KEGAL EXERCISES

Interesting. Exactly the opposite of what I have seen.

I was instructed to try the "stop the stream" exercise in order to figure out if I was doing them right, but after that, to do them once the bladder was empty, or just when I think of it.

There has been discussion that always doing them while peeing actually can confuse the nerve/muscle coordination.

Yes, too many are too many, at least in my experience. I was told to start with 5 setps of 10 reps, but would start leaking badly late in the day. Backing off to 3 or 4 sets a day improved things.

Actually, I was wondering why I only seem leak when I get home after work. I don't think it's because of all the bills in my mailbox either. It seems in the morning through the afternoon I am dry, but at home I really start to leak. I recently stopped doing kegels all day, just go lazy, and I seem much dryer at night now.

I am totally convinced, based on no evidence, or medical advice at all, that a strict regimen of Kegel exercises, religiously followed, and bragged about to all who will listen, will have most all RP patients dry in 180 days.

On the other hand, if you don't bother at all, and just let nature take its course and the body do its thing when it's ready, most all RP patients will be dry in six months.

So take your choice. Believers are cured within days (say 180) while the lazy skeptics could take months (say six.)

My wife is a believer, and so she had me on a Kegel schedule, and reminded me constantly. I lied. Never did a one. But, she was happy, and now when we meet up with other our age who are headed for an RP she admonishes them to do their Kegels and points to me as being a prime example of drying up quickly, thanks to the good Doctor Arnold Kegel. And, I'm not so foolish to argue.

Further, I won't attend any GFMPH event with her anywhere within 1,000 miles without signed, sworn, promises not to reveal my true Kegel history. Life is too short to spend the next couple of years in a rehab hospital.

Sheldon AKA Sleepless

Sorry new here but what is GFMPH event?

I started kegals several weeks before surgery, and started again when the catheter was removed. I am now nearly 22 months out from Davinci and still do kegals but to a lesser amount than early on in the recovery period.

I was also advised not to do the exercise whilst mid stream, although I have tried it just to satisfy myself that I can actually cut off in mid stream, which I can do quite easily.

I am 99.9% continent now, with no problems in lifting, sneezing or coughing. I have an occassional drop after urination, but I can usually empty the uretha by stroking the scrotum upwards towards the penis which seems to do the trick.

All the best from England.

DaSlink, sorry I forgot to respond about GFMPH;  this means good for my prostate health. This could include any activity that may be enjoyable and could be justified as "I should do that dear, it would be good for my prostate health."

Hello,
first time here for me in this exclusive club. just underwent ORP about 2 weeks ago. Had my catheter out yesterday, and have been dribbling like a broken faucet since. I seem to be somewhat continent at night (based on 1 night so far). But walking around is a different story. I have been told not to get discouraged the first few weeks, but not finding that so easy.

questions:
1. I have been trying to pee in the toilet every couple of hours, but there is hardly any volume - probably because I am not drinking much (so I won't leak). I am guessing part of the problem is that for the 10 days I was cathetered my bladder shrank since it did not have to hold anything. Am I better off trying to increase volume of liquids a little to try to "tax" my bladder some?

2. along the same lines, should I try to hold it a little longer?

3. Kegels - my doc says do them 4-5 times a day, 10 reps. Seems to me like walking around is one big kegel if I am trying not to leak. I imagine this is tiring out my muscles and not helping? should I just not worry about maintaining control while walking standing?

any words of advice? are the first few days just really crappy with some improvement soon after? I'd like to get back to work in a week and feel like I won;' wet my pants (though the thought of freely wizzing into a pad during certain meetings does have some poetic justice appeal).

Ab
My doc said to drink lots and lots of water. He said he wanted my urine to be clear every time. I consumed 5-6 20 oz bottles of water everyday. Today I drink 4-5 depending my activities. I try to keep my urine clear. I have cut out coffee out or my morning ritual last week. I'm allowing myself one small cup on Sunday morning. I'll see if that helps.
I did Kegals before and still doing them. Leak now when I stand up after sitting for a long time, not every time. I am working out with weights now and don't leak even when really exerting myself. Strange but I don't leak when I get up each night to urinate but will on occasion leak when getting up after laying down watching TV.
Now if I could only get peter to wake up. (LOL)

AB,

Welcome to HW.

I also cut back on drinking water because I was just a continuing flood. That eventually had a very negative side effect - several urinary tract infections. Trust me, those are unpleasant.

Just as an add on to the work question, my Uro/Surgeon said before surgery to be sure that I could be away from work for 5 - 7 weeks. Because some of my job can be done remotely via phone/computer, I was actually working a few hours a day the next week.

On the other hand, it was two months before my leakage got down to a level at which I was willing to get out much.

The link Carlos provides is a good reference.

And last, too many Kegels is too many (at least in my experience) - if you see that things get noticeably worse late in the day / evening, either back off a set of kegels, or spread them out more through the day.

AB:
While I am still in the continence recovery phase, I am recalling my first few weeks back to work, also a desk based job. I was given parking so that I could have a very short walk from the garage to my desk. Leaked all the way until I sat down. Had to change pads mid day for the first few weeks. I just glued myself to my desk with treks to the bathroom only. Zero percent confidence in doing anything that involved walking around. Lost the temporary parking so I had to walk a mile from the train station to work. Fretted over that for a week and tried to imagine the disaster that would befall me for such a long walk. Even took a trial walk around my home area on the Saturday before I had to do the walk at work. I survived and my pad was only half full on the walk into work. Shortly after the train station walk began, my leaking diminished enough so that I only needed one pad for the entire work day. I changed it on returning home. Several weeks later, the pad worn all day did not have to be changed right after coming home.

Now I just weep more than leak with an occasional spurt if something in my GI system puts some pressure internally within me. From 80 to 60 to 30 and now to around 10 cc of leaking in my pad over a whole work day. Hopefully you will make progress the same way or even better. I am at 6.5 months from surgery and right now progress is slow. However, I note that I am having strings of work days with just under 10 cc of fluid leaked per day. The graph of my progress is looks like a saw blade, but the more under 10 cc days I get, the sooner they hopefully will turn into 5 cc days and then 0 cc days.

So, just take time and read the history of the posts on this site. You will discover a common theme that we can all recite by heart. Incontinence recovery takes time and everyone is different in the rate of recovery.

Specific to your issues:
1. Yes, we all had the feeling that our bladder was never going to hold anything again. At first you will leak it as fast as you can make it but one mystical day will arrive when you notice that when you stand up you don't feel that leaking sensation. That will be the first day you might just have a few squirts to contribute to the toilet. Later you will hold more and squirt some but on average have more to void than you leak. That's progress.

2. Follow your Dr. advice on the Kegels. A total of 40 to 50 does not sound extreme. I have read here somewhere of men who did one big long Kegel every time they walked anywhere. You can try but you will wear yourself out pretty quickly. You have to remember that regaining continence is a two-fold process, the one you don't control and the one you do. The one you don't control is the healing of your internal parts. The one you control is the strengthening of your pelvic floor muscle. Even with a super, beefy pelvic floor muscle, if your internal workings have not healed yet, you will only be able to lessen the leaking but not stop it entirely. So both natural healing and exercise work together to bring this side effect to an end. Unfortunately, you can't rush nature. You will heal when you heal. Eat well, sleep well and exercise. Don't rush getting back to work if you don't have to do so. This is the one time you can use a legitimate excuse to take sick time and every sane supervisor should understand this.

Oh, and try not to look like you are urinating at a meeting. It might make the wrong impression.

Keep reading all the posts. The collective wisdom of the folks here is astounding.

Mike S.

One thing that helps me with doing the Kegels is a stop watch type timer. I do the 10 second contractions and 10 second relaxation. Contract on 0 to 10 seconds, relax on 10 through 20, contract on 30 through 40, and so on. At each minute you have completed 3 contract - relax cycles. Keeping the length of time consistent for the contract - relax cycles is easy as well as keeping track of how many contract - relax cycles have been done. I tried to keep track in my head but distractions were too frequent and I would lose track of what I was doing. The timer I use is a left-over from the days my kids were in soccer and it is now helping out the "old guy".

Da Vinci 01/06/10