Prostate Cancer Incontinence: What products do you use? Tips?

I agree, I am almost on ten months, things are progressing but very , very slowly ( 71 y-o, RARP end of Jan 2025

You know, I just want to comment that, although I'm new to this, with my RARP having been only a month ago tomorrow (Monday), this urinary stuff is annoying! I really miss having a nice, long, satisfying pee, as opposed to the maybe one third of one I can manage at best! I guess my bladder just never gets full enough, as I keep leaking in dribs and drabs.
I've authorized my wife to refer to me as "Henry Kissinger"!

I DO have a another pelvic PT appt. upcoming this week, so hopefully that will help. In the meantime...Kegels, Kegels, Kegels...

@sandguy Hang in there it does get better. I'm almost 4 mos out for RARP and urinary is slowly coming back. First month was a lot of leakage but walking alot, cutting back on coffee (I've switched to herbal tea) has helped. I"m down to one pad and it's usually mostly dry the whole night. It wasn't that way at first.....So getting there one day at a time. I am using a vaccum erection device 15 daily to keep blood flow to my penis and help recovery. No natural erections yet but I am hopeful muscles will recover over time ..best wishes

@sandguy

Yes - listen to @rickwoodvisuals ;).
You are like, what, - 7 days post catheter ? XP
I would strongly suggest that you buy small, cheap digital scale from Amazon and small notepad and place them on the bathroom counter. Each time you change a pad, weight it in grams and calculate amount of urine contained in it. Add all grams (which equal milliliters) in 24 hours, a do that every day. You will notice that amount of leaked urine goes down over time and it will make you more confident. Strangely sometimes improvement is pretty sudden with no particular explanation. Also, always use the thinnest pad that can serve it's purpose. Thin pad will remind you to try to control squirting and activate your autonomous nervous system to do that later on automatically. Try not to stress too much at this point, you are soooo early post op. Concentrate on good nutrition, relaxation, gentle exercise etc.
Patience is the name of the game now ; ).

@sandguy
I know what u are saying. Nasty urgency followed by a run to the bathroom as a little wetness dibbles. At the toilet there is barley a tablespoon. At least Gemtesa gives me a full night's sleep. Keep the faith, better times coming.

I am almost eight weeks from my prostatectomy with very little progress on my incontinence. I have been going to physical therapy to work on Kegels and do them every day as well as my normal exercises. But the flows come out of nowhere when I just stand or walk. I can stop the flow while standing over the toilet, but when I think I'm done, I walk away and start peeing again. It's not like I just feel the urge where I have a chance to contract my pelvic floor. The urine just leaks out before I can do anything. Walking is almost impossible not to drip. This is beyond frustrating as I would think it would be better by now. Night time is no better where I wake up multiple times either feeling I need to go or worried that I should go. My urologist just keeps telling me to do the Kegel exercises and it will get better, so I keep hoping and praying it does soon because I am doing all that I can with little to show for it. I posted on another thread with Mayo and received a lot of encouragement. It's incredibly helpful to know that I'm not alone with what I am going through.

@surftohealth88 That’s hard to tell. I started out with comolete incontinence after cath came out but improved to < 10ml over the course of 2 months. I then stopped measuring leakage because it became imprecise (drying on the one hand, absorbing sweat on the other) at low levels. Now, 3.5 months post-cath removal I have some occasional stress incontinence. To your question, since I started PT one week after cath removal I do not know what my progress would have been in its absence. I like to think that it helped since the PT exercises are quite annoying.

I really appreciate the comments and perspective from the guys on this site. None of us asked to be here and we individually have to decide what is in our best interest now and long term......I have a few close medical friends who work as medical advanced nurse practitioners at a level 1 trauma center near me, say keep getting information from others on your journey... Thanks @sandguy for your comments. Not sure what works for everyone but for me I try to cut back on sugar and drinks late at night, esp cocktails, lol ....Ending drinks by say 8 p.m. and hitting the bathroom before bed, I find I am able to sleep 6-8 hours without interruption....It's not perfect but I am choosing to follow a pattern that has shown me I can get several hours of sleep overnight if I make a few adjustments to my schedule... also, silly question, I bought incontinence underwear with built in pads, but it was very annoying trying to make sure it was fully absorbing excess urine.....Honestly, I switched to jock strap with 1/2 pad holding everything tight until I changed pads as needed.....At first I used a whole pad but was pretty thick up front when walking around.. I found 1/2 pad in jock strap (with place for a pad up front) gave me the protection I needed, but didn't look like I was wearing a diaper in my underwear......Just wondering what has worked for other guys, wanting the assurance hiding leaks, but also not advertising you are hiding leaks.....thoughts, experiences?

@vcsurvivor59 Hey Vcsurvivor59. Let me encourage you,,,8 weeks out I was still leaking like a sieve...Yes I'm doing Kegel's too and shows some benefit but yeah, a sneeze, cough, deep breath causes me to leak....A jock strap with pad absorbed most of it until I could replace later...Allowed me to appear normal without huge diaper bulge. For me, I'm still learning but so far best relief in deciding when to drink fluids and when NOT to drink fluids before bed.....Keep sharing what works for you...it helps all of us on this journey.....

I bought those same underwear as it's much easier and cheaper to wash them. But I worry too when they get full, the material gets wet and there is nothing between them and what I am wearing for pants or shorts. I have the cup liners and a variety of Depends and similar ones which I am wearing at night or if I have to be away from home for more than an hour or two. It is beyond embarrassing knowing I am wearing these things, but for the most part, they have done what they are supposed to do and I am the only one that knows I have them on. I am looking forward to being one of those men who will look back at this time and remember when I had to wear them because I no longer need to.

I have also found an incredible prostate recovery group for men. It's a national zoom meeting that gets together a few times a week to talk openly about what we are all going through. I am glad to share the information if you are interested. They are a non-profit group and have helped me with a safe space to share.