From BPH to Kidney Failure In Four Easy Steps

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Steven L. - 19 Jan 2009 00:35 GMT

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Steven L.
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Salmon Egg - 19 Jan 2009 05:10 GMT

> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my BPH.
> What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the lobes of
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> Nitrogen and Creatinine levels). You may avoid the same disaster which
> has befallen me!

Wow! What a horrific story. Aside from cystoscopy, were there no
ultrasound scans for urine retention and the like? Moreover, I am led to
believe that the blood tests you mention, and others, are performed on a
regular basis. What is the standard of care for patients like you in
your area? Is it a matter of insufficient insurance? Automated lab tests
should make them modestly priced although various practices may mark
them up a lot.

Bill

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Steven L. - 20 Jan 2009 15:24 GMT

>> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my BPH.
>> What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the lobes of
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> should make them modestly priced although various practices may mark
> them up a lot.

Let me explain what happened in more detail:

Back in the spring of 2007, I had a blood test as part of a routine
physical that showed my PSA was high for my age (4.3). Fearing prostate
cancer, I consulted a urologist. He did a DRE on me and found I had an
enlarged prostate but he couldn't feel any growths or tumors.
Nevertheless, he scheduled me for a prostate biopsy. Which luckily
turned out negative.

The urologist said that as long as I was still able to pee (though not
as well as when I was younger), not to worry about my enlarged prostate,
since I had no cancer. He said I could go home and that was that. He
never suggested ANY other tests to determine if there was any damage
from the enlarged prostate. But that was typical medical
practice--because until now, kidney failure from BPH was assumed to be a
"rare" complication that for most men isn't worth testing.

Just this past year (April 2008 I believe), the Mayo Clinic issued a
study in which they discovered the "surprising" fact that BPH *tripled*
the risk of kidney failure for American men, compared with men who
didn't have BPH. They are now recommending that in the *future*, men
who are diagnosed with BPH should be routinely screened for kidney damage.

I hope that becomes standard medical practice. It may save thousands of
men from what happened to me.

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c palmer - 20 Jan 2009 23:27 GMT

My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my BPH.
What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the lobes of
my prostate had extruded into my bladder, causing urinary retention and
bladder damage. Even worse, the urine backed up into my kidneys and
badly damaged them, a condition called hydronephrosis. I have now been
diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease (kidney failure), and I have been
forced to go on kidney dialysis.
All this, because of an enlarged, misshapen prostate.
BPH ==> urinary retention ==> hydronephrosis ==> kidney damage ==>
kidney failure.

If ANYONE with BPH is reading this message, I beg you, INSIST on getting
a bladder cystoscopy and a blood test for renal disease (Blood Urea
Nitrogen and Creatinine levels). You may avoid the same disaster which
has befallen me!
Wow! What a horrific story. Aside from cystoscopy, were there no
ultrasound scans for urine retention and the like? Moreover, I am led to
believe that the blood tests you mention, and others, are performed on a
regular basis. What is the standard of care for patients like you in
your area? Is it a matter of insufficient insurance? Automated lab tests
should make them modestly priced although various practices may mark
them up a lot.
Let me explain what happened in more detail:
Back in the spring of 2007, I had a blood test as part of a routine
physical that showed my PSA was high for my age (4.3). Fearing prostate
cancer, I consulted a urologist. He did a DRE on me and found I had an
enlarged prostate but he couldn't feel any growths or tumors.
Nevertheless, he scheduled me for a prostate biopsy. Which luckily
turned out negative.
The urologist said that as long as I was still able to pee (though not
as well as when I was younger), not to worry about my enlarged prostate,
since I had no cancer. He said I could go home and that was that. He
never suggested ANY other tests to determine if there was any damage
from the enlarged prostate. But that was typical medical
practice--because until now, kidney failure from BPH was assumed to be a
"rare" complication that for most men isn't worth testing.
Just this past year (April 2008 I believe), the Mayo Clinic issued a
study in which they discovered the "surprising" fact that BPH *tripled*
the risk of kidney failure for American men, compared with men who
didn't have BPH. They are now recommending that in the *future*, men who
are diagnosed with BPH should be routinely screened for kidney damage.
I hope that becomes standard medical practice. It may save thousands of
men from what happened to me.

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Steven L.
===> hi steven - allow me to add to what you have said. mine was a
little worse off, but even more scary and i didn't even know that i had
it.

i started to get BPH symptoms, slow stream, frequent urination, etc.
they did an ultra-sound on my bladder for urine retention and found that
i was holding about 50cc each time. they told me that my prostate had
grown so much that it was pushing into the floor of my bladder.
but didn't say anything more about it - just to 'live with it'.

well, then, i had an elevated psa, which lead to the biopsy, which lead
to the fact that i had prostate cancer. i elected the surgery option.
when i was back in my room, my surgeon came in to give me the report of
how the surgery went. he said that i was just 6 months from dying. i
said, "what? i didn't think that my cancer was that bad." the
surgeon said that it wasn't. we got the cancer. it was a finger like
growth of BPH tissue that had grown out of the prostate and pushed into
the bladder wall and caused the wall to close off the output hole. you
were going into rental failure and you would have been dead in 6 months
from rental failure.

i then ask, "how come they can't find this out before opening you up?"

the surgeon said that it won't show up on testing like that. only when
we opened you up, did we see this problem.

my next question was, "how common is this condition?"

my surgeon said that it's not rare, but it's not common to all men.

so, who would have thought that having prostate cancer would have saved
my life???

all the best,

~ curtis

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc

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Mr. B - 19 Jan 2009 06:24 GMT

> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my BPH.
> What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the lobes of
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> Email: sdlit...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
> Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.

I wish you the very best of luck dealing with the situation you are
in. Your warning above should be taken seriously by all
procrastinating BPH sufferers..

My Uro kept warning me that I was headed for kidney failure
considering the rate my PVR was increasing (114 ml to 825 ml in one
year). He did check my creatine levels and said I was OK, so far, but
warned me to have the TURP soon.

Do you know the history of your post void retention? I'm curious how
high it was because my Uro said the level he considers an emergency is
1000 ml.

In the private message you sent me, you said that you had a TURP on
Dec 29 to relieve the pressure. I hope this helps preserve any
remaining kidney function. Good luck with your TURP recovery as
well. It's now been 5 weeks since my TURP and the healing in on
schedule with no surprises.

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Ed - 20 Jan 2009 04:05 GMT

>> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my BPH.
>> What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the lobes of
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
>well. It's now been 5 weeks since my TURP and the healing in on
>schedule with no surprises.

Sounds great. It's nice to hear the good news.

I have an appointment with my uro next week. It's been a year. My uro
is kind of mad at me because so far I have declined surgery. I don't
think it is urgent. My symptoms are not that bad... not as bad as an
operation would be. As far as I can tell, his anger is because I'm
depriving him of income. He has never warned me of the danger to my
kidneys or bladder.

So next week I better ask him about some of these things. Plus, I
better tell him that I'm now thinking about surgery, maybe in the
fall. He's a good doctor and I don't want him to give up on me.

Ed

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Steven L. - 25 Jan 2009 06:16 GMT

>>> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my BPH.
>>> What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the lobes of
[quoted text clipped - 45 lines]
> depriving him of income. He has never warned me of the danger to my
> kidneys or bladder.

Do you live in Massachusetts? Maybe you and I had the same lousy Uro. :-)

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Steven L. - 25 Jan 2009 06:15 GMT

>> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my BPH.
>> What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the lobes of
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> year). He did check my creatine levels and said I was OK, so far, but
> warned me to have the TURP soon.

You had a better Uro than I did back then. My Uro just said to me "As
long as you can still urinate, don't worry about your BPH." And he sent
me home. No evaluation of PVR, renal function, bladder distention,
nothing. Unfortunately, that's the standard minimum treatment for BPH.
Evidently you had a Uro who went way beyond standard medical practice.
I envy you. You dodged a bullet that hit me right in the a**.

> Do you know the history of your post void retention? I'm curious how
> high it was because my Uro said the level he considers an emergency is
> 1000 ml.

No, I do not. I do know that my post void retention was significant.
If I get a chance, I'll phone my Uro and ask his nurse for the numbers.

> In the private message you sent me, you said that you had a TURP on
> Dec 29 to relieve the pressure. I hope this helps preserve any
> remaining kidney function. Good luck with your TURP recovery as
> well. It's now been 5 weeks since my TURP and the healing in on
> schedule with no surprises.

I'm still having some slight dribbling of urine at night; when I wake up
in the morning, there's a stain on my pajamas. I may ask my Uro about
it this week.

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willshak - 21 Jan 2009 15:05 GMT

on 1/18/2009 7:35 PM (ET) Steven L. wrote the following:

> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my
> BPH. What he and I did not know, was that as with you, one of the
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> Urea Nitrogen and Creatinine levels). You may avoid the same disaster
> which has befallen me!

How come no one has mentioned this before? Last February (2008), my uro
did a cystoscopy and found nothing wrong. He never mentioned why he did
it, nor did I ask. I probably know now why he did it and glad he did.
I did the urine flow test before the cystoscopy while he attended to
another patient in another room. I finished the test and waited for him
to come back. He was gone so long I thought he forgot about me being
there. After waiting for a while, I urgently had to go to the bathroom
again, so I put my pants back on and was going to leave the room to go
to the bathroom when he came back in. I pleaded with him to let me go
before he did the cysto, but he went ahead with it. Sorry Doc about you
having to change your lab coat, but I tried to prevent it. Next time,
don't leave me for so long. :-)
Thanks for the info.

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Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
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Steven L. - 25 Jan 2009 06:21 GMT

> on 1/18/2009 7:35 PM (ET) Steven L. wrote the following:
>> My Uro 18 months ago told me just to do "watchful waiting" with my
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> How come no one has mentioned this before?

Until recently, it was thought that kidney failure was a rare
complication of BPH. Hence testing for kidney failure was considered
not very cost-effective.

However, just this past spring, the Mayo Clinic announced the results of
a study that showed that BPH *tripled* the rate of kidney failure,
compared to men without BPH. This surprised the researchers. As a
result, Mayo is now recommending that in the *future* (too late for me),
all men with BPH should be routinely screened for kidney disease. Let's
hope that recommendation is adopted by American medicine.

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Steven L.
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