I’m going to share something with you that to be honest is humiliating to talk about, but I do it in order for you, should you have to, not make the same mistakes I have over the last year.
A year ago last May, I started to have problems having a wee. There was no pressure to it and so more often than not I ended up with it down the front of me.
I went to the doctor and after sticking his finger up my bum, he told me I had an enlarged prostate that could be causing it. He put me on medication and told me to come back in six weeks.
Sadly nothing changed over the time and when I went back, he added another medication. I took this as well for about six months, and all it did was make me depressed. In the end I told him I wanted to come off it.
During this time, I was still having problems with my wee flow rate and basically was ending up wetting the front of me on a regular basis.
What this meant to me as a person was that I didn’t want to go out, and when I did, I needed to take a change of underpants and trousers to change into. I’ll tell you this, I’ve never felt less of a man than whilst this has been going on.
Fast forward to June this year, and I was coming back from Weymouth and was stuck in traffic for 8 hours. As you can imagine, the outcome wasn’t good. I ended up having to change my clothes in the Services.
I went back to the doctor and told him I was sick of it and that I wanted to see a specialist. He wasn’t keen on sending me but I basically left him with no choice.
Over the last year I’ve been going to the toilet in excess of 20 times a day and that’s been through the night as well. It means that I haven’t had more than 2 hours sleep at a time for this whole period. Consequently, I’ve been shatterered for most of the last year.
And so yesterday I got to see the specialist. It turns out that I don’t have a problem with my prostate at all. So for a year or so I’ve been taking medication I didn’t need to.
I had to do a wee and have the flow rate measured yesterday. The result was that there is pretty much no flow rate and it’s more of a dribble than anything else.
Also after I’ve been to the toilet, my bladder still has around 300ml of effluent not passed. And that’s why I feel like I need to go to the toilet straight away after I’ve been.
The specialist told me that the reason for my problem is that there is scarring inside my urethra due to the catheter that was inserted into me during the operation to take out my kidney.
And so basically I need to go in for a day and they’ll operate and cut the section of scarring out as it’s closed off the canal which is why I’m struggling to wee. The specialist told me it’s a very simple operation and after a couple of weeks I’ll be back to normal.
So what I’m saying to you is that if you’re not happy with the outcome of anything with your GP – push to see a specialist.
I’ve had a year and 2 months of worry for nothing. And let me tell you about what happened last night.
Having been worried that I may have prostate cancer, the relief when the specialist told me what it was was immense.
When I got home from the hospital yesterday, it was like I hit a brick wall. A wave of tiredness came over me and I could barely stand up. I went to bed around 5.30pm and went to sleep. the next thing I knew, I couldn’t stop shivering and was freezing cold!
I think my nervous system went into shock after all the worrying and lack of sleep I’ve had.
I’ve still had to get up and go to the toilet throughout the night. And this morning, I am totally lacking in energy and feel weak and sick.
I’m hoping this will wear off over the day.
But here’s my point. I needn’t have been suffering for the last 14 months as the GP has diagnosed me wrongly, and from thinking it was something drastic, it isn’t and could have been sorted ages ago.
Don’t you make the mistakes I have. If you’re not happy, push to get seen to by a specialist.
I’m now waiting for a little operation that will finally give me a good quality of life back and I won’t have to feel so humiliated because I keep wetting myself.
Have a great day!
James Murphy
