Incontinence Improvement with Pelvic PT?

Sorry to hear your not happy with your progress.

It's really difficult to compare and contrast this as one of the big factors would be how large a margin the surgeon had to take on either side of the prostate. This can have a big effect on your ability to regain continence and how fast you manage to do so. My guess everyone is a little different.

Those numbers don't mean anything to me as I didn't even know there was a test. If I had....I might have tested.

I'm almost 18 mos post op now. I made significant improvement early then the rest was slow. So, I would wear a pad on and off for the first couple weeks, but there were things that would cause leakage for a couple months. Sneezing, coughing, passing gas, bending over in certain ways. It was a few months before I could run again. (that one had me worried!) Even today there can be little slip ups, hard labor comes to mind (recently helped my brother in law move). The heavy lifting caused a little.
Hopefully the PT will show more improvement for you soon!

Hi @lb1049, along with @web265's encouraging post, I'm tagging @samidh @perrychristopher @maxvt @michaelcharles @stoney @tomf @jammy and @edo who have also had pelvic PT and experience with kegel exercises to help improve urinary incontinence.

You can read further helpful posts and tips from fellow prostate cancer members in this related discussion:
- Do you have urinary incontinence after prostatectomy & radiation? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/urinary-incontinence-1/

LB, like @web265, I'm not familiar with the numbers you cited or the pad test. Progress can be slow. Have you been able to be consistent with PT and the exercises? I know they're boring.

Thanks Colleen for connecting me. Though I read up about Kegel exercises, my doc never told me about it, and so conveniently I did not start it. Yes, I will start from today.

Get your doctor to write you a Script for Pelvic Floor physical therapy. The therapist will initially instrument you to make sure you are doing the Kegels correctly. Definitely worth it imo. Good Luck

I was very disappointed with my level of urinary incontinence six months post-surgery. It was getting in the way of my daily activities (especially tennis and biking or walks with my wife in a nearbye Park. What helped me was a combination of factors: Engaging in a regular twice a week physical therapy program (focus on pelvic floor strengthening), increasing (community walking multiple mornings/week wearing pads, cutting down on sugery beverages, and eliminating caffeine and, even though I was a big skeptic, trying a new electrical stimulation machine called "esculpt". Hope everyone finds their right program and right combination of what works or helps.

Hi web265

Since I began keeping records on December 7 I have done about 10,000 kegel squeezes building from 3 second hold to 15 though sometimes 20 and the longest I can hold is about 40 seconds.

Its important to use the correct technique and my PT gave an iPhone app with video demonstrations.

My PT has me voiding every hour to "train" my bladder to expect a duration. When this is "dry" I'm to move to 90 minutes or two hours. Dry at one hour is 70 or more days out without sudden improvement.

Being a compulsive numbers guy records are average daily grams and the three day moving average grams, both over a 24 hour period.

Three day running average: 342 started at 522 19 days ago.
Daily average: 406
Average grams per hour: 17
Highest 24 hour: 613, Lowest 213.
I use a postal scale.

I've tried to post the past 19 days showing a continuous improvement, albeit too slow in my view.

For my hoped for sudden improvement I am looking for certain food, acidic in particular, that may affect the bladder. Its a process of elimination. So far ID's, sugar. Apparently okay caffeine and red pasta sauce.

Being this quantitative is my way to avoid that hopeless feeling and becoming depressed with this aspect of recovery.

Anyway, this is what I'm doing. Do not stop kegels.

I love your chart! That is a great trend line!
My PT emphasized deep, prolonged breathing much more than kegels (which she prefers to call pelvic floor exercises.) I think, though, that was advice tailored to my specific profile, including physical exam of pelvic floor contraction. Apparently, as one responder has pointed out for himself in this thread, there is some danger of excess tension in these muscles?
Fortunately for me, this was one of the areas where I had unusual success, and I still have the large bag of diapers to prove it along with several packs of unused pads. I am grateful that while I have ongoing problems, I don't have every problem :-).

My Urologist recommended Pelvic Floor PT prior to my RALP, and I did 4-6 weeks doing so.

I was fully continent upon catheter removal 10 days after surgery.

Now continuing Kegels on my own and doing well, full continence.

Best of Luck to you.

bladder neck surgery 2016 UCSD following 2015 prostatectomy.
no leaky since.

Hi, I was 73 when I had surgery. Following my surgery, I was totally incontinent for two months. I like wise avoided coffee and alcohol. I started doing kugels after six weeks. (I searched on YouTube.) I slowly became continent over the next 10 months. I resumed coffee drinking after two months. I didn’t notice any real difference in my bladder control. Now after a year, I’m continent. On the average, 80% of us guys become continent again after one year. That’s the good news, unless you’re in the other 20%. Good luck and hopefully with exercise and time you’ll become continent soon!