What Causes Urine To Leak After Prostate Surgery?
It’s not uncommon for men to leak urine after prostate surgery. The question is, what causes this?
There are many possible reasons why you might be leaking urine, but the most common is that your bladder muscles aren’t strong enough to hold in all of your pee.
If this sounds like you, then there’s help available!
Read on for tips on stopping leaking urine and getting back to living life without fear of leaks ever again.
What should you do if you leak urine?
If you’re leaking urine after prostate surgery, the answer might be to simply carry on as normal and not worry about it. In other words, don’t panic!
You may find that your bladder eventually recovers from the damage done to it during surgery and starts working properly again.
However, you can speed up the process by following these tips to build your bladder muscles back up to their original strength.
Related Post: Do Kegels Really Work For Urinary Incontinence?
So what can you do?
Here are some things that have helped other men reduce or stop their leakage:
Drink less caffeine and alcohol – These drinks won’t help strengthen your bladder, so cut down on them if you want to stop leaking.
Treat yourself to regular pelvic floor muscle exercises – You can do this by stopping the flow of urine every time you pee, then squeezing your muscles around your bladder to stop it.
Go for a walk after meals – Exercise helps build strong bladder muscles. So if you’re struggling with leakage, make sure you go for regular walks or do some other exercise every day.
Drink enough water – Your body needs lots of water to flush out waste products, so make sure you drink at least 1 liter of fluid every day to stay hydrated. Water is best for your bladder, but you can also drink fruit juice or tea if it helps replace the fluids that are being lost.
Exercise your bladder – Try doing simple exercises every hour to build up the strength of your bladder muscles, such as ‘peeing when you feel the urge’ and ‘stop and start’ (squeezing your pelvic floor muscles to prevent yourself peeing for 5 seconds followed by relaxing for 5 seconds). Try not to do this for more than an hour at a time so as not to tire your bladder out.
Take medication to help strengthen your bladder – There are other medications that you can take (like Detrol LA, Ditropan XL, and Vesicare) that may help reduce or stop leaking urine. You can find out more about these medications here.
Try a natural bladder strengthener – There are a few natural products available in health stores that claim to help you recover from leakage. These contain ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, or Plantago seed extract. You can take these 3 times a day for up to 6 weeks until your bladder recovers from surgery.
Doing these things is a great way to strengthen your bladder muscles so that you’re less likely to leak.
If they don’t work, then there are other options for stopping the leaking too.
You could try wearing pads or pant liners to help soak up any leaks when it happens, but if they aren’t enough, then you might need to try something else.
One example of this is a product called Poise Impressa bladder support, which you insert into your underwear like a tampon to help keep the right amount of pressure on your urethra so that it doesn’t leak.
Conclusion
For many men, the above will help reduce or stop leaking urine after prostate surgery, so it’s worth trying things out before going down that route.
If these tips don’t work, it might be time to chat with your doctor about surgery or another possible treatment.
