you ask. This will help you avoid a truly terrible situation.
Good luck everyone!
stephen44792
Posted
UROLIFT DAY 9
OK, so I'm a lot better, but still very uncomfortable. Every day is better, and that makes it easy to be optimistic.
I don't have to pee as much now. I'm regularly passing 200mls of urine, about half what's considered normal, but more than before. This morning I passed 300mls. My pees are nowhere near as urgent.
The one troubling thing is it's still uncomfortable to pee, still burns but not so bad. But the irritation/burning in the urethra, makes it feel like I kind of always have to pee. And that's currently the worst part. It's very hard to focus when you feel like you have to pee all the time. I force myself not to because I know nothing will come out generally.
I'm not retaining excessive urine. I know because a day ago when I felt like I really still needed to go I did a self catheter and very little came out.
Also, I masturbated after 7 days. And it hurts. And you feel like you really need to go to the bathroom after.
The good part is it's actually way easier to orgasm now. Like, I can't believe it. And I pee much easier, with much greater force. It used to take me ten minutes (not really, but sometimes) just sitting there slowly letting it drain. Now it just flows right out. I don't need to sit down to pee.
So I think when I'm all healed, which at the rate I'm healing, each day better than the last, should be soon. Assuming it is I'll feel like despite how bad my first couple of days were I'll be glad I had this surgery.
andrew23481 stephen44792
Posted
Hi Stephen, it can take up to 3 weeks to feel comfortable peeing in my experience. This is due to the trauma and swelling from the operation.
For your leakage, have you tried or looked into Kegel pelvic floor exercises?
stephen44792 andrew23481
Posted
Thank you Andrew.