Hi everyone,

I am 57 years old, and at the end of my rope, and don't know what to do. I
just had a TURP 16 days ago to hopefully increase my urine flow and help the
constant urge to pee all the time, but I could not go (my retention was not
that bad though), and now I am worse than ever. Along with a little bit of
BPH, and a stricture from previous surgery, I also had non-bacterial chronic
prostatitis pain and discomfort, and have been on antibiotics for months on
and off (bactrim/levaquin/bactrim - for prophylactic effect, or in case
there may be some infection). I also took Doxycycline for 10 days following
the TURP. I went back on the bactrim since I can't stand the discomfort and
can't risk an infection with my serious T4 cell deficiency (non- HIV). Pain
pills do very little except constipate me and the same applies to
amitriptilyne. I was taking 10 mg of oxycodone at bedtime (i.e. just once a
day), and had to stop because of the blockage (it also makes it more
difficult to urinate). I am very familiar with prescription drugs.

I kind of have two uro's (the surgeon who did my TURP and the PA in the
practice, who I see for other visits, including massages - its kind of a
screwed up deal). I have written about this in the prostatitis newsgroup
previously (before the TURP), so I don't want to go into details again.

I have been in constant pain and discomfort since the surgery with the
constant feeling I have to pee, but I don't. The surgeon said he was going
to remove some scar tissue from my previous bladder neck surgery in 1995
(another town), but he ended up doing a TURP, which he told me when I woke
up. The catheter pain and discomfort (3 days) was unbelievable with a super
strong feeling like you have to pee (non stop). I told him I couldn't stand
it and I wanted it out and he said no way, I had to suffer, and I did.

I had the catheter removed 3 days later and felt some relief (the day it
came out only) and was trying to be positive. But each day after that, I got
worse it seems, and I am worse off than ever. I can pee in the mid day (I
get up late) after drinking some stuff (water, juice, milk, and one coffee
only), but later in the day I can hardly pee at all and I have this
tremendous urge even right after I go. I keep a microwave heating pad on my
belly/groin throughout the day and go to bed with an electric heating pad,
but I don't sleep. The only thing that helps is soaking in hot water and
then its right back to the way I was when I get out of the tub. I believe
some of the pain and discomfort is from the surgery and some from the
prostatitis which I already had and still have. I believe the surgery just
compounded it, and I must be all raw and inflamed down there. I also have
pain and pressure in my rectum.

I went back to the surgeon about 10 days after the surgery and told him all
this and he said it would take some time to heal and I just have to wait. I
specifically asked him if the surgery could be causing the terrible urge to
go all the time, and he said yes. Plus I have non stop pain along with the
urge feeling. The urge feeling and the burning/gnawing and pressure feeling
is hard to live with. You have to experience it.

The doc told me to come back in 3 months (no way). I will make an
appointment with the PA soon, although I don't know what he can do except
put the dipstick in my urine and check it under the microscope. He
previously told me my massage secretions and urine had no evidence of
bacteria, but never did any cultures.

I am worried I am not going to get better and that I may not be healing
properly (and that there may be a chunk of cut tissue caught in my urethra -
is that unlikely), and I will lose my ability to urinate. I know it takes a
long time for surgery to heal (two months or more), but I don't think I
should be feeling this bad, and I don't understand why I felt better when I
had the catheter taken out and then I got worse. I am taking bactrim on my
own, like I said. I don't think I have an infection because I don't have a
fever, but it is definitely causing malaise (I feel sick), besides the pain
and discomfort, and it is more difficult to urinate later in the day and at
night.

Please tell me I am not the only one that has gone through this, and is
having the trouble I am having. I think something may be wrong. There are no
more uro's where I live (they are all in the same room - you know how that
works), and I don't think I could tolerate another scope right now, or god
forbid some kind of corrective surgery. Could this pain and discomfort I
have last for 4-6 weeks or am I totally abnormal, and will the damn constant
feeling I have to urinate get better. Thanks for your time in reading this,
and I apologize for the length. I live by myself and it is hard to deal with
this.

Pete