Bladder Retraining After Prostate Cancer Treatment 

Hey there- glad to hear you are taking action to improve things. I still have the urinary frequency and urgency issues but most recently I did do a course of treatment for my radiation proctitis (rectal bleeding). I was hoping it might help with the bladder issues as well but I haven't really noticed improvement in that. The treatment was Hyperbaric Oxygen sessions. I did 90 minute sessions every weekday for two months and the rectal bleeding has stopped. If you have radiation cystitis (which can include blood in the urine) Hyperbaric Oxygen is supposed to be good for that, too. I will look into that cushion you mentioned. Thanks!

Thanks, I hope you see some good results.

Thanks Samantha! Progress continues!

Thanks Jose! Glad you found it helpful.

Thanks Nat!

Thanks Heather! Progress continues! Hopefully I won't need to get up as often during the Super Bowl tomorrow and miss an exciting play or a funny commercial or Rihanna at halftime. They have left no good time to go to the restroom during the Super Bowl! 🤣🤣

The only thing I found that helped reduce the number of times getting up at night to pee was to have a salty meal during the day. The salt makes you retain water so you might not be up as often to pee at night. The downside is that retaining the fluid probably raises your blood pressure all night which is bad for you in its own way.

@@parristx yes I'm on a very low dose of blood pressure medication so I'll keep away from the salt but anyway hopefully my doctor says this will improve over the next many months my PSA before the proton beam therapy was 4.8 and my first test after six weeks now that I'm finished ended up at 3.52 so I'm on the right track thanks

yes I have heard. My PSA is now 2.1. next test in April near my birthday

Thank you!

Thanks. Dealing with some things in life you have to choose between laughing or crying.

Hi there. I didn't have surgery for my prostate cancer- though it seems I have had everything else! I know from my prostate biopsy experience that blood in the semen went from red to black to grey over the course of a month. So that was old blood being flushed out. If the color had stayed red I would have worried that there was still active bleeding. So I understand your concern. A quick message in your doctor's website portal should get you an answer as to whether you should be concerned or not. I wish you undetectable PSAs from here on out. 👍👍

I didn't even know they made an "at home" bladder monitor. I looked up that one you mentioned but the few reviews it has aren't very good or I might have considered it. And once I had searched that device on my phone I started getting ads for other bladder treatments- including an implantable device that comes with a remote control! There is a limit to how far I will go for a gadget review! 🤣🤣

Thanks David! I had read about the SpaceOAR gel and expected they would do that at my Proton Therapy center. But when I asked I was told that because they had the more precise "pencil beam scanning" equipment that putting that gel in to get some distance between the rectum and prostate was not necessary. So I didn't have the gel put in though I wish now I had insisted on it. Just a few weeks ago I started having blood in the stools and per my Proton Therapy center's instructions I called them first before seeing another doctor about that. They confirmed that it sounds typical for a "late" radiation side effect. Radiation in the rectum can trigger the growth of extra blood vessels even a year or two after finishing the course of radiation treatment. Then when you strain by lifting things or straining with a bowel movement they can tear and bleed. According to the letter they sent me about 9% of men who have Proton Therapy radiation to the prostate develop this side effect. This kind of thing is exactly why I didn't have standard radiation therapy and opted for Proton Therapy. But who knows- it may have been even more severe had I gone with standard radiation treatment. Then again I may have avoided it altogether if they had used SpaceOAR gel.

Parris, I appreciate your reply. I’m sorry to hear about your recent setback. After hours and hours of research the one thing I have determined is that surgery and proton therapy have their own unique list of negative side effects. Neither option is a good choice… are you still pleased with going down the proton option?

I did have the OAR. thank God

Who's to say? The doctors show you graphs for survival rates with the different treatment options and the odds look better when you add in the radiation. I think the idea is to hit the cancer with everything at once- chemo, radiation, hormone deprivation therapy- so that cancer cells that are only weakened by one treatment may be be finished off by one or two of the other treatments. I would have regretted it if I had skipped the radiation only to have the cancer come back and then have the radiation on its own without the synergistic effect of the other therapies. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

So you had your prostate removed and THEN got radiation? @@parristx