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Posted 10/11/2017 7:55 PM (GMT 0)
My brother-in-law has been using Rapaflo for 4 years. His doctor finally took him off it after his surgery. It's been 3 weeks today since he stopped taking it and continues to have many "accidents " being unable to control his bladder. The opposite results for which he took the drug to begin with. Any idea how it will be before he isn't bothered by this problem.? How long does it take to get out of his system?
Posted 10/11/2017 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
It's not the Rapaflo. Incontinence is a very well-known consequence of prostatectomy, which I hope your brother-in-law was informed about. For 80-90% of men, the incontinence should resolve within a year. He should be talking to his urologist about doing kegels to help speed up the process. He should also be talking to his urologist about penile rehab.

It is very troubling if your brother-in-law was not informed in advance about all this.
Posted 10/11/2017 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
Yes. Someone definitely dropped the ball here. I'm pretty sure he should never have been on this medication for so long. Any idea what he might be in for?
Posted 10/11/2017 9:30 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry, I'm new here and apparently have deleted a response from someone.
Posted 10/11/2017 9:31 PM (GMT 0)
GB722,

Could you tell us more about his surgery? Did he have his prostate removed because of cancer? Or did he have surgery to reduce the size of his prostate to help him urinate? Both of those surgeries can make a man leaky for a while but there are differences between the two in what to expect.

In either of those two cases it is almost certainly the surgery that is causing his incontinence, not his stopping the drug. And it's not a problem that he was on the drug for a long time. Rapaflo is a kind of drug that men do take for a long time to help with the symptoms of a too-large prostate. Usually the only reason they stop taking them is because they stop working and the man has surgery to fix the problem.

If he did have his prostate removed, he will probably be dry in three months to a year, although occasionally men need further treatment to regain continence. In the meanwhile there are exercises he can do to speed up the process. His surgeon can tell him about those exercises.

Welcome to the forum, by the way. Glad you're here. Hope we can help.
Posted 10/11/2017 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
>Any idea what he might be in for?

Some of these links may help as your brother-in-law moves forward:

/www.google.com/search?source=hp&q=prostate+urinary+incontinence

urology.ucla.edu/kegel-exercises-for-men

urology.ucla.edu/dealing-with-erectile-dysfunction

Face-to-face Prostate Cancer Support Groups can be helpful, too.
Men can share the "details" about how they've "leaked", what happened with their catheters, what kind of pads they might have used and how many .... along with similar "details" about Erectile Dysfunction and how things looked, felt, worked, didn't work, were treated, or not treated, etc., etc., etc.

Here's one link to one of the Support Group Locators in the USA:

www.ustoo.org/Support-Group-Near-You

There is lots of historical discussion and available support here on this Forum, too.

Charles
Posted 10/11/2017 11:31 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone! I appreciate the feedback. I'll be printing these replies off for him as he isn't computer friendly at 86 years of age.
Posted 10/12/2017 5:44 PM (GMT 0)
What kind of surgery did he have at 86?
Posted 10/17/2017 7:55 PM (GMT 0)
His surgery was to remove a benign tumour from the urinary tract. Should I be posting this in another area?
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