In this video, the Birds answer common male urinary incontinence questions. If you’re incontinent and thinking about getting an artificial urinary sphincter, this video is a wealth of information!
**Below is the transcript of the video**
**Linda:** Hi. This is Galen and I’m Linda Bird, and we are patient advocates. We thought we’d share with you some questions that we get when we do our community health talks on incontinence.
Probably the first question we get is, “Does insurance cover the device?”
**Galen:** Yes. On incontinence, all insurance companies pay for the treatment for incontinence.
**Linda:** What about the recovery time if you have like a male sling or an artificial urinary sphincter?
**Galen:** With the sphincter, there’s a little bit more recovery time than with the sling. With the sling, you can probably go back playing golf in three or four weeks. With the sling, you’re not supposed to lift too much for about four weeks. With the sphincter, it just depends on how you feel when you can start lifting things. I started lifting 80-pound dogs in three weeks.
**Linda:** Did you have a lot of pain involved with your surgery?
**Galen:** I have both implants at the same time. I probably had a lot of extra swelling. I had a fair amount of swelling for the first three or four days and then it just gradually went away. Like I said, I started lifting big dogs in three weeks.
**Linda:** How long should you wait after prostate cancer treatment before you consider getting a sling or a sphincter? How do you decide which one to get?
**Galen:** I think it depends on how severe your incontinence is. If you’re using one or two pads, maybe even three pads a day, the sling usually works pretty well. If you’re using more than that, then a lot of times they’ll go ahead and use the sphincter. Apply the wait time – there’s a minimum of about six months. If you’re not getting any better in six months, then go ahead and have the incontinence fixed. Otherwise, if you keep getting better, you might wind up to a year.
**Linda:** Can radiation affect urinary incontinence?
**Galen:** Yes. About any treatment you have for prostate cancer can cause incontinence.
**Linda:** Can they treat it with a sling or a sphincter if you’ve had radiation?
**Galen:** Yes. They can use either one depending on what the cause of your incontinence is.
**Linda:** Another question we get is, “What kind of age limit do you have in order to have one of these surgeries?”
**Galen:** Again, there’s no age limit. It’s just up to the individual. If you want to be continent, you just go ahead and get one of the devices. There’s no FDA-approved medicine for stress and incontinence.
**Linda:** But your doctor needs to make sure that you’re healthy enough to have that surgery, right?
**Galen:** Yes.
**Linda:** Is the pain long term with the device? Do you know it’s there?
**Galen:** I have no idea it’s there unless I want to use it. With the sling, you don’t have anything to operate and it works immediately. With the sphincter, you have to wait five to six weeks to activate it. It’s really easy. There’s a little pump in the scrotum. You just pump it three or four times then urinate. Then it closes back up to make you continent again.
The device has completely saved my life. We’re back playing golf again and table tennis.
**Linda:** How long do the slings and the sphincters last?
**Galen:** They don’t really know on the sling but there’s probably not any reason that it shouldn’t last for a lifetime. With the sphincters, they can last seven years and they can last 20-something years. It just depends on how it works for an individual.
**Linda:** Since you have the reservoir with solution in it, does that solution need to be changed?
**Galen:** No. It stays there permanently and causes no problem. If it would happen to leak it’s normal saline and it won’t affect you at all.
**Linda:** Another question we get is, “Could you have a sling or a sphincter put in and also a penile implant at the same time?”
**Galen:** Yes. I had both implants at the same time. I chose to do it under one anesthetic and get the swelling over with all at once. It worked great for me.
**Linda:** Probably the last question on urinary incontinence is, what happens if you have an artificial urinary sphincter which closes off that urethra and you would be in accident, not able to speak, and you need to be catheterized at an emergency room?
**Galen:** If you have an artificial sphincter, you wear a medical alert bracelet. I’ve got one under my shirt. If you were in an accident, they look at that and they will call your urologist then to deactivate it before they pass a catheter. You want to be sure you do that if you have a sphincter.
Thank you.
**Linda:** Thank you.