Had A Urodynamics Procedure Today

Discussion in 'Health & Wellness' started by John Brunner, Mar 25, 2021.

  1. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    It was a long time ago I tried this, but I did use cantaloupe, honeydew, Crenshaw Etc.
    I can't remember if it was called the melon diet or watermelon diet.
     
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  2. Bruce Andrew

    Bruce Andrew Very Well-Known Member
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    Love that Daniel Boone quote. :D Too bad all I have are good guns.
     
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  3. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Reserach research John,thats what I do when things get 'interesting'.
    I found this maybe it has some tricks to help ,don't know. I hope you find the best way and sorry for this diagnosis.

     
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  4. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    I read the comments on this and they were all positive,and thanking the YT video provider for the help.
     
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  5. Susan Paynter

    Susan Paynter Very Well-Known Member
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    Just a piece of advice or theory passed on by elders who suffered from kidney stones. It could have been effective for them since the stones did not recur. Sorry, for your problems, John, just thought i would mention diet. It sometimes is the cause if our maladies.
     
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  6. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I found the video a bit scary on its own. At the beginning, he seemed to be mixing self-cathing with indwelling catheters, but later it was all indwelling catheters. Mentioning supra-pubic catheters made it a bit more scary.
     
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  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I'm sorry to hear of your cancer but am certainly glad to hear of the outcome.

    It's interesting, there are muscles surrounding your bladder that squeeze it to empty. They have tests to see how much force they are applying: one of those tests strictly measures flow rate (which might be affected by obstructions), and another [more intrusive] test that measures actual bladder pressure AND flow rate that quantifies the force applied and any degree of obstruction.

    What sucks is you cannot do anything about these muscles. There are no exercises you can do.

    Regarding your friend: I've heard a few people who are blasé about self-catheterizing, too. I once had a catheter that the doctor installed and I wore for an entire week when I had a kidney stone problem. Self-cathing means inserting (and then removing) it several times a day in order to drain the bladder in that moment (there's no collection bag.) It's the whole insertion "process" that's a challenge for many men, regardless of whether it's done by a medical professional or whether it's done yourself.
     
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  8. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    John,
    Not sure you're aware that the Mayo Clinic does have some exercises that can improve improve muscles for the bladder. I don't know much about it but I did come across this online you may want to check into if you think it's applicable.
    "Kegel exercises for men"
     
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  9. Bruce Andrew

    Bruce Andrew Very Well-Known Member
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    Interesting, I didn't know about any of the muscle thing. Although now that I think back to 2012, at some point post-prostate surgery, it seems they did an ultrasound of my bladder to see if it was emptying properly. All was well so I'd completely forgotten about it.

    I don't remember how often my buddy had to self-catheterize, but it seems to me he didn't have to do it every day. Maybe just when he felt a problem building up, not sure.
     
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  10. Bruce Andrew

    Bruce Andrew Very Well-Known Member
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    Heh, I've been doing them for nine years. I don't think they help beyond the pelvic floor muscles, but not sure.
     
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  11. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    I'm not sure it's difficult because I'm not familiar with all the muscles involved but they had some words that indicated it did help some bladder muscles.
    It wouldn't hurt to read what Mayo Clinic has to say about it.
     
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  12. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Thanks, Tony.

    There are different bladder muscles, and that presents a challenge when researching my issue. The kegel exercises are for the sphincter muscles, so that you can better control leakage. There are no exercises for the muscular bladder wall (dectrusor muscle), as it's shown here:

    [​IMG]

    It's those wall muscles that contract and determine the force of the flow and the completeness of emptying (barring any downstream obstructions.)

    -Most "old guy problems" are cause by a swollen prostate blocking the flow.
    -Most "old gal problems" are cause by pelvic floor issues and weak sphincter muscles so they lose control of the "On/Off" valve (Kegal addresses these.)

    To my knowledge, the only cure for weak wall muscles is to remediate the effects of incomplete natural emptying (mostly increased stones and infections) is by manual intervention...catheterizing in one form or another.
     
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    Last edited: Jul 30, 2021
  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    So today I went back to the urologist who removed my stones last October. He did his own x-ray and told me the other doctor was probably mis-interpreting calcification in my prostate on his x-rays. All is good. No bladder stones. And no need to go inside me "just to look around" like the other guy wanted to do.

    Today's doctor told me that my level of retention is not on the high side, and reiterated what Doctor #2 said (both contradicting University of Virginia Urology)..."Self-catheterization will not regain weak bladder muscles unless you are retaining 3x-5x what you are and things have been abnormally stretched. And you will not eventually lose the ability to urinate all together just because you do not self-catheterize. You are not at risk of that." Of course the chances of forming another stone go up if I don't completely empty, as do the chances of getting a bladder infection. But self-catheterizing brings it's own risk of introducing infection every time you do it, so it's kind of a wash.

    Today's doctor is now my regular urologist. I gotta drive an hour to see him instead of 20 minutes to see the other doctors, but it's not as though it's a weekly thing. I like this guy and have gone to him twice when I've been frustrated with the 2 Charlottesville practices...it's neither fair nor sustainable. It would be stupid to not hire him permanently. And he kinda admonished me because the other guy had no history with me and no prior x-rays or CT scans to compare against that single x-ray...message received.

    I go back in 6 months to have an ultrasound done on my kidneys to make certain that the urine is not backing up into them, but the creatine tests from my annual physical would have picked this up. It's a reasonable precaution, even though my retention is not high.
     
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    Last edited: Aug 25, 2021
  14. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I forgot to mention: I asked him if there was any research into this issue of weak dectrusor muscles, and he said is work being done (I believe it's beyond the Study phase) using electric muscle stimulation, with leads from an external device being inserted to the bladder. He did not think this was gonna be an effective or common solution.
     
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  15. Bruce Andrew

    Bruce Andrew Very Well-Known Member
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    John: Good luck going forward. It's so much fun getting old. :(

    I had an ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder a couple of weeks ago. The girl said my bladder was emptying good. She could not see the kidney stone that was there 2 years ago, that I have felt off and on for several years -- never really bad though.

    Tomorrow I see the uro's assistant, the lovely late-40s Michelle, to see what's going on -- they will have a better idea of the test results.

    I have been going there for nine years now (prostate cancer originally) and she is aging just fine! Oops, I forgot this was a bladder/kidney thread.
     
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