Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Having been diagnosed with prostate gland enlargement (benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH), I have developed urge incontinence. Because of side effects to meds, I now find myself using diapers 24/7. I have heard that BPH will cause a person to go more often but not to the point of incontinence. I don't know if its me or does this usually happen. If this happens, what is the percent of men progressing to this point? Is it 1 in 10 or 1 in 1000? I'm 60 years old and its taken about two years for me. Any info will be a help.
Hi Dave,
Welcome to our community. Please see the answer below from our expert, Jasmine Schmidt, from your related question in our "Ask-a-Question" section of the site:
Hi Dave:
According to this page on the incontinencenetwork site, about 75% of men with BPH will experience detrusor instability, which causes overactive bladder (OAB), a condition that causes you to feel a frequent, sudden, and sometimes intense urge to urinate. Many people have OAB without incontinence - they feel a frequent urge, but don't actually leak urine. However, in some cases people will experience leakage in conjunction with the overactive bladder. This is called urge incontinence. The treatments for BPH can also cause urge incontinence, along with stress incontinence or mixed incontinence (both stress and urge).
Unfortunately I couldn't find any very solid data about just how many men with BPH have incontinence - either before or after treatment (there may be data out there, but I couldn't find it). I do know that it is more common right after treatment, but as you heal, continence is usually regained and it is a smaller number of men who remain incontinence long-term. I also know that the rates of incontinence differ depending on the type of treatment used.
Hope this information helps! Best of luck!
Keep us posted on how you're doing. We'd like to hear more from you.
Best regards,
Maria
Hi Dave I'am 69yrs old with bph which lead to incontinence.This is a problem that there may be more of than we know about mine is urge which comes on quick and if not close to toilet have accidents.
Thank you ron for your comment. I have the same thing happening, because I have to go about every two hours and not at home all the time I now wear a diaper all the time. I have also started wearing one at night now and I get a full night of sleep.The sleep deprivation was starting to get to me.
Dave your comment about wearing a diaper at night hits me right on,was losing so much sleep plus the accidents so wear diaper and plastic pants to protect the bed.I do wear a diaper during the day if away from bathrooms.