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Neuropathy following Robotic Prostatectomy
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: 23 hours ago | Replies (28)Comment receiving replies
@jchandler64 I had a situation similar to yours, but on the other end. After my surgery I was completely unable to move my bowels; NOT constipation!
The urge to go was normal - even powerful at times; yet there was a complete disconnect to my rectum and the ‘follow thru’ of relaxing the sphincter and allowing evacuation…Yes, TMI for sure, but NOBODY ever heard of this - not the surgeon, not the GP, and not the GI doc who did a colonoscopy and said ‘ all good’.
SIX YEARS of that, living on laxatives with everyone thinking I had a screw loose; read every f***ing thing I could find with no success…
Finally - FINALLY! - found an IBS website when doing research for diet due to upcoming SRT.
Found the magical word ‘anismus’ - the inability to have a bowel movement caused by (wait for it!)…
TRAUMA OR PREVIOUS PELVIC SURGERY.
Hmmmm - think a RARP might fall anywhere in this category?? YET, no one EVER heard of such a thing!
Believe it or not, 25 rounds of SRT has restored my bowel function to what it was before surgery. Almost an absurd outcome, right?
That’s even more f***ed up than the surgical result! Not gonna question it, just extremely grateful for that silver lining of recurrent PCa.
Can’t recommend radiation for your problem, but just know that you DEFINITELY have nerve damage (unintended I am sure) and you need to find an excellent neurologist who can pinpoint where in the neuronal chain this trauma occurred. It may be treated with injections to ablate that misfiring nerve or perhaps a TENS unit to interfere with the signaling mechanism.
Best of luck to you!
Phil
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@heavyphil Thank you very much for the info into your journey with RARP. So far I’ve had two nerve block procedures. Dorsal Penile and Bilateral Pudendal. Very little relief. They, The Mayo, want to do a third. Ganglion Impar. I’m not sure I wanna have another one. Side effects are not terrible but I’m just not convinced it’s gonna make a difference. I would give anything to have a normal bowel movement. I go to the throne no less than 10 times a day. No relief. Just bits. I have another appointment on Monday with one of their Surgical Urologist. I parted ways with mine. We drive four hours each way. We’ll see. I will say this, I’m 100 times better than a year ago. But, I tell my closest buddies, you would think you are dying with just the pain and discomfort I’m experiencing right now. I was suicidal a year ago. Would never do it but when you’re laying there at night, when the pain is at its worst, you have thoughts. How much longer can I put up with this. At my last procedure I was asking a lot of questions. Their answer was almost always, “we don’t know. This is a very rare complication. RARE.
Thank you for the message and i apologize for the lengthy reply. God Bless!
Joe