Must we forsake Coffee & Beer to fight incontinence?

All through my recovery I drank a lot of Ginger tea for nausea (untelated) and blood thinning. You will be using Depends for 3 to 4 months or more, and it "depends" on how many "Depends" you want to go through per day. My wife commented I was a lot like a lady during her you know what, because I was stuffing extra pads in the glove compartment, various places in the house, and wearing cargo shorts with extra pads stuffed in the various pockets. My point is, I did not let the incontinence change my fluids intake, I just adapted to the circumstance. Drink whatever you want, whenever you want, but have plenty of pads handy if you do. I don't think diuretics are going to affect your recovery schedule, just your short term volume output and pad usage. They're cheap enough.

At about 4 months post RP I was 95%+ and I drink coffee and eat dirutetic foods like watermellon and certain spices. I don't drink alchohol so I can't speak for that. I found that I was gunshy for a while because of early leakage events but it got better as I got braver (getting rid of the pads and holding longer). For me, abdominal excercises like crunches not only improves blader control but paradoxically, it eliminated some pulling/sharp pains in the surgery area where I must have had some scar tisue. I started back slowly and by the time I got back up to 50 sit ups my abdominal pain was gone and I can retain about 500ml on my best day with no leakage.

George

Will Doran said:

Bottoms up

Nick,

I am almost 4 years post robotic surgery.  In the words of my urologist / surgeon.  Bottoms Up.  I was to keep up with the coffee.  In fact they gave me coffee with my supper the evening of my surgery with a liquid diet.  Then I kept drinking water all night long and by morning my urine was completely clear. The next day it was full solid food and home that afternoon.  He actually told me a little Kentucy Bourbon (his favorite), or Vodka was good for me throughout each week.  It has not caused any leakage problems.  Doing your Kegels and if needed go to Physical Therapy for help.  I did, and at almost 4 years post surgery, I leak very little.  Only under some conditions.  Like getting off my indoor trainer bike after riding for maybe 70 - 80 minutes continuous, or heavy lifting.

Good Luck

Love, Peace and God Bless

Will

Hi Will

Thought I would reply here as you touched on this in my thread.

Interesting that coffee and limited alchohol are OK for you.

I got told no go from a continence perspective for both and for alchohol for health as well.

I suspect that the reason they blanket dissuade people is to avoid "just one more". I may just try and stick to "one"

Nothing is clear cut about diet. For example, my PCa cook book does not ban chicken or eggs yet all the research shows Daily Mail levels of panic about increased mortality.

C

I'm 4+ years post RP and 2+ years post salvage and I only leak occassionally maybe when under duress. I don't drink much alcohol but I do drink at least 2 cups of coffee a day and I don't see it as an issue.

Will, I'm surprised that your hospital didn't measure your bladder volume every day immediately prior to treatment. I thought that was standard protocol for all hospitals .

For me that was the worst part during my radiation treatments.

Danny K said:

cunningham clamp vs aus 800

is anybody familiar or has anybody used the Cunningham clam before and does it help in the recovery of in continence or does it not. And compare with the artificial sphincter implatation, which one is better. Finally, does incontinence due to RP ever stop after two years of the operation? Could someone please help with an answer.

 

thanks

Danny K,

Did you ever get a response about the  Cunningham clamp compared to the AUS?

I am in a similar situation.  I am post-radiation (proton therapy in 2012) and post-RP (salvage robotic prostatectomy in 2017).  I developed urinary retention from a bladder neck contracture early this year and needed emergency urethral dilation.  When my Foley catheter was removed a week afterward I wound up in an ER for emergency re-cathterization.  Four weeks later I had TUIBNC (transurethral incision of bladder neck contracture surgery and was told I would never regain continence.  An AUS was mentioned by the surgeon as a possibility for me down the line.  I brought up the use of a penile clamp with my regular urologist (who was not the reconstuction specialist that did the TUIBNC surgery.)  My urulogist was fine with the use of a clamp, as needed.  I ordered a Cunningham clamp from Amazon and, after a few painful starts, I eventually mastered a routine for comfortably using it.  In my case, the clamp does not treat or ease incontinencein; it just provides an alternative to frequent pad changes.

I don't know if long term uses of the Cunningham clamp are better than the implantation of an AUS.  The AUS is intentended to be a permanent solution, but I am a complicated case and I am leary to the 25% revision rate mentioned by others here who have had AUS implantation surgery.  On the other hand, I don't know if I can endure years of clamp use with all of the daily manipulations required to drain urine.

There are always trade offs.  For me, the jury is still out on this one.

Dino_F

fishinguy said:

Caffeinated coffee, yes

I did wean myself off caffeinated coffee the weeks leading up to my surgery, maybe a month in advance.    I switched to decaf, and less of it.   After surgery I stayed off coffee of all types for the first six weeks.   I slowed back into a beer now and then at two weeks.  We all have priorities.   I have no leakage issue at all from day one.   At seven months after surgery, I do find that when I drink caffeinated coffee, my sense of urgency goes up.   No leaks, but when I have to go it seems to come on faster than normal and it's more apparent and I can't wait as long.   Overall, I'm just as good as I was presurgery, with the exception of coffee with caffeine, it's defintely noticable to me when I have it.   And as others have stated, early on I made myself wait longer and longer as each say went on to expand the bladder for capacity.    I had the catheter in for two full weeks.

fishinguy,

Although this thread has been dormant for about six months, I will add that coffee and tea never had any effect on my bladder control, which was pretty good from the first week after cath removal.

Beer, however -- a different issue. More than two or so, and I have to use common sense and get to the restroom in a timely manner. My theory has been that the alcohol relaxes the spincter. 

I have seen no effects from caffine.  But I drank about ten cups a day before surgery.  Nowadays, maybe five a day. 

max