On 2015-08-05 4:40 PM, DerekF wrote:

You can see the prostate in a cystoscopy. Were you not watching it on
the screen. Did you also have a TRUS scan?
Derek

I didn't really understand what I was looking at during the cystoscopy.
I was quite uncomfortable and embarrassed and just anted it over.
The tech (a woman) was filling me up with fluid and asking me to tell
her when I felt like I had to pee.
It felt like I had to pee the whole time once she put the catheter in me.
I told her when I REALLY had to pee and then she let me pee and
evidently my urinary tract performed perfectly.

And I thought I was told that the cystoscopy did NOT show the prostate
itself but only the urethra and anything impinging on it.
Evidently my urinary tract is fine.

I don't know what a TRUS scan is so I probably did not have one.

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On 2015-08-04 4:12 PM, TomR wrote:

However, your more recent post indicates that things are finally starting to work for you with the Avodart etc.

Well that's MY theory about why my symptoms seem to have subsided so
much lately.
But two urologists and one surgeon didn't seem to want to make the same
claim.
The surgeon, the guy whose staff actually did the cystoscopy, in the
brief time I had to chat with him about the baffling (to me) cystoscopy results, seemed to be making a case that I had never had BPH at all and
that I should be looking for a doctor to prescribe drugs for nocturia in
order to alleviate my symptoms.

The urologist that I went to for a 2nd opinion would not come out and
tell me why he thought the cystoscopy had gone so well or my symptoms
had subsided and wanted me to just be happy that they had subsided and
that my cystoscopy showed nothing to operate on.
My regular urologist seemed to be saying the same thing.
My regular urologist said he didn't prescribe drugs for nocturia anyway.

I don't really want to be on Avodart for the rest of my life.
But I hesitate to go off of it right now because it may be the only
thing helping my symptoms.
It probably is, but I don't know that for sure.
And if I go off of it and my symptoms return it will be all the more
harder for me to get back to where I'm at now when I do go back on the
Avodart.

To recap.
I went on Avodart in mid September.
I was told that it could take *up to* 6 months before I might get any symptomatic relief from my BPH.
At the 6-month mark, mid March, I went back to my uro begging him for
some sort of operation.
That's when he made the appointment for the cystoscopy which was
scheduled for 2 months later, on May 27.
By the time that appointment came up, my symptoms during the day had
improved noticeably but my symptoms at night were as bad as ever (or
worse) with me waking every 1.5 hours like clockwork to pee.
Then this surgeon tells me there's nothing wrong with me.
My next appointment with my urologist would be almost 2-months later, on
July 13, and in the meantime I was freaking out thinking that it must be
some sort of a food sensitivity that was causing my symptoms and I
feverishly tried cutting out this and that from my diet all with no results. But as July 13 approached my nighttime symptoms had begun to improve as
well, so by the time I saw my uro I was in pretty good shape.
But he had no idea why and he didn't seem to want to commit to the idea
that it was because of the Avodart.

So...
For now I'm sticking with the Avodart (plus the 5mg Cialis which
mitigates the sexual side effects of the Avodart quite nicely).

If it IS the Avodart that's helping me then I guess either it took
longer than usual with me to help.
Or, I must have misconstrued the things I'd read about it taking "up to" 6-months before I'd see any symptomatic relief which I took as meaning
that I'd see some results prior to 6=months but that it would take the
full 6-months before I'd see significant results.
But the fact that both these urologists don't want to come out and say
that it's the Avodart for sure that's helping me is a little bit troubling.

At any rate, things are pretty good right now.
I wake up every 3 to 4 hours to pee and have finally been getting some
REM sleep.
And I'm still on the Avodart.

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On Sat, 8 Aug 2015 12:40:46 -0400, Nospam <nospam@nowhere.net> wrote:

And if I go off of it and my symptoms return it will be all the more
harder for me to get back to where I'm at now when I do go back on the >Avodart.

WHY would you possibly think that??

If the cystoscopy DIDN'T show any blockage, then you need to ask
WHAT they suggest next to get rid of your symptoms.

Have you had tamsulosin suggested??

Has ANYONE suggested that you had prostatitis,
and that it as now regressed or cured itself??

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On 2015-09-30 10:42 PM, The New Other Guy wrote:

On Sat, 8 Aug 2015 12:40:46 -0400, Nospam <nospam@nowhere.net> wrote:

And if I go off of it and my symptoms return it will be all the more
harder for me to get back to where I'm at now when I do go back on the
Avodart.

WHY would you possibly think that??

If the cystoscopy DIDN'T show any blockage, then you need to ask
WHAT they suggest next to get rid of your symptoms.

Have you had tamsulosin suggested??

Has ANYONE suggested that you had prostatitis,
and that it as now regressed or cured itself??

Thanks for chiming in.

1. I think that because it's logical.
In the weeks prior to my cystoscopy my symptoms during the day had been noticeably improved but at night it was a different story, which is why
I freaked out about the good results of the cystoscopy and then posted here. But in the 3 weeks following my cystoscopy my symptoms at night began to improve as well.
I then saw a 2nd urologist as well as my original urologist and they
both told me that the likely reason for my improvement was because the
Avodart had taken a little longer to work enough to reduce my symptoms
than it usually does.
I still have some nights where I wake up every 1.5 hours to pee but
usually it's more like 3 or 4 hours now.
So if I go off of the Avodart just to see if it really was what was
helping me and then my symptoms come back it will be because my prostate
has started getting larger again rather than shrinking which means it
could take longer for me to get back where I am now by going back on
Avodart.

2. They suggest staying on the Avodart plus the Cialis.

3. I've tried all the alpha blockers at one time, but not recently.
They all made my symptoms worse, which really doesn't make much sense to me. And they all had the typical undesirable sexual side effects.
The best of the bunch was alfuzosin though.
I'm currently still taking the daily 5mg dose of Cialis which is also
supposed to help with the same symptoms that the alpha blockers address.
I can't really say if the Cialis is helping my BPH symptoms (although it
did at one time for about 3 months) but it does a great job of
mitigating the sexual side effects of the Avodart.
Remember that the alpha blocker do NOT actually shrink the prostate.
Neither do any of the supplements used for BPH symptoms like saw palmetto.
The only substances known to shrink the prostate are the chemicals in
Avodart and Proscar.

4. When I first saw my uro (mid 2011?) he said I had a mild prostatitis
and he put me on a round of antibiotics.
But my symptoms persisted.

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