GI issues After RARP

My Hussband has this issue couple of weeks after RARP but is getting better now in the third week.

Sorry to hear that Jay 😟. My husband does not have any urgency and BMs are completely same as before surgery. But, everybody is different.

Was this the case from the beginning (after surgery) , or it recently started to happen. Also, if it started immediately after surgery is it any better now 5 mos post op. or the level of urgency is the same ?

What they say in that study might be the cause ?

Wishing you fast resolution of pesky BM issues 💗🍀🍀

I've been having digestive issues since RP a year ago.
But it's more about appetite.
I just can't eat what I used to. I'm eating about half as much - and gastric reflux has become more frequent.
It's probably due to our insides being churned up with an egg beater for 2 hours, during surgery.

I'll be asking my GP next time I see him.
So totally worth mentioning to yours.

Hi Jay, I had the exact opposite of your situation immediately after RARP: totally lost the ability to poop (not constipation!).
No one will ever give you a straight answer - surgeon, GI doc, etc., because they simply cannot - or will not - admit that their procedure has anything whatsoever to do with your situation.
To do so is tantamount to negligence or malpractice in their minds, which is ridiculous! But that’s just how it is…
Your insides were totally traumatized by the insertion of robotic arms; nerves get disturbed and they may react by increased or decreased activity.
Fascial planes (the membranes that hold your guts together) are invaded and the way they heal can also affect bowel habits. Think of how adhesions can form after bowel surgery and almost kill you with blockages; so lesser complications are also possible.
Hopefully, your normal bowel function will return soon. Mine did not, but in an ironic twist of fate, salvage radiation restored my bowels to their original settings - sort of a reboot of the system!
Don’t ask me how or why, but after almost 6 yrs of hell I am just grateful…oh, and maybe they got rid of the cancer too!🤞

based on everyone's input 🙂 I think I'm just going to ride this out. I see my surgeon/urologist in November for 6 month PSA blood work and I will mention this to them and see if they can recommend something OTC or a scrip. I know my GI will want to do a colonoscopy, when I drink that prep etc. it takes my colon over a month to recover from that. Good to know it's not just me.

I had the same GI issues after my RP. More frequent (and loose) BMs and the very annoying (did I say very annoying?) condition called tenesmus (the feeling that you have to have a BM but there is nothing there). Some days were more normal, other days more intense but not so bad that it limited my normal activities.

Believe it or not I started a GI diary in spreadsheet that recorded times, symptoms (complete with a rating scale), foods, stressors, etc. in a futile attempt to figure out what were the triggering factors. So for months each day ended with "Dear Diary, today was a (good/bad) GI day...." No patterns emerged from my detailed multi-parametric correlation analysis, other than to stay away from certain foods (like beans and high/hard fiber veggies). No Nobel prize for this discovery.

A year later I had salvage radiation, which worsened the symptoms. My GI tract is still in recovery mode but improving very slowly (did I say very slowly?).

Thanks for that I have never heard that word Tenesmus before and it's good to know what it is before my appointment. 🙂 Appreciate that. 🙂

Yes indeed...I don't have the "urgency" issue, but I noted the total number of "poops per day" increased by one or two, and my usual pattern of "when" I poop has changed. I always do within 30 minutes after breakfast, and maybe late afternoon or early evening. But now there are just random times of day, often before bedtime. I sit there thinking: "but I just pooped 2-3 hours ago and didn't eat anything after the last poop???" One thing I noticed is that at 6-months post-op, I still find that "helping" things along by compressing my lower abdomen muscles is limited and slightly painful/uncomfortable. It is reminiscent of the pain immediately post-op...deep pain, but now to a much lesser degree. But it is there...I can't compress those muscles like I used to.

RARP in 2014, 39 External Beam Treatments in 2015, so far 2 Proton Beam Treatments in 2025.
Have not had a good poop since 2015, had every GI test known to mankind - no help.
I have to poop as soon as I am done pooping, lying in bed at night is the worst. I don't empty, sometimes leak and have had a couple of perianal abscesses and surgeries along the way.

NO FUN!

After RARP I had significant constipation. This did not change with ADT, so doctor recommended MiraLAX (actually LaxaClear from Costco). My stools then became quite soft but not runny. This year, after 2.5 years on ADT was suspended last year, I tried to reduce the amount of MiraLAX taken nightly, but the constipation returned & I felt a little bloated, so I guess I'm on the stuff for life.

Note that I did have a hernia repair a year after RARP, to repair the perineum wall after the RARP.