Can Prostate Issues Cause Ed

When To Get Medical Advice

Theyll ask about the problems youre having and examine your tummy.

You may also have a rectal examination. This is where a doctor inserts a gloved finger into your bottom to feel for anything unusual. You may have some discomfort during this examination if your prostate is swollen or tender.

Your urine will usually be tested for signs of infection, and you may be referred to a specialist for further tests to rule out other conditions.

See a GP straight away if you get sudden and severe symptoms of prostatitis.

You may have acute prostatitis, which needs to be assessed and treated quickly because it can cause serious problems, such as suddenly being unable to pee.

If you have persistent symptoms , you may be referred to a doctor who specialises in urinary problems .

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Prostate Problems Caused By Drinking Water

If you drink a lot of water, you might very well be creating prostate problems for yourself.

But, before we go further, let me just say I DO drink a lot of water each day myself. In fact, I drink over half my body weight in ounces and, that is something anyone with prostate problems or who wants to avoid prostate problems should do in my humble opinion.

But, at the same time, it can be dangerous.

Make your prostate GROW.

And even turn you into a girl!

How?

Well, it is not that water is bad.

Frankly, it is essential for your prostate health.

It is that the plastic bottles you get water in or storing that water in that is the main villain.

Turns out, plastic has estrogenic compounds in it.

What does that mean?

It means, you are ingesting lots and lots of estrogen which can give you girl-like features , cause fat gain and, even worse for guys like us, make our prostates blow up in size like a balloon.

The solution?

Personally, I am going to get a water filter.

I used to lug around these 5 gallons of water in plastic containers but am getting an under-the-counter water filter instead, and use glass jars to drink out of.

You may want to do the same.

At least, if you do not want a sex change.

Just something to consider about your prostate problems if you like to drink bottle water.

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Enlarged Prostate And Erectile Dysfunction: How Are They Related

An enlarged prostate is common and often happens as men age. While it may cause troublesome symptoms and require treatment, an enlarged prostate is not always harmful. In fact, it often goes unnoticed. However, your physician should always check and manage this condition if you have it.

Erectile dysfunction ¹ is a different condition. Its sex-related and involves difficulty gaining and maintaining an erection. Experts have found that ED may be related to prostate enlargement.²

The relationship between an enlarged prostate and ED is quite complex. The conditions can occur together with some links between them, possibly due to the similar risk factors contributing to each condition. Risk factors include obesity and high blood pressure.Researchers believe prostate enlargement and its treatments contribute to ED.

Medications designed for improving ED³ can improve symptoms of prostate enlargement.

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Why Erectile Dysfunction May Result From Prostate Disease

In the past, it was thought that most cases of erectile dysfunction were psychological in origin, the result of such demons as performance anxiety or more generalized stress. While these factors can cause erectile dysfunction, doctors now think that 70% of the time the problem can be traced to a physical condition that restricts blood flow, hampers nerve functioning, or both. Such conditions include diabetes, kidney disease, multiple sclerosis, atherosclerosis, vascular disease, and alcoholism.

However, some types of prostate disease and treatments may also be responsible.

When To Be Concerned

There are some specific symptoms which may be red flags for a growing tumor or advanced cancer outside of the prostate gland.

Talk with Dr. Daniel Kaplon about any of the following symptoms:

• Weakness or numbness in your feet or legs due to pressure from the tumor on your spinal column
• Losing weight and having no appetite
• Fatigue, nausea and vomiting

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Can An Enlarged Prostate Cause Ed

While an enlarged prostate does not cause ED, some BPH treatments may affect the ability to keep an erection, so its important to talk to your doctor to understand possible BPH treatment side effects.

Certain BPH medications may cause decreased sex drive and ED as a side effect.4 For instance, studies have shown a connection between certain anti-testosterone drugs and ED.5 If BPH symptoms continue even after medication therapy, your doctor may suggest a surgical treatment to remove the extra prostate tissue causing your BPH. However, surgical treatment also comes with side effects. A common surgical treatment, transurethral resection of the prostate , has also been shown to cause ED in a small percentage of men.5

You and your doctor may discuss a minimally invasive BPH treatment option, Rezm Water Vapor Therapy. Rezm Therapy treats the cause of BPH by using the natural energy stored in water vapor to remove the extra prostate tissue that is causing urinary issues while preserving sexual function. A five-year clinical study showed that men who had treatment with Rezm Therapy for their BPH did not suffer any procedure-related ED.6 It also showed that the quality of life improved for those men who had Rezm Therapy.6 Learn more about how Rezm Therapy works.

Correlation Between Erectile Dysfunction And Symptomatic Benign Prostatic Enlargement

The severity of ED was directly related to prostate size and men with larger prostate had ED compared to those with smaller prostate. Braun et al. noted that the prevalence of ED in men with BPE was 72% in their Cologne Male Survey involving approximately 5000 German men and this was similar to the high prevalence of 76.9% in men with BPE observed in this study. This shows that ED is common in men with BPE and further supports the need to consider ED in managing patients with symptomatic BPE. Raymond et al. in another clinic-based population study in Western countries observed that the prevalence of ED in patients with LUTS ranged from 41 to 71% with statistical significance . This finding was similar to that noted in this study with a P value of 0.001 which was statistically significant.

Ngai et al. noted a statistically significant correlation between ED and symptomatic BPE. This was similar to the observation made in this study which shows positive correlation between ED and symptomatic BPE with statistical significance . BPE may be an indicator of ED, and patients should be evaluated holistically due to the high prevalence of ED in men with symptomatic BPE and positive correlation between both pathologies .

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Sex When Youre Single

If you are starting a new relationship, sexual problems and other side effects like urinary or bowel problems could be a worry. Some men worry that having problems with erections will affect their chances of having a new relationship. Fear of rejection is natural, and everyone has their own worries, whether or not theyve had cancer. If youre single, you may want time to come to terms with any changes prostate cancer has caused before you start having sex or dating.

Try talking over your worries with someone you feel comfortable with, such as a friend. Counselling or sex therapy may also help if you would prefer to talk to someone you dont know.

Strengths And Limitations Of This Study

• This is the first UK study to survey the perceptions and experiences of men with erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer treatment and therefore adds considerable knowledge to the field.

• Also surveying primary and secondary healthcare professionals on the same topics revealed additional unique challenges in management coordination for these men.

• Limitations of this study include those inherent to surveys, particularly those dependent on retrospective recall of medical treatments and services offered or received.

• The survey sample contained a higher proportion of younger patients than the prostate cancer population as a whole, and compliance with erectile dysfunction treatment was not explored.

• The surveys were conducted before the availability of generic/over-the counter sildenafil and generic tadalafil.

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Can Prostate Biopsy Cause Erectile Dysfunction

If are recommended by your doctor to undergo prostate biopsy procedure for the detection of cancer, you must have a lot of questions and reservations. One of the most common question that people usually have is, can prostate biopsy cause erectile dysfunction or alter the quality of sex life at all?

The answer is yes erectile dysfunction may occur after prostate biopsy in some susceptible individuals but it is usually transient and self-limiting.

Accorded to a study published in the Journal of Urology, men who undergo prostate biopsy are at risk of temporary erectile dysfunction due to anxiety or pain however, in most men, symptoms improve within a couple of weeks.

Sexual Side Effects Of Treatment

Nearly all of the major treatment options for prostate cancer carry a risk of developing sexual side effects. In some of these cases, these side effects may be temporary, especially for those utilizing hormone therapy, while others may be potentially permanent, such as after surgery. If you havent started treatment yet, you can talk with your doctor about any concerns you may have regarding sexual side effects. If possible, they may be able to help tailor your treatment plan to your specific worries and goals. For example, if you are a younger man who would still like to have children, your doctor may recommend hormone therapy over external radiation that could permanently damage your sperm. What your options are and the side effects you are at risk for are dependent on your personal history and the extent of your cancer.

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Surgical Treatments For Bph

While many doctors claim to treat prostate enlargement with surgery, such claims are almost always related to improving urinary function. Since the prostate surrounds the urethra, symptoms of BPH almost always involve urinary function. If a man has severe urinary issues or blockage, surgery may help.

Some doctors recommend removing the prostate to resolve the urinary issues in severe cases. The prostatectomy will likely resolve the urinary issues, but the surgerys side effects will surely deteriorate the mans quality of life.

Surgery should never be the first choice to relieve problems associated with BPH. Any urologist recommending surgery as a first-line treatment for BPH is not providing patients with the best advice. Every surgery has side effects. Some can be minor and others life-altering. Many solutions can make BPH more tolerable without destroying a mans quality of life.

Does Enlarged Prostate Cause Ed

Of the many symptoms caused by BPH, one of the most common complaints men have when visiting a urologist is Erectile Dysfunction or ED. This is defined as the inability of a man to attain or maintain an erection sufficient for vaginal penetration and satisfactory sexual performance.

BPH does not directly cause ED, but many men with BPH seek medical attention to relieve ED.

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Chemotherapy Targeted Therapy And Immunotherapy Effects On Erections

Other types of treatment for other types of cancer sometimes affect sexual desire and erections because certain drugs slow down testosterone output. Whether chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy drugs cause problems with erections depends on the type of cancer being treated and the type of drug or drugs being given. Some of the medicines used to prevent nausea during chemo can also upset a mans hormone balance. But hormone levels should return to normal after treatment ends.

Urinary Symptoms Linked To Sexual Dysfunction

In this study, published in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers studied 2,115 men between the ages of 40 and 79. The men completed questionnaires about their sexual function and urinary tract symptoms every two years.

Researchers found that each of the indicators of sexual function was inversely related to the severity of urinary tract symptoms reported by the men. As the men’s urinary symptoms increased, their level of sexual function decreased.

After adjusting for age, urinary tract symptoms resulting from an enlarged prostate that were most strongly associated with sexual dysfunction were:

• A feeling of urgency
• Needing to get up multiple times at night to urinate
• A weak urine stream

These symptoms were associated with:

• Difficulty getting or maintaining an erection
• Sexual satisfaction problems

However, the association with men’s urinary tract symptoms and sexual dysfunction diminished with advancing age. No association between these symptoms and most sexual problems were found in men over age 70.

Researchers say that because both of these conditions are common in aging man, it may be very difficult to see if a true association exists outside of an age-related one.

“This observation shows there may be a common cause that someday may prove amenable to medical treatments that could be effective for treating both conditions,” says researcher Steven Jacobsen, MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn., in a news release.

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Brachytherapy And Sexual Function

Unlike conventional radiotherapy, which may cause radiation-induced side effects, like inflammation in the tissues near the cancer tissue due to radiation, brachytherapy only irradiates the cancer tissue, reducing this complication.23 Brachytherapy has been widely used in the USA and Europe for the past 10 years. Now, it accounts for approximately 30% of the early treatment of prostate cancer. After prostate cancer surgery, incontinence, a common postoperative complication, occurs in 50~90% of patients who undergo the operation, and above all, erectile dysfunction may occur in 10~90% of patients who undergo such surgery. Thus, many patients who undergo such surgery suffer from inconvenience in their daily living after the surgery. In the case of brachytherapy, urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction occur in 0.6% and 14~35% of patients, respectively, who undergo it. Thus, the frequency of erectile dysfunction is significantly lower in the brachytherapy group than in the conventional surgery group.

Are There Any Surgical Techniques That Have Been Developed To Improve Erectile Function Outcomes

At this time, there are several different surgical approaches to carry out the surgery, including retropubic or perineal approaches as well as laparoscopic procedures with freehand or robotic instrumentation. Much debate but no consensus exists about the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches. Further study is needed before obtaining meaningful determinations of the success with different new approaches.

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Bph And Sexual Dysfunction Explained

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a condition in which the prostate becomes so enlarged that it begins to put pressure on the urethra. When this happens, the patient begins to experience lower urinary tract symptoms , including frequent urination, urgency, incontinence, nocturia and weak urine flow. For some men, the condition worsens, causing more severe symptoms that include kidney or bladder problems and urinary retention .

Sexual dysfunction refers to persistent and recurring problems with experiencing satisfaction from sexual activity. Problems can include a decrease in sexual pleasure, a reduced sex drive and difficulty in getting or maintaining an erection .

Is Another Treatment Option Better For Preservation Of Erectile Function

The growing interest in pelvic radiation, including brachytherapy, as an alternative to surgery can be attributed in part to the supposition that surgery carries a higher risk of erectile dysfunction. Clearly, surgery is associated with an immediate, precipitous loss of erectile function that does not occur when radiation therapy is performed, although with surgery recovery is possible in many with appropriately extended follow-up. Radiation therapy, by contrast, often results in a steady decline in erectile function to a hardly trivial degree over time.

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Other Prostate Cancer Treatments And Erectile Dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction is the most common side effect of any prostate cancer treatment. Whether or not you develop erectile dysfunction following treatment is largely the product of the treatment you choose, the doctor who performs your treatment, and their experience. Thats why its important to carefully research and decide treatments and oncologists before proceeding with any treatment option.

What Is The Importance Of Preserved Erectile Function

In considering the impact of the various treatment approaches for prostate cancer on their quality of life, many patients place paramount importance on the possibility of retaining natural erectile function. This matter is frequently important to young men who by age status are more likely to have intact erectile function than older men however, for all men having normal preoperative erectile function irrespective of age, preservation of this function is understandably important postoperatively.

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Can An Enlarged Prostate Cause Erectile Dysfunction

benign prostatic hyperplasia . BPH rectile Dysfunction An enlarged prostate may have a number of effects on a person’s health, including their sex life.

a frequent need to urinate a feeling of not emptying the bladder intense urges to urinate a weak urine stream problems starting or stopping urinationProstate issues can also cause sexual problems. The extent of any sexual problem varies according to the condition of the prostate. Some common sexual side effects include:

• erectile dysfunction

Cialis ,Many men will develop an enlarged prostate as they age, because the gland does not stop growing throughout their lifetime. As men age they should get regular prostate screenings to check for prostate cancer. Several medications, lifestyle changes, and surgical options are available to help reduce the effects of living with an enlarged prostate. With proper treatment, men can usually maintain a regular sex life.

How Long Does Erectile Dysfunction Last After Prostate Surgery

Prostate surgery doesnt always result in ED. This depends on the type of operation and other personal factors like pre-existing sexual dysfunction. Studies have found that some procedures, like prostatic urethral LIFT,¹ largely preserve sexual function.

In most surgeries, sexual activity tends to return to normal within a year¹¹ if the surgery affects it. This is provided that no rare complications like nerve damage occur.

Its important to note that ED is very common in those with BPH, and many find that their erectile function is recovered after surgery for BPH.

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