AMS Pump Malfunction

[Dave92014]

When I have the no reinflate problem I just do a quick squeeze with the bulb in whatever shape it is in. I get a click and then things continue normally.


Dave

Thanks, I have tried the quick squeeze when the bulb won't reinflate and that doesn't fix mine. And my problem isn't correlated with the bulb slipping on me. My problem seems to be unique as no one else has responded that they have the same thing. Fortunately it only happens once every month or two and so far I have been able to get it unstuck by doing several deflate and repump so I am still going with my present pump rather than looking into getting a new one installed. Kind of a "between a rock and a hard place" decision.

Dave

[JDavid]

On occasion, the bulb of my pump seems empty when I attempt to inflate. Pressing the release button solves the problem immediately.

[Dave92014]

On occasion, the bulb of my pump seems empty when I attempt to inflate. Pressing the release button solves the problem immediately.

Thanks, that seems something similar to the problem I have.

Dave

[Dave92014]

11/1/13
I saw my doc yesterday for a checkup exactly one year after my implant surgery. We discussed the problem I have been having with the bulb sometimes not refilling when I try to pump up. He felt around in the area where the reservoir should be and felt the opening from the inguinal canal into the scrotum. He said that my reservoir is out of position and has slipped down so that the neck of the reservoir (the part where the reservoir connects to the tubing) is partly entering the inguinal canal. This happened because my opening in the inguinal canal is larger than normal. He realized this during the surgery and attempted to prevent the reservoir slipping downwards by putting one stitch in to close down the opening. However, this doesn’t seem to have been enough. He thinks the reason for my problem is that sometimes the inguinal canal compresses the neck of the reservoir so that fluid does not flow out. We discussed what to do about it and we both agreed that since the inflation works most of the time and I have always been able to get it unstuck within a few minutes when it does get stuck, that I should live with the problem rather than going through some corrective surgery.

After I left the doc’s office I thought of something I can try to keep the problem from happening. I always pump up be starting in a standing position, putting my right foot on the bed or a chair, snaking my right hand under my right knee to grasp the bulb and putting my left had between my legs to do a two-handed pump. I am thinking that this at least puts the force of gravity on the reservoir to push it downwards. I tried an alternative pumping last night where I lay flat on my back, lift up my right leg and then grasp the pump as I normally do. That way there may be less pressure on the reservoir to come down and get its neck pinched shut. Since the problem only happens every few weeks it will take me awhile to determine if this solves the problem or not, but at least I have something to try.

One thing that makes me think the doc is right about this is that I am the only one of FT who has this problem happen as severely as I do, and also I seem to be the only one whose doc has said that their inguinal canal is large enough to be a problem. My brother and mother both had hernia operations, which is caused by the inguinal canal being too large, so it may be a hereditary situation in our family.

[Dave92014]

On 12/23/2013 I had the pump failure to refill the bulb problem again for the first time in almost three months. I was laying almost flat on my back when I started to pump which is the procedure I have been using since my 10/31/13 visit to my Urologist. When I did the first squeeze of the pump the bulb failed to refill. I then immediately squeezed my penis and pressed the deflate button. The bulb then refilled immediately. I tried pumping again but again the bulb failed to refill on the first squeeze. I repeated the deflate process and starting inflate again three times but had the same problem each time. I then decided to try to take more pressure off the reservoir so I lifted my left foot high in the air as I did the deflate and inflate again. That time the bulb refilled on the first squeeze. On the second squeeze I felt the “big squish” which I had not felt for a long time. I then proceeded to do my usual 10 squeezes and appeared to have full inflation. After some minutes of foreplay I checked stiffness again and found it was down a little so I gave it 2 more squeezes which gave me good stiffness for sex.

Another thing I realized may be a hint as to the problem. The morning before this incident I had some slight inflation so I squeezed the penis and pressed the deflate button, which I sometimes do after my morning shower if I am somewhat inflated. But I did not get the “buzz” that I usually get and the penis did not feel quite as deflated as usual. I did not think much about it at the time but now I suspect this may have indicated the pump was in an unusual state which led to my problem with pumping that night. I will watch for this in the future.

[Dave92014]

On 10/5/14 I had not had the problem of my pump not refilling since 12/23/14 so I thought that laying flat on my back while pumping had essentially solved the problem. But that night I had the problem again. I realized the problem after the first pump squeeze. I tried the usual method of getting the pump to work right again by deflating and then starting again. But this did not work. I tried several positions both laying flat on my back with my legs in different positions and standing up while pumping. I did about 15 restart tries which all failed to work. Then I put both feet on the top of the head of my bed, which is about 30 inches above the top of the mattress and angled my body up at about a 30 degree angle to try to minimize downward pressure on the reservoir and tubing. On the second pumping try I felt the “big squish” which has always indicated before that the pump switched modes and was now going to inflate correctly, which it did. I almost never get the “big squish” when I start pumping except when the pump has been not working and then switches to working.

The next day I did a test pump and the pump inflated with no problems.

Due to us being out in the evenings and my getting a cold/flu I did not use the pump again until 10/12/14. But this time I had the problem with the pump again. This was a little different in that it refilled but very slowly. After 8 squeezes I tested the penis and it was totally limp. Apparently the pump was pulling the fluid back out of the cylinders rather than out of the reservoir. I deflated and tried restarting a couple of times with the same not refilling problem. Then I put my feet at the top of the bed, angling my body at 30 degrees as described above and tried pumping. The first time failed but on the subsequent restart I felt the “big squish” and the pump worked fine. I did notice that after this I lost a little stiffness by the time I wanted to put it to use, but a couple of quick squeezes took care of that. One thought I have is that before I started pumping I had been laying on my left side, the side that holds the reservoir, for about 75 minutes watching a movie on the TV on the wall on that side of the bed. I think this may have put some pressure on the reservoir and pump/tubing mechanism that caused the problem. I will not lay for an extended period on my left side again before pumping.

I saw my doc on 10/7/14. My reservoir seems to be protruding outward more than it did six months ago and it forms a highly visible lump in the abdomen. My doc said I really should get a hernia surgery and he thinks this may fix the pump failure problem as he thinks the reservoir being out of place is causing something to interfere with the flow of fluid. He is contacting a general surgeon who will do the surgery and he will participate as the assistant surgeon to make sure the reservoir and tubing are all handled correctly.

On 11/4/14 I had my hernia surgery. A general surgeon did the hernia repair and at the same time my urologist re-positioned my reservoir to where it should be. Now I am in a 3 to 6 week holding period waiting for healing before using the implant again. I am hopeful that this surgery will keep me from having the pump failure problems in the future. The hernia surgery and pain following that was not as bad as the original implant. The general surgeon was going to do it as an outpatient surgery with me going home 3 hours after the surgery started. But my urologist wanted to keep me overnight to pump in IV antibiotics to make very sure I did not get an infection, so that’s what they did.

[firstcav46]

I had a similar problem the other night. I tried to pump. Nothing happened. No movement. I tried repeatedly with no results. Got in a tub of hot water to loosen things up, and after trying things again a few tunes, I finally gave a strong pump and felt the "pop" when the pump let loose and things were fine. As far as bringing an erection down to flaccid condition, I've had a problem with that. Specs say press the button for four seconds and listen for the swishing sound of the fluid returning to the bulb, then squeeze the penis. I had been doing that, but my penis was still remaining somewhat stiff. I saw my regular urologist (not the one who performed the surgery) a couple of weeks ago for the first time since I had the surgery. He noted the problem. He had me press the button while he squeezed my penis. He was able to make it much more flaccid and softer (and I could feel more fluid leave). He issued something of a warning. He said if you don't expel all of the solution out of the penis and back into the bulb, scar tissue will form around the bulb and gradually force the saline solution back into the penis. He said he has had to treat men who came in with the saline solution backed up into their swollen penis. The surgeon who did my implant is Dr. Milam at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. I see him Friday for my final checkout. I've had no major problems with my surgery, but I do plan to raise a few questions with him, including the ones I mentioned here about the initial pumping problem and bringing my penis into a more flaccid condition.

[Dave92014]

I had a similar problem the other night. I tried to pump. Nothing happened. No movement. I tried repeatedly with no results. Got in a tub of hot water to loosen things up, and after trying things again a few tunes, I finally gave a strong pump and felt the "pop" when the pump let loose and things were fine. As far as bringing an erection down to flaccid condition, I've had a problem with that. Specs say press the button for four seconds and listen for the swishing sound of the fluid returning to the bulb, then squeeze the penis. I had been doing that, but my penis was still remaining somewhat stiff. I saw my regular urologist (not the one who performed the surgery) a couple of weeks ago for the first time since I had the surgery. He noted the problem. He had me press the button while he squeezed my penis. He was able to make it much more flaccid and softer (and I could feel more fluid leave). He issued something of a warning. He said if you don't expel all of the solution out of the penis and back into the bulb, scar tissue will form around the bulb and gradually force the saline solution back into the penis. He said he has had to treat men who came in with the saline solution backed up into their swollen penis. The surgeon who did my implant is Dr. Milam at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. I see him Friday for my final checkout. I've had no major problems with my surgery, but I do plan to raise a few questions with him, including the ones I mentioned here about the initial pumping problem and bringing my penis into a more flaccid condition.

Your not pumping problem sounds similar to mine. In my case the bulb collapses but does not refill. I can only get it to refill by pressing the deflate button. However, the "pop" you felt that fixed the problem was the same as what I felt when the problem got fixed. I have been updating my history the last 21 months because no one else on FT-Talk has reported having the same problem. Therefore I thought that my experience may be of help to someone else.

Your urologist's ideas are of interest to me. My uro told me to squeeze the penis at the same time I was pressing the deflate button and I have always done that.
However, about half the time I do notice the next morning that I am about 20% inflated. In that case I do another deflate and it stays 95% deflated until I reinflate. I think that the fluid in the rear chambers doesn't get fully returned to the reservoir on the first deflate and that is why I need a second one. This is only a very minor issue for me. Also, if you are just starting to pump, you might have some residual inflammation in the penis that is looking like inflation. If so that will go away within a few more weeks. Healing time seems to vary a lot.

Do ask Dr. Milam all your questions.

Dave

[Dave92014]

I saw my urologist yesterday for my 9 days post-op for my hernia surgery. A few things may be of general interest.
1. My urologist has been doing implants since the early 1980's and has done about a thousand. Mine was the first that required a hernia surgery due to the reservoir slipping out of place, so apparently the situation is very unusual.
2. He had a tech from AMS attend the surgery with a complete bag of implant parts in case anything should require replacement during the surgery. My urologist asked the tech if she had seen a hernia surgery done to move the reservoir back to the right position. She said she had not but she had heard of it being done.
3. My urologist said that the body forms a capsule around the reservoir. But in my case the whole thing, capsule and reservoir had migrated down into the groin area. This was probably pinching the tubing and causing me not to be able to get fluid from the reservoir at times. He had to cut open the capsule and reposition the reservoir.
4. I asked if the doc was able to suture the reservoir into place to keep it from slipping again. He said there was no way to attach a suture to the reservoir. The standard repair for a hernia is to insert a mesh into the body which goes over the top of the inguinal canal to keep intestines from going down the inguinal canal. In my case the mesh will keep the reservoir from moving downwards.
5. The healing time is about 4 to 6 weeks before I will be ready for sex again. And the pump problem did not happen very often. It did not happen for 9 months from late December to October. So it might be a long time before I know for sure that the hernia surgery fixed the problem totally.

Dave