Full bladder for radiation therapy
For those of you who have dealt with the challenge of maintaining a full bladder during radiation treatment sessions (as well as empty bowels/rectum), I’m looking for any tips you might have for someone with an irritable bladder.
The instructions from my radiation oncology center are: “Empty bladder and rectum 1 hour before scheduled appointment time. One hour before appointment, drink 24 ounces of water, finishing the water no less than 30 minutes prior to appointment. Do not urinate until after your appointment.”
I followed those instructions pretty closely for my CT guidance/placement. Halfway through the procedure, I had to ask a nurse for a timeout because I simply could not hold it any longer. I rushed to the washroom while they were shouting “Try to urinate as little as possible to keep the bladder mostly full.” I did that (it wasn’t easy), and returned to finish the procedure. As soon as it was finished, I had to race to the washroom again … in great distress.
I told one of the nurses that I don’t think I can handle the 24 ounces of water and make it through my treatment sessions. She said I should try 20 ounces. Still seems like a lot. I’ve read here and elsewhere that many guys say drinking 16 to 18 ounces is enough.
I will have the first of my 48 EBRT sessions Wednesday. Any thoughts on this will be appreciated!
It is all about a little bit of math and practice…I‘ve finished my radiation treatment about 9 months ago and feel your pain..What worked for me is to time the exact time of treatment and find out how long it takes after drinking say half bottle of water that I need to go urinate and how long I can hold on without urinating… as you know for each individual it takes different time that water gets into bladder after drinking… my treatment was at the end of the day so I marked 4 bottle of water 1 to 4 (2 liters) and start writing on each water bottle the exact need to pee time… of course I started this exercise in my first weekend brake… so after first week I knew when I have to open the third bottle water (some time in parking of cancer center) and usually got to my appointment 40 minutes earlier,setteling down and before I open the 4th bottle of water I was going to bathroom emptying my bladder and start drinking the last bottle say around 30 minutes before they called my name…and I always asked radiation technician is there enough water in my bladder and the answer was yes..
So this worked for me and of course right after 15 minutes treatment session I had to run to washroom…
You can find my thread here in next couple of page under “ Sharing my Radiation Therapy Experience” with detail info during and after treatment.
Hangin there you’ll simply get better at this.Thanks for sharing your experience!
Here is what i experienced during my 8 weeks of radiation. The first 2 weeks I was loading up on water to a level that was uncomfortable. I mentioned it to the tech folks who told me... as long as I was reasonably hydrated it was OK. The tech indicated that prior to the actual treatment they can see exactly how full or not you are.
Apparently they can make some minor adjustments to compensate or will just tell you to go to the waiting room and have another bottle of water. I will say that advice made the last 6 weeks a lot easier . IF you visit www.TheProstateCancerCoach.com you will find a video journal on my treatments and my reactions. The hospitals here do refer many patients the site. Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM)I emptied my bladder one hour before therapy and chugged 32oz of water as I drove to the hospital. Luckily everything worked out just fine. Before I actually started therapy I expressed concern about being able to hold it for the entire session and the tech told me they actually had a clamp they could use. It was basically a padded spring clamp. Glad I didn't need it but if you're having troubles there is a cure.
