www.incontinentsupport.org

I am a thirty-eight year-old man. I experienced daytime incontinence during grade school and middle school. There were some embarrassing accidents; however, I was told it would go away, and indeed it went away. By the time I was in high school, I had nothing more than post-micturition dribbling issues (albeit unusually bad dribbling). Many years passed. I started to have problems with urgency and frequency in my late twenties, especially during long drives. I may have mentioned it in passing to a doctor, but nothing came of it. I started wearing pull-ups when traveling or when bathroom access would be problematic. The dribbling became messier and messier, but my incontinence issues were sporadic enough that I was able to justify my reluctance to speak with doctors about it. I gradually realized that there might be some serious family issues: my dad had bladder cancer and prostate cancer in his mid-sixties (he survived both, thanks be to God). My symptoms worsened significantly in 2014. I remember refueling a vehicle on a very cold winter night in December of 2014, experiencing a sudden, overwhelming urge to pee, and having an accident right there. I steadily became more reliant on incontinence briefs. I nervously mentioned my symptoms along with the family history during a doctor's visit in January 2015. The doctor didn't make much of it. He said, "Let me know if it gets worse." Once the weather warmed up during the spring of 2015, my symptoms improved; however, they dramatically worsened this fall when it started to get cold. I mentioned this during a recent physical. My doctor took me seriously and performed a digital rectal exam (my first). Turns out I have an enlarged prostate. I asked how large, on a scale of one to ten, where one is normal and ten is severe. "In the middle," my doctor said. He also said that he normally measures prostates using only one segment of his index finger; he had to use three segments to measure mine. I was nervous about prostate cancer for a few days, but my PSA bloodwork came back negative. I have a follow-up with a urologist in a couple weeks. I'm not sure what will happen with this. My main goal is to rule out any potentially serious medical issues. I am not much interested in having a whole gamut of invasive tests performed, but I will do what I need to do. At this point, my symptoms are pretty steady. I have an early start, and I have pretty bad stress incontinence symptoms in the morning (4AM-10AM). Sometimes it's bad in the evening, too. I have involuntary urine loss or intense urges when I bend at the waist, kneel, blow my nose, and pass gas. I have several minutes of dribbling after using the bathroom. I am interested in any thoughts readers of this forum may have. Is this typical for someone with an enlarged prostate or are other things going on? Thanks very much for your insights.

Noe, I'm happy to hear that your doctor is taking your issues seriously and that you will see a urologist in the near future. Although your PSA is okay, I think you should undergo whatever testing the urologist wants to do, especially given your family history. Please remember that it's always a good thing to catch a problem early on.

Wetters

I second Wetters' advice. Hopefully, your urologist will sort this out and offer you a cure. However, until then, and if your urologist cannot offer a cure, you'll need protection of some sort. External catheters, diapers, whatever works. I hope your job does not involve heavy lifting; however, if it does, your description of your predicament becomes even more important. Keep us informed.

Hi Noe,

Everyone is unique so you must be well informed and discuss your particulars with the medical doctor(s) before you make a decision that is right for you. There are lots of tests along the way

I have/had somewhat similar issues starting in my early 40's. I am 61 now. I had Urgency, lots of pain and burning (as if I had a piece of jagged sharp metal in me), leaking, dribbling, obstruction, not fully emptying the bladder. I was diagnosed with chronic prostatitis that was treated with lots of pills and antibiotics although I never came up positive for any infection. It was supposed to help. I never noticed any significant reduction of my symptoms. A previous urologist then sent me to meditation as he though my problem was stress but it really did not help much. I also tried acupuncture, it helped a little and although I liked the relaxation from it, it did not solve the issue and eventually the acupuncturist gave up on me. Then my PSA turned higher than normal which led to several excruciatingly painful biopsies. All have turned out negative for the big C. About 8 years ago my Primary care doctor sent me to a different Urologist. There were uro dynamic tests and looking inside . He diagnosed the problem as an enlarged prostate (BPH). We discussed treatment options. Based on our discussions, I went with the microwave treatment for BPH. For the first time I had good progress with the symptoms. It not only fixed the urinary symptoms, but also all the pain and burning disappeared. This treatment last for about 5 years (yes he informed of this). I got almost 8. During the past year the symptoms came back and I had to do another treatment from which I am recovering. My prostate was too large to do the microwave again, so I had the green laser surgery. (see my other post viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2013). In my case the enlarged prostate (BPH) has been the source of the symptoms. Most of the pain is gone again but I still have urgency followed promptly by flooding. The urgency will take some time to heal. Diapers are a life saver in the meantime. I should have used them much earlier as you have. Best of luck.

Thank you, Wetters, Patrick, and DiaperCarlos. My urology appointment is scheduled for this Tuesday. We will see what happens. After reading old posts in this forum, I have a clear idea of what to expect from seeing this type of specialist. I feel very well-prepared for this conversation. Thank you for your supportive replies. I will post again when there is something new to say. A blessed evening to each of you!

Noe

An update. Today I saw my urologist. We discussed personal and family medical history. He did a DRE and checked for prostate secretions. This was a gross and painful exam, but it provided the information necessary for a diagnosis. He diagnosed me with non-bacterial, chronic prostatitis. He prescribed a course of Cipro (just in case there is something bacterial going on) and Flowmax. He scheduled me for an ultrasound to check on my kidneys. All of this sounds fine. It's good to have a diagnosis.

Good news: Wikipedia says that John F. Kennedy and Glenn Gould had this. I am in good company! Not so good news: the doctor said there is no pharmacological cure for non-bacterial, chronic prostatitis. D'oh!

He prescribed 40 minute sitz baths each night. He said this was the "most important" aspect of my treatment. I live in a community situation. We have showers but no operational bathtubs. Anyone know how to take a sitz bath without a bathtub?

I have looked at the medications and they seem to have pretty intense side effects. We will see how that goes.

Noe

Noe,

Glad you have a diagnosis but sorry you are dealing with this. If you can get a shower head with a hose like a water pick and run warm water over your perineum it might help. Not efficient for water usage. It's not as good as the bath but it might help. I was prescribed Cipro. It's not clear to me that it actually helped me when I was diagnosed as having prostatitis. I have not taken Cipro in a long time. I have ringing in the ears and Cipro could have been the culprit but you can't pin point these things. If Cipro helps, you should get better in a week or two. The thing is that once the Prostate gets inflamed it makes it harder to go and then urine back flows into the prostate and that causes more inflammation which leads to urgency and leaking. It is kind of a domino effect and it is hard to break but it can. If you get an episode you have to try to stop it quickly. I found Ibuprofen and the prescription Phenazopyridine to help. If you catch the episode at the onset it helps most. There is a lot on the web on prostatitis some helpful and some not so good.
Best of luck