Any experience out there with a product called Dribblestop?

http://www.kegel-exercises.com/dribblestop.html

RFP

I used one off an on for a few months, after concluding that I was unlikely to regain continence naturally.  If adjusted correctly, it was not painful, although you could feel the pressure there.  However, over time I found that, especially when running, the pressure of the urine in the penis itself at the point the clamp was applied became quite painful and required frequent release, even though there may have only been a half cup full of fluid there. I gave it up after a while and switched to a condom catheter for some months, and eventually had an artificial sphincter fitted.

I do believe it's worth a shot though.  It's not expensive and might work as part of your solution.

Berb

artificial sphincter or AUS process.  I think these are the same correct?  How does this work and what is involved?  I am a newbie at all this and I'm just trying to understand.  Can you still bike, run, workout at a club etc. Is it almost being back to normal.  Can you drink a few beers?  Thanks for any reply.

RFP

Hi RFP,

Yes, AUS stands for Artificial Urinary Sphincter.  Excellent information is available on the AMS 800 website as follows:

http://www.americanmedicalsystems.com/DAM_public/5107.pdf (patient booklet)
http://www.americanmedicalsystems.com/DAM_public/5081.pdf (everything incl operatin g room instructions)

In a nutshell... A cuff is placed around your urethra just behind the scrotum, and a silicone pump about 1-1/2" long is placed in your scrotum.  The cuff is inflated and this squeezes the urethra shut preventing leakage.  When you want to urinate (you feel normal urges so you'll know), you hold the pump in one hand and squeeze it with the other, and it opens the cuff.  You urinate, and the cuff automatically closes after around 60 seconds.

There is NOTHING that I used to do that I don't still do.  I run regularly, and have completed a number of marathons and ultramarathons since it was installed, including a 100 km run lasting 15+ hours on off road mountain tracks.  I don't ride a bike but my surgeon says no problem, that some of his patients participate in long bike races - but you need to get a "split" bike seat.  I don't go to the gym, but I do pushups, situps, light weights at home, and anything that I previously lifted I now lift with no sense of strain.

It is not a perfect seal, and I get a few small squirts if I sneeze or do something that puts an unusual pressure on the abdomen.  I use a light panty liner which I replace 2-3 times a day.  I guess total losses in a day would amount to around 1/4 of a Depends Guard pad - probably less.  Most of this is caused by my own impatience in not standing long enough at the urinal after urinating to give the cuff time to close properly - I accept the losses into the pad instead.

The only adverse thing I've found is that my bladder does not hold as much as it used to, but this is nothing to do with the AUS. If I get a cup full in my bladder now, I'm close to maximum and the urge to go is intense.  My doctor says my bladder shrunk because it went 20 months empty.  For some people, the bladder recovers to its previous size, but that has not happended with me.  I believe I also have some "urge" incontinence, possibly due to the learning my brain received from years of frequent low volume urination at night before my cancer was detected. I've learned to live with that.

It took me some months to convince myself that the AUS was for me.  I'm happy I did it. 

I'm happy to answer any more questions you have.

Regards
Berb