Help with Hyper-Continence / Neo-Bladder

Its funny but great as the kegels were for me in the early days, I don't do any now and my daytime continence is normal. Or what I remember as normal anyway!

Thanks, George!

I have done some googling on this issue and apparently it's pretty common in females who have been through RC. The surgeon added that it seems to be more common in thin women, too. I have an IVP and check up on the 29th, so I will ask about the possibility of scar tissue being the problem.

Thanks again!

Don't know if this is the cause of your hyper continence, n3qtrtme, but it has been for me. I've been meaning to update on my experiences, appears this is a good time. There is also reference to this issue on another thread.

On Friday I had my second 'RotoRooter' job to remove scar tissue from the area where the neobladder was sutured to the remaining bladder neck. This scar tissue blocked the bladder neck, and I was unable to urinate normally, and had to self-cath. My surgeon asked if I was a fast healer (I am), and said that fast healers produce more scar tissue than slow healers.

After the first bladder neck resection, the doctor had me remove the Foley he had inserted the next day. Within a week, the scar tissue had regrown, blocking the bladder neck again. This time, he's instructed us to leave the Foley in for 10 days, hoping that the catheter will prevent scar tissue from causing the problem to reoccur.

I'll post an update when we find out if this was effective.....

Thank goodness y'all are posting about this situation! I am 5 weeks post RC and have been having a problem with hypercontinence, too. When I had the kidney stents and foley removed, there was a lot of discussion about incontinence but not one peep about hypercontinence. I have been extremely stressed about the difficulty I have been having trying to urinate. It's especially hard to start the flow if I really need to go. I bear down and have tried different positions, running water and breathing exercises with little results. Stepping into a bathtub each time I need to pee is not going to be practical, although it may be an option occasionally. I finally just have to cath myself which makes me feel like a total failure. I have had only 1 incidence of leakage in the middle of the night, which I am incredibly thankful for and we're flushing each evening, so mucous has not been a problem. The new bladder is holding about 500 cc already. I gave up on the Kegels because clearly the muscles down there are nice and strong (am I wrong on this?). I also have a call into my surgeon but have not heard back from him yet. Does anyone have any additional ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Had a very interesting visit with a Phy Therapist today. SHe has treated Hyper-Continence before and found some possible issues. In simple language the series of muscles including pelvic floor, hip flexer, small lower back & ham string all work together in many ways. According to her assesment I have a degree of weekness or lack or flexability in these areas which could cause the pelvic floor to compensate. There may be hope for normal voiding down the road.

NOTE: If anyone does exercise their abs on a crunch machine, she warns that while in a normal situation this is good, those with neo-bladders should not. With a neo-bladder you need to clench your abs while releasing your pelvic floor. Crunches train your body to clench both together.

Glad you found a solution.

I'm about 1 month ahead of you George, You right it's one day at a time, today is better than yesterday as you will see.