Irradiated prostate & bladder bleeding: Have AFib & cancer

I feel like I "me too" too many posts here (I was on a real medical rollercoaster for a couple of years 😐) but yes, I'm on blood thinners because of deep-vein thrombosis a couple of years ago when I was paraplegic, and I've experienced hematuria (blood in the urine) from radation damage to my bladder.

It's not pleasant, but my oncology urologist told me not to worry because we know the cause (confirmed via cystoscopy, which showed the damage, KUB ultrasound, which showed everything else is ok, and regular bloodwork, which shows normal kidney function).

I haven't noticed any for nearly a year now, but it's disconcerting when you go to the bathroom and it looks like you're peeing blood (bright red). Definitely ask them to run all the tests if this happens to you, just to confirm there's nothing else at work.

Thank you SO much for replying to my query. It is a continual rollercoaster, as you put it. Do you ever get clots coming from your bladder?

Yes, for a couple of months I'd see a ring of tiny clots form around the high-water mark in the toilet bowl (only rarely were the clots large enough to see individually). They did clear up eventually.

I made some temporary dietary changes (as advised by my doctor), like cutting down on caffeine, alcohol, and spicy food, and that helped reduce the irritation and bleeding (I can drink my regular amount of tea again now, a year later).

Hi "delcasa",
Besides my controlled PC, I have (mild) Afib as well. And blood thinners caused an allergic reaction. The Afib got to the point of having ablation to the atrium which has worked perfectly for almost a whole year. My cardiologist says if I have any more Afib we'll look at the "watchman" implant to the heart.
I don't know if either of those would work for you but always worth a chat with both doctor teams.
Bests of luck and keep up the good work.

Thank you so much. There is a lot to know, and one must be proactive for sure. It is definitely worth a chat.

@delcasa I too have had these blood clots from radiation for prostate cancer---ffirst time it happened I went back to the doctor that operated on me and using a scope that they inserted up my penis into my bladder he showed me what looked like many varicose veins on the walls of the bladder--This apparently makes the tissue slough off every now and then--hence the blood clots--it would happen maybe once or twice a year until just the other day when I had 3 instances where I had an immediate urge to pee but I couldn't--It finally let go in a rushing torrent of blood,urine and clots (good times!)--after the third time I went to the hospital and they inserted a catheter and "irrigated" my bladder which got rid of the blood and clots

@grizwalsh how many years after radiation therapy did you have bleeding issues?

Me: Post salvage radiation after prostatectomy. Chronic and extremely severe hemorrhagic bladder condition. Clots causing urine retention twice a week for 9 months. Bladder fulguration and irrigation failed miserably. 72 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen also failed as miserably. The clotting was so frequent I started to irrigate myself with sterile water and 5-10% hydrogen peroxide with a small 10 french catheter. I’d plunge the fluid up into my bladder and quickly remove the catheter. The fluid would cause the clots to be dislodged from the bladder neck and blasted out along with the additional fluid. (sometimes several attempts were necessary. No fun).

The solution was fulguration followed by the instillation of a chemical compound called ALUM for two days. (There are many compounds with varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the person. Amicar did not work for me, ALUM did). As a side note, the radiation also caused a urethral stricture which has been addressed with a urethral balloon. Since then I’ve had three and a half symptomless years.

@jeffy1 2 years perhaps--can't remember

@lsk1000 Holy crap!--quite the procedure--I am going through this now (not nearly as bad as you) and really appreciate the info--good luck to you!