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Burning While Urinating
Had 7 proton prostrate treatments and am going through quite a bit of pain burning when urinating. Tried AZO not much help. Will try tonight Flow Max. They thought I had a UTI infection not the case after the culture test came back. They suggested drink lots of water, well that’s great but it also creates huge burning while doing this process. What have you tried that helped to reduce the burning? Ideas appreciated.
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Flowmax is commonly used to relieve urinary issues while under radiation. It may not be a complete solution, but it will probably help. It will allow you to pee a lot quicker, With a stronger stream.
I had irritation and it was uncomfortable to urinate. I tried AZO and it still burned . I switched to lots of water and little by little the pain disappeared .
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2 Reactions@jojolalanne Just finished SBRT and after third of five treatments began to suffer from similar burning. One doc suggested AZO, which did not help much; second doc suggested ibuprofen, which has helped a bit. Was already taking FLOMAX. Both docs said likely cause was inflammation, AZO would numb the pain, ibuprofen would lessen the inflammation. Both also said drink lots of water and avoid citrus. I realize not everyone can take ibuprofen, but that has made urination a bit more manageable.
@jojolalanne FlowMax has helped.AZO no
(Did you only have 7 treatments total? Or are you on your 7th of many treatments?)
I’ve heard that, if having pain and burning during urination caused by radiation treatments, if they’ve ruled out UTI and prostatitis, to try these in this order:
> Avoid fruit juice, smoothies, etc. with citric acid.
> Try NSAIDs (Ibuprofen/Alleve/Advil/Naproxin/Motrin).
> Try Prescription NSAIDS (Celebrex)
> Try Medrol dose-packs (steroids)
> Finally, Azo (it’s basically a urinary analgesic).
Some guys just go straight to Azo and skip the other possible remedies. But, in your case Azo apparently didn’t work,
(I had 28 sessions of proton radiation during April-May 2021 and never had any issues.)
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2 Reactions@brianjarvis 7 of 28 sessions have 3 stents can only take stuff that does impact my heart and blood thinners
Soreness pelvic area all the time
Need help determining how much water to drink some days they tell me 8 then 16 then back to end
Worry about how I am going to finish this treatment
See RAd doc next week may push for the max 5 session to get through it
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1 Reaction@mhordes The amount of radiation they use - called the biologic effective dose - is not just some random number that they can switch out. It’s calculated based on you and your cancer.
It’s also not good to be switching between different amounts of water each time. They want your bladder (and other organs) to be in exactly the same place each time.
> How many Grays of radiation are they giving you each session?
> Why “soreness pelvic area all the time”? Are they overshooting your prostate? Or too much radiation?
> Are you getting photon (IMRT) radiation or proton radiation?
You’ve gotta figure this out in order to finish all of your treatments.
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2 ReactionsWish I had the answer but it’s always try this try that. I had 44 radiation treatments and it felt like a life time. Anyway it’s in the past now and I’m doing quite well. But the burning urination and getting a stream started was awful. What worked for me? Nothing but time…… after the last radiation the burning and stream slowly got better, very slowly. A couple of months for sure. For me the worse problem was painful bowl movements. I mean tears in my eyes and every night I said to my wife “that’s it I’m not going back” but come morning I was there. The good news is you will get back to normal it just takes time. Keep a positive attitude and stay strong. God Bless you.
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1 Reaction@kenporter Thanks for your encouragement! I feel the same I’m not going back when the pain burning peeing is so strong I am pulling my hair out when peeing.
One of the suggested 18 oz of water 30 minutes prior to the treatment will give that a go.
@brianjarvis Proton therapy. The AZO and FlowMAX feel better this am and hope it continues during the day.
I’ve peed on the table 3 times so far and am hopeful they did not radiate over another organ which is possible when your bladder water drops
Someone suggested 18oz 30 minutes prior to the session will try that. They are always late and sometimes I just can’t hold it back any longer. Then they give me 8oz of water to drink and send in another patient and then I wait another 40 minutes.
The whole water process makes me dizzy!