GEE WHIZ! SURVIVOR HOST JEFF LEARNS A PAINFUL LESSON

BLADDER WOES: Jeff "went through absolute hell." Just ask "Survivor" host Jeff Probst -- he found out the hard way that putting off trips to the bathroom can lead to agonizing health problems.

Although in six seasons with the CBS reality series Jeff has been zapped in the genitals by a jellyfish, stung by a scorpion, had a run-in with a king cobra snake and nearly fried himself by urinating on an electric fence, his latest and worst ordeal was surviving a badly enlarged bladder that doctors initially misdiagnosed as prostate problems.

The slender, dark-haired host underwent numerous -- and painful -- catheterizations, took prostate drugs and lost a shocking amount of weight before the real cause of his problems was discovered.

It was only after he returned from filming "Survivor: The Amazon" and -- at the urging of his artist-girlfriend, Kami Lerner -- went to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., that he found that his bladder had become enlarged from holding his pee during location shoots of the show!

"I kept telling these doctors I used to hold my pee when I was on shoots," Jeff told radio shock jock Howard Stern. "I didn't want to hold up production, so I never went."

"He couldn't urinate and was in pain," said the source. "Doctors were convinced that he had an enlarged prostate and that he most likely had prostate cancer.

"They had him on a drug called Flomax and one of the side effects of the drug is that you have a decreased sex drive.

"It was definitely putting a crimp in his love life . . . and he was worried sick that he might have to have his prostate removed. He probably lost 15 to 17 pounds because of the ordeal."

Once doctors realized what his problem was, they urged Jeff to "retrain" his stretched bladder by going to the bathroom every two hours until the organ returned to normal.

“and nearly fried himself by urinating on an electric fence“

I have a great deal of sympathy for that guy. Just one day before my 11th birthday I did the same thing. It was one of the most “shocking” experiences of my life. It was just getting dark and I was hurrying home cause my Dad was going to take us out for pizza. I really had to go and had at least a half mile of plowed over corn field and soybean field to get through so I just stopped next to a fence, whipped it out and started doing my thing, when, next thing I knew this flash of intense white light goes off in my head and I’m laying on the ground looking at the stars spinning. And it HURTS, damn, it HURTS. After a little while I started sorta crawling half-walking trying to get home thinking the whole time I’d never make it before I died. Somehow my dog Frisky had done a “Lassie” kinda thing and gotten my Dad headed out to find me. He picked me up carried me to the house and into the car and we all headed to the hospital. I can still hear my Dad saying “Oh Lord, please take away the pain but leave the swelling,” and my Stepmother and my sister laughing like crazy.

Actually it didn’t turn out all that bad cause by the time we got to the hospital the pain was mostly gone and there was no real damage done. The doctor said I'd be fine and we went to eat.

We spent the whole time at the restaurant laughing till the Bubble-Up came out my nose. The pizza was real good too.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.