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How to pee during the night
This is a serious question, and I'll appreciate your suggestions.
I had radiation 5 years ago, and just recently completed salvage brachy. So, now my bladder area is pretty pissed off.
During the day, I can pee "normally" (that is, post- PCa diagnosis "normal"), but at night it's a different story. It seems that if I lie prostrate, my prostate shuts off its valve. (I don't think I've ever used prostrate and prostate in the same sentence before, but I digress).
So, I wake up every 2 hours or so with a strong urge to pee. So far I've tried two options: one is standing at the toilet and waiting. That one isn't working very well, so I usually sit on the toilet, which is more comfortable, and in 2-3 minutes the drops start coming. I can sit there for 5 minutes or so until the drops reach the critial amount to relieve the urge (50-100 mls is my guess), or, once the drops start coming I can stand up to finish the performance a bit quicker.
My next house will have a urinal, but I digress.
I'm considering another option: walking around the house for 5 minutes, and then try peeing standing up. It seems that every morning, by the time I've finished grinding my coffee beans and cooking my oatmeal, I am ready and able to pee almost normally.
The downside to walking around for 5 minutes is that it may be harder to fall back asleep.
Does anyone have any special tricks to share?
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If I could go within 3-4 minutes and could be sure I was emptying, I would stop using catheters. I can't.
"and after the second time, I thought it was easy"
Same thing here. It doesn't hurt and after 2 or 3 times, it's not even uncomfortable. After a day or 2 it's second nature. The biggest issue is getting used to the routine to prevent any infections. Some tips:
* Use urinary maintenance wipes to clean the tip of your penis before insertion
* Wash your hands! Wash your hands! Wash your hands!
* Use self-lubricating or pre-lubricated catheters with a sleeve so you are not touching the tube at all. Don't use the ones that you have to put lubricating jelly on. Those are infections waiting to happen. I prefer Coloplast Luja but my insurance won't cover them so my go to is TruCath Hydrophilic.
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1 ReactionI have had these same issues this past winter. It's been building up to the same situation as yours for a while until I finally asked my urologist about it. He said he would scope out my urethra and bladder to see what was going on. He did that procedure in his office and I was able to see the monitor and the procedure. There was a lot of growths in my urethra and at the sphincter neck where i had stitches after my prostate was removed and my bladder was clear. As an out patient in the hospital, he removed the growths tissue which was benign. I wore a catheter for about 5 days .I contracted a UTI and had to self Catherine for about 2 weeks while antibiotics cured the UTI. Since that was all healed my urinary regularity returned and I'm able to urinate now with a full stream with no more waiting for something to happen. Perhaps you should see your urologist and get him to check out your urethra.
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1 ReactionExcuse the spell check mistake , catherize rather than Catherine!
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1 ReactionI don't know if this will be of any help. Somewhere around the middle of my EBRT treatments, I was doing the six-times-a-night routine, and it was often hard to get the urine flow started. It seemed to help me to sort of "milk" my penis. Felt kind of stupid doing it, but that's life!
It's typical, caused by inflammation from procedure which swell the prostate tissue and obstructs the urethra I found some relief from Flomax and Celebrex
what side effects have you experienced with Myrbetriq. Do you get immediate diarrhea with soft stools?
I’ve been on it for about nine months. I’ve had no side effects from it at all. I used to go every day around 7 AM, Now I go every other day around 7 AM. Definitely not a diarrhea issue.
It is stopped urgency at night, and it has really reduced incontinence.
I needed to take pills morning and night.
I was already taking Flomax (Tamsulosin). They doubled my dose and that pretty much solved it - other than having to go too often at night during radiation treatment. 2 iburprofen twice a day (one at bedtime) helped a lot, and still (2 months post radiation) still does.
My liver enzymes rose when I started Myrbetriq. Has that happened to anyone else?
In January 2025, I started taking 2 Myrbetriq. I get my ALT checked every month. It is a flat line almost with it being either 11, 12 or 13 Slowly rising. In February 2025, it was 33 the next month 11.
So maybe it did cause a short rise, but it still was within normal.