Bladder seems to hold less urine than before surgery

It seems that the urine volume in my bladder is less than it used to be. I also feel that I don't empty the bladder completely which causes more trips to the bathroom. My doctor said that the volume will increase over time but I feel that 6 months should have been enough. Any suggestions?

You can have a quick "procedure' done in the doctor's office that measures how much urine is left in your bladder after you pee.  It's totally painless and takes about 2 minutes.

If the bladder is holding over a certain percentage then they may have to scope to see the problem.  If there is scar tissue causing blockage, they use a balloon to help open.  This is done with a local sedative and I hear it is also painless, if you are sedated enough.

Greetings, Ed. I told my doc the same thing a few months after surgery.  He said sometimes your prostate has been enlarged prior to surgery and it may have caused your bladder to have changed shape.  Now that the prostate is no longer there, it should eventually reshape, but he recommended a drug called Detrol LA that helps the bladder relax and thus move back to normal shape a bit quicker.  I would echo previous comments that sometimes the end of a good pee takes a while and you have to make sure that you stand there a bit longer.  Also - and I'll take all the comments this probably will generate - but I find if I sit down rather than stand I can do a much better job of getting my bladder completely empty.  So this is what I tend to do just prior to going to bed and also when I do get up (usually once a night) during the night.  David

My doc said that the bladder is a very resilient muscle and that at four months I could still expect improvement.

Do raise the issue of emptying your bladder with your doc. The test is easy -- they have you pee and then rub an ultrasound probe over your belly. The reason that this is important is that if the bladder doesn't empty, the chances of urinary infection are increased.

I'll agree that my bladder certainly seems smaller after the first RP surgery. I frequently joke that I have the bladder of a 5 year old. Recent sling installation did not change this situation either (not that I expected it to). I asked the doc yesterday at my 6 week checkup about the frequency and he said it will improve, but that my caffiene intake plays a part in the situation.

Have had he same situation here. At 6 months I decided to wait and hold off on uninating as long as possible to try to increase the size of rht bladder. I think is it working. I go less frequently and I seem to be able to hold longer. Just sometimes when the urge hits it is time to go and I mean NOW!!!

I do find with any alcahol consumption in have to go frequently and I tend to leak just a bit.


Hope this helps.

This is my first post. I had Davinci surgery Nov. 14, 2012. Catheter removed on 26th. Most days I go through 8+ pads. Haven't given up my one cup of coffee in the morning. I know I need to drink more water. I have been doing my Kegels.
My problem is I don't have the urge to pee during the days (nights I do OK). During the day I know I'm leaking and go to the toilet but only dribble (no stream). When I leave the toilet I began leaking again. So frustrating.
In the last couple of days I've found that when I go to try to pee if I just "slightly" strain (same type strain as if I were having a BM) while standing over the John, I can produce a good stream. My bladder doesn't hold as much yet as before surgery but I do get a good stream by using this slight strain method. I've also decreased the number of pads per day. You guys probably already know this, but I thought I would pass it on as it is helping me.
Age 65.

kjoe1947 said...
This is my first post. I had Davinci surgery Nov. 14, 2012. Catheter removed on 26th. Most days I go through 8+ pads. Haven't given up my one cup of coffee in the morning. I know I need to drink more water. I have been doing my Kegels.
My problem is I don't have the urge to pee during the days (nights I do OK). During the day I know I'm leaking and go to the toilet but only dribble (no stream). When I leave the toilet I began leaking again. So frustrating.
In the last couple of days I've found that when I go to try to pee if I just "slightly" strain (same type strain as if I were having a BM) while standing over the John, I can produce a good stream. My bladder doesn't hold as much yet as before surgery but I do get a good stream by using this slight strain method. I've also decreased the number of pads per day. You guys probably already know this, but I thought I would pass it on as it is helping me.
Age 65.

This is very similar to what happened to me. The first 3 months after DaVinci (June '12) were pretty rough, although I started out with "only" 5 pads per day. I had little if any control. I quit coffee totally, and only drank liquid when I was really thirsty.

Whenever I felt the urge I would hit the toilet but nothing more than a dribble or two would come out, even though I felt like I had a full bladder. My bladder was not really acting as a reservoir; urine was coming out of me about as fast as my kidneys were producing it.

I was not working (thankfully) and got so tired of feeling urine coming out and not being able to stop it that I would just sit on the toilet and read. It was the only thing I could do where I could totally relax and not worry. I had been doing the max amount of Kegels, religiously, since the catheter came out (+8 days) but I still could not hold much back.

As I got towards 3 months I noticed pad use was down to 1-2 per 24 hour period. At my 3 month follow-up, my urologist suggested trying no pads. I had been toying with the idea for a couple weeks but didn't have the nerve to try it.

It was the right advice at the right time. At that point, much of my incontinence problem was in my head. Not wearing a pad forced me to concentrate on holding it. Now, at +7 months, holding it can still be a challenge especially when I'm on my feet, although sometimes it's a non-issue like the old days when I still had my prostate. I carry a pad in my truck, and carry a folded up paper towel in my back pocket.

Here's a tip, but I bet I'm not the first one to try it: In the evening if I leak I use a hair dryer to dry out my shorts. It only takes seconds and it beats the hell out of changing underwear all the time.
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EDIT to add: I never took "a healthy piss" until a couple of weeks after I got off the pads (surgery + 3.5 months). I never retained enough urine for that to happen, but once being forced to hold it I was taking the "racehorse" types again. And did it feel great! Those lucky racehorses.

Ah, the things we take for granted when young and healthy.

Post Edited (Bruze) : 1/4/2013 10:24:21 AM (GMT-7)

Greetings All:
After reading all the posts here on this subject I figure I must be really lucky. Had RPS in late October 2012, cath out 13 days later and have been continent since. As far as peeing?, I now can knock the cake hanging in the toilet off the hook if I try, LOL. Stream like a fire hose, like never before. As far as emptying my bladder fully, no problem. I do drink a lot of water and keep the plumbing working. Uro originally told me to try holding a bit longer to get bladder to hold more if I was having a problem but things working great on this end. Peeing like a thoroughbred after my RPS adventure!!! By the way, have not used a pad since two days after cath out and those were just a precaution at that time to see if needed. Glad I chose a URO that has done thousands of open RPS procedures.

Regards and Good Health,,,,,Hotrod58

I'm 10 years since open RP and almost 3 years since SRT. My experience has been erratic. Sometimes I am pretty much normal, can go for hours and then pee a large volume. But other times I have extreme urinary urgency, but then am surprised to find out there is very little volume. Go figure. I think, at least in my case, there is something in the nervous system -- the signaling is sometimes wrong--even though the capacity of the bladder is probably pretty much the same as it always was.