There’s another phenomenon that I’ve experienced. As you age, your muscles tend to weaken… including your sphincter muscles. This means that a few drops of urine will pass into your urethra, and you need to pee IMMEDIATELY. If I’m not within 10 seconds of a toilet, it starts leaking out. I have to make sure my bladder is as empty as possible before leaving the house.
More than one medical provider has been surprised that I’m taking meds for enlarged prostate as well as overactive bladder. Urologists understand.
Join the club. About 10 years ago I began peeing frequently at night. It started with waking up once or twice to pee, then grew to 3 or 4 times. I am not a light sleeper, but when my dog jumps on our bed at 2 AM that wakes me up, and getting up to pee seemed like a good idea. Flash forward to last year when I was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that leads to urinary frequency issues. During testing for that, they discovered I have an enlarged prostate, which explained having to pee frequently at night. They ended up doing an ultrasound to prove that was the issue. I now take meds that have eliminated the issue 100%. Apparently, 60% of men my age suffer from BPH so it’s a large club. My dog still jumps on the bed at 2 AM, but I don’t have the urge to pee until I get out of bed at 7 AM. YMMV.
Since this seems to be the prostate experience thread, I’ll throw mine onto the pile. My symptoms weren’t so much middle of the night, or undue frequency - but sudden urgency. I’d go from “meh…I’m OK” to “holy crap I need a bathroom NOW” in 15 minutes. Made crossing a bridge on the way to work problematic. My doctor diagnosed it as BPH, and put me on Flomax, and it’s worked like a charm.
But then…last October, I flunked the PSA test. My primary referred me to a urologist, who re-took the test. Lower, but still a tad high. She did the finger exam, which showed nothing unusual (which just means, nothing advanced). So on to the next step: MRI, in December…which revealed a suspicious looking spot on my prostate. So on to the next step: biopsy*. I was fully expecting to be told to say goodbye to my prostate. But instead, I have the “extremely low risk” form of prostate cancer that isn’t worth treating – I’ll die of old age before it becomes a problem. (and the problematic spot was in a different location. And what caused the PSA spike? Can’t tell for sure.)
So if I hadn’t done any of the testing I’d be in the exact same spot today, minus a lot of stress and insurance company’s expense.
*biopsy side-effect: brown-purple semen for a while.
You’re a guy, are you a guy who gets migraines? Unwarranted urgency to pee/increased frequency is a prodrome symptom, and studies are being to show people have had way more migraines in the past year than typical due to stress and they think additional screen time for those wfh.
You don’t have to say goodbye to your prostate, especially if the cancer hasn’t spread too far. I had Brachytherapy, where they insert radioactive cesium balls into your prostate. One short out-patient surgery for the insertion. No side effects to speak of. No catheters. And my PSA has plummeted.
I had access to an expert on this, which helped.
My PSA had just reached the upper limit when I got sent to a urologist, who sent me for an MRI which let him look at my prostate in 3D for the biopsy. Not fun (well, I enjoy MRIs so that was fun) but a lot better than the alternatives.
I didn’t even have to take tylenol after the operation - no pain at all.
Good to know - thanks. For the time being, my prostate isn’t going anywhere; we’re in “active surveillance”, which just means more frequent PSA tests and a biopsy next year; repeat, indefinitely. If things go south it’s good to know that there are good options.
Woman here and it seems like I’ve developed a peeing issue. I had an ultrasound for suspected kidney stones last week, and they didn’t find any stones. They did, however, find that I’m retaining urine, and wanted me to go in to see my urologist about it. This surprised me as I don’t remember ever feeling like I hadn’t peed everything out.
But the damned thing is that ever since that day, I’ve been having trouble. The pee stream is thin and meager, and I don’t seem to ever pee more than a couple of tablespoons at a time. And I don’t particularly feel the urge to go, either. It has been particularly bad today. It’s a good thing I’m seeing the urologist tomorrow, and I just know it’s going to involve catheters or other unpleasant penetrative objects.
ETA: just while typing this I finally felt the urge to go for the first time all day and managed to pee out half a cup or so. At least my bladder won’t explode overnight I hope.