Kegel Help?

RRP on Oct 17.  Cathiter in for 3 weeks due to slow healing.  Has been out for one week today.  Gushing when I stand.  Trying to do kegel's but have question.

What do you all fel when trying to do the exercises?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, KW

Hi kw,   Here’s a warm welcome just for you!   I’m glad you joined us.   Hope you’ll keep with us... on your recover/healing progress.   Kegels are so important and walking stairs and walking help in urinary control.   We started kegels in February up until surgery day and continued them after the Mr. Hang was released J   and continued doing them to this day 7.5 months post-op.    I hope the following… will help to guide you in the right way to do the exercise… it helped us!   Excerpt from Dr. Patrick C. Walsh’s “Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer Exercises you can do: Next, every time you urinate, do it standing up.   You can’t practice the following exercises, which strengthen the external sphincter and speed up your recovery of urinary control, while you’re sitting down.   Start your stream, and once it’s in full force, stop the stream by contracting the muscles in our buttocks – not your abdominal muscles, not the muscle “up in front” around the penis.   Tighten your buttocks; imagine you’re trying to hold a quarter between your cheeks.   Hold the urine back for five or ten seconds, and repeat as many times as you can.   Note: Only perform these exercises when you’re urinating; if you keep contracting these muscles throughout the day, you’ll overdo it—the sphincter tires easily—and you’ll end up wetter than you would otherwise.   Take care, In new friendship ~ Lee & Buddy

KW,

I had my catheter out on Momday after having it in for 12 days. The same as you I was gushing a lot. I started doing my kegels on Monday as soon as the catheter was out. I was disappointed until today when all of a sudden I have been mostly dry today. The only time that I have felt leaking today is when standing from a sitting position. I think I have found the right muscle to concentrate on and when I tense it while rising I do not leak. I did a lot of kegels the past two days and it was pointed out to me on this forum that doing too many will fatigue the muscle and actually cause you to leak worse so my caution to you as you do the kegels is to follow Dawgfan's advice and do not over do them. Dawgfan's description of how to do them is exactly how I am doing my kegels. My improvement has been rather dramatic in the last 24 hours so you may see something of the same. Good luck!!

Tamu

kegel...  

oh jeez.. where do i start... sneezing.. coughing... just getting up from a chair...

misery...   i squeeze my anal spincter so often... it freaking aches ... alot.... 

stopping the front end from leaking (leaking - which happens more times than not) ....  

makes me work the anal spincter at the same time and i think all this tightening is the cause of the rectal spincter pain...

and ever since the operation BMs have not been anywhere normal....

.... aint so easy....

my brain cant handled which end to squeeze when....

always afraid something somewhere is going to slip out...

are any or most of you going thru this frustration?  

 sorta makes you appreciate how finely tuned God made us... so many working parts.... so easy to malfunction... 

 

Guys, it's been a while for me but as I remember, The start / stop exercise with your urin flow really helped me alot. I would start / stop as many times as I could. It had me completely dry in a couple of weeks. Now after 3 1/2 years the only time I leak is when I try to pass gas. I've also noticed that if I have to pass gas while urinating, if I let it out, my urin flow slows or stops. But if I hold it in, the stream stays strong. I don't know if this will help anyone but you never know??
Good Luck and hang in there,
Pete

Had this on another thread…. And decided to place it here also… Everyone is different…. Find what works best for you!  I’ve pulled several postings together… Hope this helps you!!      Kegels!!!   What does your doctor tell you to do?   Obviously there are different opinions…   After understanding that we had to help the new muscle that was going to be in charge of our urinary continence…. We read up on him (sphincter muscle) and found that we can work together!!! The sphincter muscle is so important to retaining urinary continence. Before surgery get this guy in shape…. Like any type of exercise… you can over do it.   But since he’s never had to work before you better get him learning the ropes J   Before surgery: Our urologist said to work the muscle when urinating… the start, stop, hold, start several times during urination .   This strengthens the muscle.   Also, walking stairs is a really good exercise.     With catheter (Mr. Hang)   don’t do kegels … just sit back and let him do his job.   Helping you to heal internally……   Let him be your friend…   After surgery:   We were to still do the kegels when urinating .   This is the only time Buddy does them.   He allows his first urination in the morning to have a nice steady flow!!  Then the rest of the day he does his start / stop / start /stop.   No doubt in our mind that the kegels, walking, and stairs have been instrumental in our continued recovery of urinary continence.  I will tell you this... the sound of the early morning stream is music to my ears.... and the start / stop / start / stop continues to bring a smile to my face.  I put together a little bit of information…. I hope it helps you!   Partial Quote from Jim *Our Biker90 Post-op day 9, past-cath day 3. Still no floods, no leaks and no drips. I threw out the remaining pads and diapers this morning as a gesture of dedication to continence. Doing Kegels as prescribed by the doc. (5 reps of 5 secs on and 5 secs off, 10 times a day, on the hour from 6 am to 4pm) The time of day is mine not his. Did my daily stretching excercises (for arthritis) and my daily walk. It sure feels good to get back to a routine again. I drink lots of water because peeing feels so good. This is a side benefit of getting rid of my oversized, lumpy prostrate. I keep discovering small pleasures that I had taken for granted or overlooked entirely. EXCERPT:…..On page 247 of Dr. Walsh’s book he states: Exercises you can do:   Every time you urinate, do it standing up.   You can’t practice the following exercises, which strengthen the external sphincter and speed up your recovery of urinary control, while you’re sitting down.   Start your stream, and once it’s in full force, stop the stream by contracting the muscles in your buttocks --- not your abdominal muscles, not the muscle “up in front” around the penis.   Tighten your buttocks: imagine you’re trying to hold a quarter between your cheeks.   Hold the urine back for 5 or 10 seconds, and repeat as many times as you can.   Note: Only perform these exercises when you’re urinating; if you keep contracting these muscles throughout the day, you’ll overdo it—the sphincter tires easily—and you’ll end up wetter than you would otherwise.   Previous paragraphs address… things to speed up your urinary control.   One is not using any artificial devices…… and certain high blood pressure medication relaxes this muscle so you may need to check with your doctor.     After the catheter is removed…. Excerpt from Dr. Patrick C. Walsh’s “Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer      > Until your urinary control has returned to an acceptable level, don’t force fluids.     >Once the catheter is out, you’ve got to slow the pace considerably.   Avoid drinking excessive amounts of fluids, and stay away from caffeine in all forms---coffee, tea, even soft drinks.   Caffeine, especially, is a powerful pharmacological agent that increases the frequency and urgency with which you need to urinate.   Also ~ make sure you’re doing your kegels and walking stairs when possible.   Buddy had a great recovery with urinary continence and we attribute it to no caffeine intake.     Obviously ~ everybody's body is different....... so figuring out what's best ~ is trial and error for sure.  Glad we can pull from all the postings and see what fits in our path.     Direct Links to….. Kegel information…   http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/urology/prostate/patient_inst/curpatient.html (UC  Irvine Da Vinci surgery) Dr. Thomas Ahlering   Excerpt from Dr. T. Ahlering website Initiate a regular routine of male kegel exercises .  Kegel exercise strengthens the pelvic floor muscle group which are involved in stemming the flow of urine.  By building them up now, you will speed up your return to continence after surgery.  Also, strengthing the pelvic floor muscles improves orgasmic function, and thus will help you preserve and regain potency.  In the interest of continence and potency, it is essential you begin a consistent regiment as soon as possible and continue to maintain it faithfully after surgery.   http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/urology/prostate/patient_inst/kegel.html   (Male Kegels)   Good Luck!!   Kay   Miyoko / Member