urinary urgency after SBRT

[Jewelrylady]

my husband finished SBRT last week. He has been having urinary urgency mostly at night with slow flow and dribbling. His radiologist had him to take steroids for 5 days, but no improvement. His urologist told him to double his alfuzison. He started that a couple days ago and no improvement. His ruination is better during the day. Is this a normal side effect? Will it go away? What did you do to treat it?

[Tall_Allen]

Yes, it is normal and is almost always transient. If that alpha-blocker doesn't help after a week, he can try a different one ( there are about a dozen). Silodosin worked best for me, but everyone's different. Daily cialis might help too (it's not just for ED), but he must get up very slowly from bed and sit while he pees because blood pressure can get low when he is on his back at night.

He probably knows to not drink anything at night and if he can't pee at all, he should go to the ER to get cathetered.

[Jewelrylady in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you. I shared this with him. It’s reassuring this is normal and should go away in time🤞. He does limit drinking anything in the evening.

[spencoid2 in reply to Tall_Allen]

If you have to go to the ER to be catheterized be sure to let the doctor know that you had radiation to the prostate and that if they are not familiar with standard male catheterization procedures and more specifically withe the care needed for patients who have been irradiated that they obtain someone who does know. If they do not understand what you are saying or if they do not show concern for your special situation go elsewhere. If you feel any pain during the catheterization or if there is any suspicion that the catheter is not properly placed, get the hell out of there or ask for a urologist. Male urinary catheterization is one of the most common ER procedures but patients with special needs can be easily damaged by a careless doctor or nurse.

If you feel that anything is wrong ask to be treated by a competent doctor more specifically a urologist. This is not a life and death situation, you have time. Get to a competent doctor or facility even if you have to be transported by ambulance.

Guess how I know how important this is? It is not going to happen to me again for either catheterization or any medical procedure if I feel the doctor does not know what (s)he is doing.

Be familiar with patient's rights and exercise them if necessary.

[Jewelrylady in reply to spencoid2]

Yikes! I hope it doesn’t come to that! Definitely important to advocate for yourself in a situation like this.

[j-o-h-n in reply to spencoid2]

Truly, your words are pure Whizz-dom.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Tuesday 12/05/2023 7:26 PM EST

[spencoid2 in reply to j-o-h-n]

The problem was that I could not Whizz when i went to the ER. pretty low on Whizz-dom then.

[MoonRocket in reply to j-o-h-n]

Nobody beats the Whizz!

[hopefull99]

I am in the middle of my 4=39 session radiation treatment

I was having serious difficulty peeing after a rest period (and several times at nnight). I felt pain and pressure like my bladder wanted to explode. I had to sit on the commode for 10 to 15 minutes and relax my muscels before I cound,

My urologist game a some FlowMax and it releaved the symptoms after 1 tablet. I still feel some urgency but the pain / pressure have dissapeared.

[Jewelrylady in reply to hopefull99]

glad the flomax is working. My husband is doubling alfuzison (per MD order) so hoping that will help.