Are Kegels The Magic Bullet For Developing Urinary Control After A Radical Prostatectomy?

I'll start with the bad news first, Kegels are not a magic bullet.That said, men who do Kegels before and after surgery do better with regaining urinary control than men who do no Kegels or men who begin Kegels after surgery.

After surgery I had severe urinary incontinence. I was going through 15 diapers a day. It was both physically and emotionally draining. I hated the quality of my life and more than anything I wanted to regain urinary control as quickly as possible.  Before and after surgery  I was told to do  6 sets of ten Kegels a day.

I have a philosophy in life that''s probably caused as much trouble as it's relieved. It goes like this, if 20 is good, then 200 is ten times better. I figured I could regain urinary control much faster if I went from 60 Kegels a day to a few hundred a day.

With a misplaced confidence in my philosophy and without discussing my plan with my Doctor I began my plan of performing hundreds of Kegels a day. It didn't take me long to realize I began leaking worse than before I started performing hundreds of Kegels a day. I got so discouraged and depressed I went from doing hundreds of Kegels a day to quitting completely. In other words, I gave up on Kegels.

I learned the hard way that performing hundreds of  Kegels  causes fatigue and increased leakage.  I learned this after discussing my failure with my Doctor. Based on his experience and advice, I went back to performing 60 Kegels a day.

On my  Website Survey 32% of 300 men said urinary issues were the worst part of coping with life without a prostate.

I discovered the hard way it's not possible to cut your recovery time half by doubling the amount of Kegels you perform. Here's one out of  many life issues where more is harmful rather than helpful.

I hope by reading this you are spared from the trouble and healing delay this misplaced philosophy caused me.

Here's a link to a good article about Continence After A Radical Prostatectomy

If you want more tips and insights with regard to coping with life without a prostate, check out my book on Amazon.com