7 weeks after Prostatectomy and still waking up a lot to pee.

When you get a prostatectomy they take more than your prostate, they also take two sphincters that men have over women to control our bladder, being left with the same mechanisms that women have. It takes getting used to. When you pee do you have the urge and it's indeed quite a bit or is it less than what you think a full bladder should be? I ask because you could have bladder urgency that doesn't really required you to go pee but you think it does, and you can try waiting those a bit more each day until you get through a night. You can also take Oxybutynin to help with bladder urgency - I was put on that as a precaution but stopped it after a few days past surgery.

For me I notice nothing different, it feels like the same system is still there and while I was usually up 1 time a night to pee, now I'm not.

I had the problem with waking up in the middle of the night feeling like I had to go when I really didn’t. My doctor prescribed Myrbetriq which not only stopped the urgency problem, but it also Greatly reduced my incontinence problem. Gemtesa is supposed to the same thing.

I take a lot of different Drugs and Myrbetriq caused me no side effects.

For the few months right after surgery I was waking up more frequently during the night to pee. That gradually went away as I gained confidence so now at 7+ months I'm pretty much back to normal for me. But I don't really know how much of that was physical and how much was unconscious mental anxiety of me just worrying about having an accident. What I do know is sometime around 3 months I started relaxing quite a bit and just not thinking about it as much and that seemed to help me go longer. At around 5 months I really turned a corner and now I don't really think about it at all and I consider myself back to normal. All that said, I'm 71 and if I drink a lot of fluids in the evening I'll definitely get up 2 or maybe even 3 times a night. But normally I'll get up once a night during 8 hours of sleep. Best wishes.

I had my RP November of 2023. I still have a need to pee during the night, but it’s a different feeling. I don’t have that “urge” as I did prior to my surgery. I think part of it is psychological but it isn’t disturbing my sleep as it used to. I am going to discuss this at my next appointment. Best wishes

I was doing the same. Dr. got me oxybutynin which worked very well. Went from 3-4 times /night to 1 per night.

Hopefully only short term, I was told by my doctor it was just to help your bladder train itself to correct but that you can become reliant on Oxybutynin if you use it too much, your bladder just won't work properly without it. I had urgency for a couple days after surgery but was able to stop using that drug after the second day.

Pelvic floor exercises aren't helping with it at all?

There seems to be an issue with elderly people taking oxybutynin.

“As far as bladder medications are concerned, immediate release oxybutynin has been shown to adversely affect cognition in the cognitively intact elderly.”

I am now 3 weeks post RP for my Gleason 9 grade 5 wior th EPE and live with depends day and night. My ability to voluntarily control my urination is extremely limited. I hope that with the passing weeks I wil gain sphincter control over my urination but so far, not much. I have not worn a pair of underwear in 3 weeks and am spending my days and nights with multiple "man pants" Less when I am sleeping but once I get up the involuntary drip starts and I try to go to the toilet to control things on my own but it is extremely frustrating. I just hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not a freight train coming back at me. Should I be more patient

Hi Survivor,

Thanks for the insight. At night it’s not quite as full as during the day but seems like there was enough to warrant going. It could be partially mental as well just being worried about an accident and by the sounds of it from everyone over time that will just go away as I get used to this new normal.

I will ask about Oxybutynin and see if that’s something that would be good for me even short term.

Thanks Again for your feedback.

Hi Jeffmarc

Thanks for the info about Myrbetriq, I will ask about this as well as Oxybutynin when I see the doctor next week.

As usual your feedback is very much appreciated.