A treatment for chronic pelvic pain ?

http://www.renalandurologynews.com/Shock-Wave-Therapy-May-Ease-CPPS/article/116118/

This article from a Prostate Focus dated March 1996.

I.C.  A PERSONAL ACCOUNT  

by  Mac

Following my introduction to the PHA the first Newsletter I received was number 1/1996 which had Intermittent Catheterization, (IC), as the subject of its leading article.  As I have been on this treatment since March 1993,  I was surprised to read that whilst letters are received from many men who have a permanent catheter fitted, only one had been received from a subscriber who was on intermittent catheterization.

About 1984/5 I started with nocturia, first having to get up 1/2 times a night, which later increased to 3/4 times and sometimes 5.  My GP tried a number of drugs, with no beneficial effects, and at the suggestion of a doctor friend in my Club, I was referred to a consultant surgeon at the local hospital who recommended a bladder neck incision. 

Instead of an improvement the treatment was followed by complete retention.  The anticipated two days in hospital turned out to be three weeks in total.  I was discharged three times and re-admitted again the same day.  The third time a TURP operation was carried out, which resulted in some improvement for a while, but the nocturia again built up to 4/5 times.

In 1989 I moved house and tackled my new GP.  A new consultant urologist diagnosed an irritable and unstable bladder after a battery of tests and scans, and prescribed OXYBUTININ.  This I believe is intended to damp down bladder contractions which cause pain and the urge to urinate. However in my case it had an horrific effect, resulting in almost complete retention, making it necessary to get my GP out during one night, when I think I was up 15 times attempting to pass urine.

The consultant then decided to carry out a cystoscopy, when it was found that I had a urethral stricture.  This was incised, but unfortunately after some initial improvement matters got worse and a further check found the stricture had almost closed the urethra, and it was incised again.  As this did not result in any improvement, I was offered intermittent self catheterization, using ‘Lofric’ catheters. 

I was started at three times a week, the objective being to keep the stricture from closing, however, as the ability to pass urine was not improving, the consultant suggested IC three times per day, later reduced to twice a day, on going to bed, and on rising, in the hope that the number of times I had to get up in the night and pass very small quantities of urine might be reduced.  I was asked to keep detailed records from which it was obvious I was not emptying my bladder other than when using a catheter.  The consultant came to the conclusion that the problem was no longer one of obstruction, but that the bladder voiding muscles had weakened.  I was only given a glimmer of hope for the future in that he thought what he termed ‘muscular tone’ might improve as a result of catheterization giving some relief from a permanently overfull and distended bladder.  Unfortunately things now seem to be getting worse gain in some respects, and I am awaiting a further cystopscopy, with some trepidation.

The physical use and insertion and withdrawal of the catheters presents no problems, but since using them I have had a succession of bladder tract infections.  It was stressed to me that B. Coli from the bowel can easily be transferred to the bladder tract by a catheter if the hands and parts are not thoroughly washed first. 

On the face of it this would not seem to be difficult, but done in the middle of a cold winter night when the heating has switched off, is far from funny.  However, by using a catheter on the first time of getting up, it does achieve getting out of bed only twice a night, instead of the four (and sometimes five) times previously.

Strangely, the problem seems a night one almost entirely. During waking hours, I suffer no discomfort, and passing urine does not seem to be difficult, as it does at night, although the quantities passed each time are almost certainly below normal.  I live in hope that some answer may eventually be forthcoming.

Ed.  I would concur with the difficulty of ensuring a germ free use of a catheter.  I found that in spite of diligent hand washing and catheter handling I aquired infections during the period of time when I used a Lofric.  (Not that there is anything in that particular make which would cause a problem.)  I also found the sharp twinge at the end of the voiding particularly distasteful.  It wasn’t that it was all that painful it was just that you knew it was coming and the anticipation was not very pleasant !  (PD)

Could vitamin C jabs

cure cancer?

Oh Dear, Oh Dear…..

Just how far behind are some medics and most medical journalists ?

It must be at least two years since I first wrote about the book ‘Ascorbate.  The science of Vitamin C’ written by Dr’s Hickey and Roberts.  I have told ump-teen men with prostate cancer who have contacted the PHA to buy and read the book. 

Regrettably no one has, to date, advised that they have taken up the treatment.

The treatment possibly sounds a little too simple to be a cure or treatment for cancer for most medics, yet it has been shown to be effective…. And so to the present day….

Early in August 2008, Denis Vaughan was the subject of a Daily Mail article. He has had prostate cancer for some twelve years and was watchful waiting, i.e. checking the progress of the cancer without having any treatment. When the PSA rose to 18.5 his medics wanted him to begin radiotherapy.  Instead he used a treatment offered by his London GP that involved infusing vitamin C directly into the bloodstream. After just seven weeks, his PSA levels dropped to 13 and he has stopped treatment.

As you will agree, saying that he is cured has to be put down to a journalistic enthusiasm !

Yet I ask you to look at our February 2008 copy of Prostate Focus.  There you will see the following included in an article. 

‘Edith was too late for chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or drugs; instead, he put her on morphine and told us we should get her ‘affairs in order’ and wait for her to die.’

                                                                                                       Doctor in 1905. "I recommend 20 oranges per day"

And then further down the page….

‘Within six months, the tumours on Edith’s breast had cleared up.’

What happened during those six months? Of course, treatment by vitamin C.

So if you have a high PSA reading or have been actually diagnosed with Prostate Cancer why subject your body to the current range of drug or surgery treatments.  There is normally no panic with Prostate Cancer it will not carry you away overnight. 

Take your time and why not try such alternative treatments which have no side effects but are proving to be successful.  Dr. Julian Kenyon, a private GP in Harley Street, has treated more than 100 patients and claims there is now a good body of experience about how to use vitamin C.

First step I recommend is buy the book by Hickey and Roberts, then Google on the internet and gain some more information. Then make your own decision.  Bear in mind that medics have been treating cancers, mainly unsuccessfully, now for hundreds of years. Perhaps it is time to shine a brighter light into the dark recesses !  (PD)