Enlarged Prostate

Allen Gelbl asked:


Prostate enlargement, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, is a common diagnosis that affect many men over the age of forty years or older. While it is not a common cause of prostate cancer, it can cause the bladder to shut down if it is not treated, as well as urinary tract infections, and a great deal of discomfort.

Understanding what the prostate is will help you understand your condition as well. The prostate is very small, almost the size of a nickel. It is located near the base of your bladder. It is the gland that produces the white secretion that later makes the semen. The secretions from the prostate help to nourish the sperm when it is ejaculated from your body.

Before seeking the help of a doctor, you need to determine if your symptoms might be the cause of an enlarged prostate. The first sign is urine leakage. This soon turns into frequent urination, and then eventually you will not be able to urinate at all. If you are having any of these ate gland, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, is a condition that a man faces who is over the age of forty. It is also thought to be the most common diagnosis for men over the age of sixty. While having an enlarged prostate does not necessarily mean that prostate cancer is ahead, it is still a very uncomfortable problem to deal with.

The cause of an enlarged prostate is almost as mysterious as the common cold. A normal prostate gland is smaller than a quarter, but larger than a peanut. As the prostate grows, it begins to squeeze the urethra causing a large amount of pain. After this occurs, the bladder feels the constant urge to push urine down the narrowed urethra in a forceful manner. The bladder will eventually feel the urge to not completely release itself and it is then that the patient starts to have urinary retention.

In order to prevent the worst from happening, it is important that you spot the signs and symptoms of an enlarged prostate before the condition becomes worse. The first sign is the leakage of urine. If you let the problem continue, eventually you will not be able to completely empty the bladder. This will cause you to have frequent trips to and from the bathroom, especially in the middle of the night. Of course, the last symptom is the inability to urinate. You should not take any of the symptoms lightly and seek medical attention at the sign of the first symptom.

In the worst circumstances, patients who have let the problem persist without getting help for their symptoms have experienced fever, chills, nausea, extreme lower back pain, and blood in the urine. This could cause the patient to be hospitalized until their condition has been rendered stable. This is also one of the main reasons that men are recommended to visit the doctor each year for a prostate check. If the doctor finds that an enlarged prostate is present, there are two certain medications that can be used: Finasteride and Alpha-blockers.

Alpha-blockers can be used to relieve the symptoms of the enlarged prostate by relaxing the muscles in the gland. Doctors will then follow up with Finasteride in order to start shrinking the prostate gland. Mixed with the Alpha-blockers, the condition can be treated appropriately and you will not be in an extreme amount of pain as you were prior to the diagnosis occurring.

If medicine does not cure the problem, there is a surgical procedure that can be done, known as the transurethral resection of the prostate. The procedure consists of scraping tissue from the core of the prostate with the aid of a telescope. The transurethral incision of the prostate has also been considered as an option as well. Unlike the resection, the incision procedure involves a few cuts in the prostate in order relieve the pressure from the urethra. There is no scraping involved which is why it is preferred over the first procedure. If you sense that you might have an enlarged prostate, do not wait about seeking medical attention. The condition will only worsen if you wait.

tyson asked:


For years now, I’ve had many of the symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate. Difficulty starting, weak stream, getting up at night, and going frequently. I haven’t experienced any pain associated with this. I recently had a prostate exam and also the blood test for prostate cancer, both of which were negative. My doctor gave me a prescription to knock out any possible bladder infection, but that didn’t change anything. Is there any other condition that could cause these symptoms?

I’m a fit 33 year old, no immediate family history of prostate cancer. I drink about 16 oz of coffee in the morning, and then plenty of tea and water throughout the day. I excercise 5 evenings a week, and drink a moderate amount of water afterwards. I think this may explain the frequency but don’t know about other symptoms.

richard p asked:


I am 30 years old and have an enlarged prostate. I just want to know if this can effect my chances of having children on day.

Paul Rodgers asked:


It has been said that “most men die with prostate cancer, not of it”. Autopsy studies have shown that a high proportion of men who have died in other ways, have prostate cancer when the prostate is examined under a microscope. Thus screening may tend to detect cancers that would not have killed the patient or even been detected prior to death from other causes.An important way to take an active role in making decisions about supporting your prostate cancer treatment is to be as informed as possible. Learn all you want to know about prevention, treatment and living with prostate cancer. Although early-stage prostate cancer typically isn’t painful, once it’s spread to bones it can be.

Deciding the best prostate cancer treatment is a challenge. Prostatectomy is the removal of the prostate by surgical incisions in abdomen or perineum, or small incisions and laparoscope use. Radical prostatectomy is the removal of the entire prostate gland and possibly the seminal vesicles and surrounding nerves and veins. Although technically well done, radiation therapy may not be the answer or at least the whole answer to prostate cancer treatment and survival.

All prostate cancer treatments affect sexual potency. Complications from prostate cancer are related to both the disease and its treatment. Many men may feel depressed after a diagnosis of prostate cancer or after trying to cope with the side effects of treatment.

Prostate Cancer Treatment

Treatment options include radiation therapy (either through an external beam or radioactive seed implants), surgery, hormone therapy and watchful waiting. Selecting the right treatment for prostate cancer depends on many factors, including your husband’s overall health, his age, the aggressiveness of his prostate cancer, and how he feels about the potential side effects. One of the biggest fears of many men who have prostate cancer is that treatment may leave them incontinent or unable to maintain an erection firm enough for sex (erectile dysfunction).

Male Urinary Incontinence

Male incontinence is relatively unusual, and is always associated with some sort of bladder or prostate disease. Yes, more than 330,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, and many will require prostate surgery, the leading cause of incontinence in men. Stress incontinence may develop when a man’s prostate gland is removed and there has been dysfunction of or damage to the nerves or the sphincter, resulting in inadequate support for the lower bladder (bladder neck). Most men do not have trouble with incontinence for more than a few days or a few weeks after a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). When a radical prostatectomy is performed to remove a cancerous prostate, the possibility of incontinence is greater.

Muscle-strengthening Exercises

The ability to fill and store urine properly requires a functional sphincter (the circular muscles around the opening of the bladder) and a stable, expandable bladder wall muscle (detrusor). Stress incontinence is a bladder storage problem in which the strength of the muscles (urethral sphincter) that help control urination is reduced. Exercises to strengthen the muscles which support your bladder neck (with or without the help of devices like electrical stimulation, biofeedback, or exercise cones) may be prescribed if your symptoms point to stress urinary incontinence. Muscle-strengthening exercises (called Kegel exercises or pelvic floor exercises) can be very helpful in treating bowel incontinence. These are performed by contracting the large muscles that make up the pelvic floor. When the pelvic muscles are contracted they send a message to the bladder muscle to relax.

Biofeedback And Electrical Stimulation

Biofeedback and electrical stimulation may be helpful for those who have trouble doing pelvic muscle training exercises. Biofeedback uses electrodes placed on the pelvic floor muscles, giving you feedback about when they are contracted and when they are not. Biofeedback and electrical stimulation will no longer be necessary once you have identified the pelvic floor muscles and mastered the exercises on your own. Newer techniques are being investigated, including one that uses a specially designed electromagnetic chair that causes the pelvic floor muscles to contract when the patient is seated.

Medications

Medications that may be prescribed include drugs that relax the bladder, increase bladder muscle tone, or strengthen the sphincter. Other medications such as diuretics, muscle relaxants, and blood pressure medication can also affect bladder function. Other medications, including flurbiprofen, capsaicin and botulinum toxin, are sometimes prescribed to relax the bladder muscles or to tighten the urethral sphincter. One of these drugs, duloxetine, differs from present medications in targeting the central nervous system’s control of the urge to urinate rather than the smooth muscle of the bladder itself.

Mian H asked:


This question is basically for Physicians and Surgeons or anyone who has gone through this ailment. I have a benign enlarged prostate. Is there a laser treatment that would shrink the enlarged prostate, without open surgery?