Can Hernia Affect Urinary Tract
The presence of inguinal hernia may be associated with extrinsic defects upon the bladder and ureter in the absence of actual herniation of the urinary structures. The findings are characteristic unless associated with irregularity of the bladder wall or elevation of the bladder floor by prostatic enlargement.
Constipation And The Bladder
Constipation can affect bladder control and urinary continence. If you sometimes leak urine or feel that you need to frequently visit the toilet to pass urine, it could be that constipation is involved. An over-full bowel can press on the bladder, reducing the amount of urine it can hold or making you feel like to need to pass urine urgently.
What Can I Do To Manage My Constipation
Just as every cancer patients treatment is different, the way each person responds to his treatment is also different. While one person may have constipation, another may not. However, there are things you can do to help deal with this treatment side effect.
- Do not take any over-the-counter medicines for your constipation without talking to your doctor or health care team.
- Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. It is important to put back the fluids you lose. A glass of warm liquid when you first get up in the morning may start your bowels moving.
- Add more fiber to your diet. Eat more whole grains, such as bran muffins and cereals, wheat germ, and whole wheat bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, and prunes or prune juice.
- Eat fewer fatty foods .
- Increase your daily exercise. Even a daily walk can help relieve constipation.
- Speak to your doctor and health care team about medicines you can take to help you.
Plan For Managing Your Constipation
- What foods and drinks will help relieve your constipation?
- What foods should you stay away from if you have constipation?
- How do you get in touch with your doctor or health care team if you need help?
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Treating Prostatitis And Ibs
Treatment for prostatitis varies depending on the cause. What causes prostate issues? There are bacterial infections, viral causes, neurological causes, immune causes, hormonal causes, and stress can cause prostate issues.
The same is true for IBS. There are many different causes for IBS, and an IBS specialist will do specialized IBS testing that you are unlikely to get anywhere else, and will help you sort through the myriad of causes to determine the proper treatment and help you resolve your IBS.
Are The Treatments For Prostatitis And Bph Different
The treatment for an enlarged prostate and prostatitis are very different.
BPH treatment may include an interactive questionnaire to determine the extent of your symptoms. The results of the questionnaire may influence what medications or other treatments you may need. Drugs used to treat BPH include:
- Alpha receptor blockers
- Phosphodiesterase inhibitors
- Anticholinergic agents
Some patients with more severe prostatic enlargement may need surgery. A transurethral resection of the prostate is the usual procedure to reduce pressure on the urethra by reducing the size of the prostate.
Treatment for prostatitis depends on the type.
- Bacteria acute and chronic prostatitis are typically treated and cured with antibiotics like fluoroquinolones or trimethoprim. These infections typically take longer to cure so you may have to take antibiotics for as long as 4-8 weeks. Some infections of the prostate gland are resistant or unresponsive to treatment so antibiotics like gentamicin or doxycycline may need to be injected directly into the gland.
- Type III, chronic bacterial prostatitis and pelvic pain syndrome, is treated similarly with antibiotics, however, alpha-blockers and NSAIDs , for example, aspirin, ibuprofen , naproxen also are used.
- Type IV, asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis, in most patients requires no treatment. However, some doctors prescribe antibiotics and NSAIDs for this condition.
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What Have I Learned By Reading This
You learned about:
- Why chemotherapy can cause constipation
- How to treat your constipation
- Things you can do to help manage your constipation
- When to call your doctor
If you have any questions, please talk to your doctor or health care team. It is important that you understand what is going on with your prostate cancer treatment. This knowledge will help you take better care of yourself and feel more in control so that you can get the most from your treatment.
Can Prostate Issues Cause Bowel Problems
Problems in the prostate can impact the bowel, and problems in the colon/rectum such as irritable bowel syndrome , may impact the prostate. A significant connection between the two has been established in a recent study. Its important to understand this relationship so that you can properly address issues in each area.
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Flomax And Solving Constipation
I have been on amitriptyline for 30 years, managing its constipation/dry mouth by diet and chewing gum. Was in a world of excrutiatng prostate pain a few weeks ago, and urinary flow and frequency problems. Family doctor put me on Cipro for 2 weeks, but nothing changed. Then a urologist on rectal exam diagnosed enlarged and inflamed prostate, despite no infection detected in urine or blood tests. Put me on another 4 weeks of strong antibiotic and Flomax. Flomax helps, but drawing more water out of my body caused me severe constipation. I tried stool softeners but finally had to use a combo stool softener/17 mg two nights to have a bowel movement. Urologist nurse said doctor said it was OK to take a laxative every night on Flomax, but this sounds counter to EVERYTHING you read about relying on stimulant laxatives. Pharmacist suggested Murilax but that draws even MORE water out of the body. Does anyone have a solution to the Flomax constipation issue? I already am doing all the exercise, fiber, fruits, vegetables natural things I can.
Management Of Bowel Issues Caused By Bph
As seen throughout this post, bowel issues and BPH are more connected than people generally believe. Below are some tips to help men with BPH manage bowel problems.
- Eat a fiber-rich diet to ensure regular bowel movements. Foods to include in your diet include prune juice, green vegetables, dried fruits, whole grains and whole-grain rice, beets, flaxseed.
- Exercise regularly and step away from a sedentary lifestyle. Physical activity supports peristalsis, i.e., the waves of movement that push food through your digestive tract. Exercise can also help improve your sexual function and manage erectile dysfunction, a common problem in men with prostate conditions.
- Avoid or limit soft drinks and coffee
- Drink water and stay hydrated throughout the day
- Consume prebiotics and probiotics to improve gut microflora, necessary for healthy digestion
- Manage stress because it will help you eat more mindfully. When youre stressed, you dont chew your food thoroughly, which may contribute to constipation.
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Managing Bladder And Bowel Incontinence
Some common treatments are:
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Changes in food or drink. Increasing your fiber intake can help manage diarrhea and constipation. Drinking plenty of fluids can also ease constipation. Not drinking fluids at certain times can help manage overactive bladder and urinary incontinence.
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Exercises. Kegel exercises can strengthen the sphincter muscles and pelvic floor. This can help you have better control.
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Medicines. Some medicines can help control bowel incontinence. Antidiarrheal medicines can help manage diarrhea. And medicine can help bladder muscles relax to give you better control.
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Keeping a bathroom schedule. Setting a regular schedule for using the toilet can give you better control. This includes attempting to urinate or move your bowels at the same time each day.
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Electrical stimulation. This therapy can stimulate damaged nerves. This may give you better muscle control in your bladder or bowel.
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Surgery. In rare cases, you may need surgery to repair damage to muscles or nerves.
Your healthcare provider will work with you to create a treatment plan.
How May My Constipation Be Treated
Constipation is a common side effect or unwanted change in your body when you have chemotherapy treatment. Constipation can make you feel very uncomfortable. The most important thing for you to remember is to not let your constipation go on for days and days, but to get help right away. If you do not have a bowel movement for two days, you should tell your health care team right away. There are medicines that your doctor or health care team can give to you that will make your constipation better.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
Lower urinary tract symptoms suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia may include
- urinary frequencyurination eight or more times a day
- urinary urgencythe inability to delay urination
- trouble starting a urine stream
- a weak or an interrupted urine stream
- dribbling at the end of urination
- nocturiafrequent urination during periods of sleep
- urinary incontinencethe accidental loss of urine
- urine that has an unusual color or smell
Symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia most often come from
- a blocked urethra
- a bladder that is overworked from trying to pass urine through the blockage
The size of the prostate does not always determine the severity of the blockage or symptoms. Some men with greatly enlarged prostates have little blockage and few symptoms, while other men who have minimally enlarged prostates have greater blockage and more symptoms. Less than half of all men with benign prostatic hyperplasia have lower urinary tract symptoms.3
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How Constipation Affects Your Prostate
Last Updated on August 6, 2022 by Max
Constipation is one of the most harmful conditions for your health. As I mentioned earlier, the prostate is located in the vicinity of the rectum, and with age, it may enlarge several times in size, even pressing into the wall of the rectum. When your bowel works correctly, the feces are eliminated in time, and the level of exogenous and endogenous toxins in the feces is low, the wall of the rectum performs its barrier function perfectly even if the content of the bowel has a high level of toxins, their exposure time to the wall of the colon is short.
Now lets try to understand what is happening in your bowel when you are constipated. How does constipation affect your prostate? First, the balance of healthy gut microbiota may change sulfate- or nitrate-reducing bacteria multiply, producing more carcinogenic toxins. When the concentration of toxins in your bowel is too high, they begin to leak outside, causing inflammation of the prostate and may lead to prostatitis or even prostate cancer.
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Belly Acupressure And Massage
Can Constipation Harm Your Prostate
Constipation is one of the most common digestive problems. We all experience it at one point or another. The influence of constipation goes beyond feeling bloated, and it may extend to your prostate gland.
To describe how constipation harms the prostate, its important to mention your bowel is located right next to the prostate gland. Bowels carry waste and toxins, which start building up without regular bowel movements, i.e., in the presence of constipation.
Sometimes, excessive levels of these toxins can migrate to the nearby tissues, including the prostate tissue. When that happens, the prostate can become inflamed, and you experience pain and discomfort due to chronic bacterial prostatitis or acute bacterial prostatitis.
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How Do Bowel Problems Develop
Bowel problems related to prostate cancer or its treatment can be difficult to predict. Occasionally, a tumor in the prostate may grow and start pressing on other nearby structures in the pelvis, producing bowel-related issues. Other times, these issues can be a sign of advanced prostate cancer that has metastasized to the spine. In this situation, cancerous tumors can destroy spinal bones and disrupt or damage the nerves in the spinal cord that control bowel functioning. Another way these symptoms can develop is as a result of prostate cancer treatment, such as radiation therapy, surgery, or chemotherapy.
Whats The Connection Between Your Bowel And Bph
You are sitting on the toilet… the clock is ticking the seconds away… you are waiting… still waiting… and for once it is not your bladder that is refusing to divulge its contents, but your bowel.
Constipation and prostate problems may seem like two unrelated conditions but, in fact, they are more connected than they may initially seem.
To understand this connection better, this blog will look at the following points:
- What is constipation?
- What’s the link between the prostate and constipation?
- How do you ease constipation?
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Constipation And The Pelvic Floor
Constipation can affect your pelvic floor muscles. Pelvic floor muscle strength is important for both bladder and bowel control. These muscles stretch like a trampoline from the pubic bone at the front to the coccyx at the back. They can be weakened by straining due to constipation, pregnancy and childbirth, or perhaps heavy lifting. Strong pelvic floor muscles are necessary for bladder and bowel control – to be able to ‘hold on’.
Can Enlarged Prostate Affect Your Bowel Movements
The biggest problem with an enlarged prostate is that it causes a chain of reactions beyond urinary symptoms. In some cases, BPH is not the only prostate problem that men have to deal with.
Sometimes enlarged prostate can lead to prostatitis, i.e., inflammation of the prostate gland. In one study, 57.2% out of 5053 men with prostatitis reported a history of enlarged prostate. Additionally, 38.7% of 7465 men with BPH reported a history of prostatitis.
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What Causes Constipation
Wikipedia defines constipation as bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. In cases where a man goes to the toilet to empty his colon less than once every 3-4 days, he can be diagnosed with constipation.The bowel movements between three per day and three per week are considered normal for adults. We often know why we are constipated, but sometimes its not so obvious. When you know at least the principal reasons, you can analyze your condition and take the necessary measures to get rid of constipation.
There are many causes of constipation, but all of them can be split into two categories: various medical conditions leading to constipation and functional constipation, depending on multiple external factors leading to the slow movement of stool within the colon. Here we will focus on functional constipation. The principal factors of functional constipation are:
Age. When you get older , your gut muscles become sluggish and contract more slowly, which makes food move at a snails pace through your bowel and leaves you constipated. Another problem is that with age, your gastrointestinal tract needs more time to digest the food due to reduced bile production bile is crucial for breaking down and digesting fats. Though its a general tendency, your gut system can still function correctly in old age if you care about what kind of food you nourish your body and the natural health of your digestive machinery.
Surgery To Your Tummy
After surgery to your bowel, your bowel muscles might be weaker. This may be temporary, but sometimes it can be permanent this depends on the type of operation you have.
After this type of surgery, there are several factors that can cause constipation:
- weak muscles may make it more difficult to push the poo out
- your tummy might be too sore for you to push out the poo
- the drugs you have as an anaesthetic or for pain can also cause constipation
- you may not be able to eat or drink for a day or two after your operation, which makes constipation more likely
- occasionally, some major pelvic operations can damage the nerves that help the bowel to work properly
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Why Is This Relevant
It matters because chronic prostatitis can also cause a set of symptoms and painful defecation is one of them. Some men with prostatitis also have irritable bowel syndrome.
While prostate size itself is not the common factor for problems with bowel movements, in some cases, it can happen.
Besides chronic or acute prostatitis, other BPH-related complications can also affect bowel movements. One of those complications is chronic urinary retention. Although rare, this complication can lead to large bowel obstruction.
You see, a common symptom of enlarged prostate is the inability to empty the bladder completely. When left untreated, this symptom leads to urinary retention.
In turn, urinary retention may lead to compression of the sigmoid colon against the sacrum . As a result, large bowel obstruction may occur. Considered a medical emergency, large bowel obstruction is a blockage that prevents the passing of food and liquid.
In other words, certain complications of BPH may impair bowel movements and lead to a medical emergency.
Besides the abovementioned complications, its also useful to mention that prostate enlargement can contribute to constipation. An enlarged prostate can form too much pressure on the rectum, making it difficult to defecate.
In addition to BPH, other prostate problems can act on the bowels too. A good example is prostate cancer or tumor, which may cause disruptions such as bowel incontinence or fecal incontinence.