The Yellow River Cure

[gusgold]

Here is a protocol for incontinence.....20 mg lycopene + 20 mg lutein + 12 mg astaxanthin taken once a day with a high fat food.

Gus

[Neal-Snyder]

There was an excellent presentation on this at the PCRI conference in September. Some urologists are trained in, & have the equipment for a urodynamic evaluation. This can result in treatments such as physical therapy & biofeedback. It's basically a retraining.

[Hidden in reply to Neal-Snyder]

I've had urodynamics (and other) testing. The main thing it showed was that, as I told them, I can hold back more than a liter of urine fairly easily. That convinced my incontinence oncology specialist that my 1-3 pads a day was not only normal but could not reliably be improved upon IN MY CASE.

[Neal-Snyder in reply to Hidden]

So you don't have urge incontinence, right? Do you have stress incontinence, like from coughing & sneezing? What kind(s) of incontinence do you have? Do you know if the specialist's range of treatments included biofeedback, & if that was specifically rejected in your case?

[Hidden in reply to Neal-Snyder]

Primarily stress incontinence, unless I see the cough or sneeze and simply tighten up my Kegel muscles. They're up to the job as long as they receive a signal to act. My problem seems to be the lack od perception of the leaks.

I've got to guess the specialist's arsenal includes everything. She's a nationally known urologist (and oncologist, I believe) with the VA and, IIRC, treats only men rendered incontinent by prostate treatments. (This was a decade ago and my status hasn't changed significantly.)

[Neal-Snyder in reply to Hidden]

I would just urge (no pun intended) you to check back to make sure she hasn't added anything to her arsenal. If she didn't offer physical therapy & biofeedback back then, I'd want to know if they do offer it now, & if not, why not. If that gets you nowhere, you may want a 2nd opinion.

On your own, are you trying to get yourself to go pee every so often whether you feel the need or not? I have a lack of perception when I sit for too long, so I'm trying to train myself to get up & pee periodically.

Good luck, & don't assume you can't make life better for yourself!

[Hidden in reply to Neal-Snyder]

Advice appreciated, and will pursue it if it becomes a problem. Right now I'm facing the end of an era in my life with the onset of ADT and chemo, so pads are not even on my radar. There's that, plus the fact that the instant cure for my incontinence is my quarterly bladder cystoscopy. For a couple of days it provides feedback in the form of stinging when even a drop or urine touches my urethra. I don't leak a whole drop per day, even doing yardwork, with that kind of feedback to trigger my sphincter and Kegel muscles. That implies to me that it is a feedback (and self-training*) issue. My urologist initiated a feedback program, but found it a money-loser because insurers pay him less than its cost.

* The burn reminds me to Kegel BEFORE I stoop or sneeze or throw a shovel-full of snow over the fence at my dog.

[Neal-Snyder in reply to Hidden]

I empathize with your end of an era feelings. That's interesting about your temporary feedback & continence. The incontinence that yardwork would otherwise cause is, as you probably know, stress incontinence. I'm being treated through my Kaiser membership. The biofeedback unit is a $60 per month rental. I just started, but I believe it will work, & I'm sure it will help, so it's a shame to have such an important part of the treatment process withheld. Gary Leach, the urologist & urodynamics expert who spoke at the PCRI conference, certainly thought it was important.

[Hidden in reply to Neal-Snyder]

I will surely look into it as soon as I get this ADT/chemo puzzle solved and gain some much-needed PSA control. A quick perusal of some biofeedback discussions isn't particularly encouraging, however, as it seems to be aimed primarily at teaching us to fire the right muscles. Given that I can send Morse code at will even with a full bladder and a strong stream and never leak while lying or sitting, I suspect the problem is not as much using the right pelvic floor muscles as it is signalling them to engage. i.e., what good is a big engine if the gas pedal linkage is broken?

[Neal-Snyder in reply to Hidden]

That gets back to my question of what type(s) of incontinence you have. We agree you have stress incontinence, except on roughly 8 days a year. Biofeedback is supposed to help with that, as I understand it.

[Magnus1964]

Is this a product you can buy or do you mix it yourself?

[gusgold in reply to Magnus1964]

buy the 3 products

[Neal-Snyder]

Gus, is there an explanation that you know of why this treatment works?