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What Can I Do For An Enlarged Prostate

Kegel Exercisesnot For Every Man

What to Do and Not Do with Enlarged Prostate | Lifestyle Modifications

Another type of exercise that is good for some men but not for all is Kegel exercises. Kegel exercises involve repetitively squeezing your pubococcygeus muscle, which reaches from your pubic bone to your tailbone. Strengthening this muscle can help you control your urine flow and achieve better sexual health too. Most men with BPH can benefit from doing Kegels each day. Kegels can be beneficial for strengthening muscles before undergoing certain prostate surgeries such as radical prostatectomy, and may help rebuild muscle strength after you have had surgery .

Kegels are not recommended for certain men who suffer from chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome . These men should avoid Kegel exercises. Kegels tighten the PC muscle and create tension in the pelvic region, which can worsen prostatitis symptoms and pain. Many men with CP/CPPS need to instead learn to relax their pelvic muscles and release tension. Doing Kegels could increase pelvic tension for certain men with CP/CPPS.

Other exercise precautions for men include avoiding any exercises that involve excessive jarring or pounding, or any activity that puts pressure on the pelvic area like horseback riding. Riding a bike is great exercise, but you should cycle with caution.

Can bike rising cause prostatitis? Not if you are smart about it. Wear padded bicycle shorts, and look for a soft saddle that is comfortable for your prostate area. They make split seats and noseless saddles.

Does Having Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Increase The Risk Of Prostate Cancer

Based on research to date, having BPH does not seem to increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. However, BPH and prostate cancer have similar symptoms, and a man who has BPH may have undetected cancer at the same time.

To help detect prostate cancer in its early stages, the American Urological Association and the American Cancer Society recommend a prostate screening every year for men ages 55 to 69. They also recommend that men who are at high risk such as African-American men and men who have a family history of prostate cancer begin screening at age 40. Screening tests for prostate cancer include a blood test for a substance called prostate-specific antigen and the digital rectal exam .

What If I Can’t Have Surgery

Surgery isnt always an option you may not be fit or well enough for an operation, or you may not like the idea of it. If surgery isnt suitable for you and lifestyle changes and medicines havent worked, your doctor or nurse may suggest using a catheter. This is a thin, flexible tube used to drain urine from your bladder. The catheter may be permanent or temporary.

A permanent catheter is passed up into the bladder through your penis, or through a small cut in your abdomen. The catheter is usually attached to a drainage bag, which you strap on to your body under your clothing. Your doctor or nurse will usually change your catheter every 12 weeks.

A temporary catheter is where you put a catheter in yourself when you need to urinate, rather than leaving one in all the time. Your doctor or nurse will show you how to put the catheter in and tell you how often to use it. Some men can urinate quite well without a catheter and only use it once a day to make sure they empty their bladder regularly. Other men need to use a temporary catheter several times a day.

You can lower your chances of getting a urine infection by keeping your catheter and the area around it clean. You may find the following tips helpful.

Let your nurse know if your catheter isnt draining properly. If urine hasnt drained from your bladder for 2 to 3 hours, contact your GP or district nurse straight away.

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Assessing The Symptoms Of An Enlarged Prostate

To help your doctor understand how bothersome enlarged prostate symptoms are for you, the American Urological Association has developed a BPH Symptom Index. This is a brief questionnaire that asks about specific symptoms and how frequently they occur. Each answer is assigned a number — and your total is ranked on a scale ranging from mild to severe.

A score of 0 to 7 is considered a mild symptom score 8 or over is considered moderate to severe.

The AUA recommends the following treatment for an enlarged prostate based on the severity of symptoms:

  • Mild symptoms that don’t bother you : If you are not bothered by your symptoms, and they don’t affect your daily life, watchful waiting is the best option for you. You should get regular checkups to make sure that you are not developing complications.
  • Moderate to severe symptoms : If you are not bothered by your symptoms, you may choose watchful waiting. However, if your symptoms do start to interfere, you may choose medication, a minimally invasive procedure, or surgery.
  • Moderate to severe symptoms with complications: If symptoms are bothersome and you have developed complications such as inability to urinate, you may need a catheter, surgery, or other treatment.

No : Strive For Balance

7 Ways an Enlarged Prostate Can Affect Urination

Experts believe that the hormone dihydrotestosterone promotes the growth of prostate cells. When testosterone and estrogen are imbalanced, DHT activity can increase and encourage the growth of prostate cells. That is why it is important to keep an eye on and manage your hormones, which you might have noticed begin to change after the age of 40.

Both exercising and maintaining a healthy weight help to keep your testosterone and estrogen balanced, but there are natural supplements that are worth looking into as well. Both pygeum and plant sterols like as beta-sitosterol contain active components that can inhibit DHT production. Another supplement, 3,3-diindolylmethane , naturally supports the balance of testosterone and estrogen and promotes normal prostate size.

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Natural Ways To Shrink The Prostate

Men, Prostate

If you are one of the 14 million men who suffer from an enlarged prostate due to benign prostatic hyperplasia , it is understandable that you would like to find a way to shrink your prostate or at least reduce its symptoms. You may wonder how to take the prostate back to a younger, more normal size that doesnt keep you running to the bathroom all night long.

When enlarged, the prostate gland can put pressure on the urethra and cause symptoms such as frequent urination and nighttime urination. The growing prostate can also keep the bladder from completely emptying and can affect the flow of urine, making for a weaker flow, starting and stopping of the flow, and urinary tract infections. More severe cases of BPH can make it difficult to urinate.

Even though BPH is not cancerous, it does affect a man and his familys quality of life. If you are waking up several times a night to urinate, chances are you are waking up your family members at least some of the time. Having to stop activities due to urinary urgency can have an effect and cause stress and annoyance for everyone involved.

Growth of the prostate with age is normal. One-third of men experience symptoms of an enlarged prostate by age 50. By age 70, 70 percent of men are affected, according to Johns Hopkins. So what can you do about it? Actually, there is a lot you can do.

How To Prevent Prostate Enlargement

This article was medically reviewed by Luba Lee, FNP-BC, MS. Luba Lee, FNP-BC is a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner and educator in Tennessee with over a decade of clinical experience. Luba has certifications in Pediatric Advanced Life Support , Emergency Medicine, Advanced Cardiac Life Support , Team Building, and Critical Care Nursing. She received her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Tennessee in 2006.There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 16,404 times.

Prostate enlargement can lead to urinary tract problems, so of course you want to prevent it if you can. Unfortunately, there are no sure-fire ways to do so. However, you can get regular checkups in hopes of catching the issue early and heading it off with treatment. Otherwise, try exercising and watching your weight, as those factors can put you at risk for developing an enlarged prostate.

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Using Pads Or A Sheath

Absorbent pads and pants can be worn inside your underwear, or may replace your underwear altogether. These will soak up any leaks.

Urinary sheaths can also help with dribbling. They look like condoms with a tube coming out of the end. The tube connects to a bag that you can strap to your leg under your clothing.

How Is Bph Diagnosed And Evaluated

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Early diagnosis of BPH is important because if left untreated it can lead to urinary tract infections, bladder or kidney damage, bladder stones and incontinence. Distinguishing BPH from more serious diseases like prostate cancer is important.

Tests vary from patient to patient, but the following are the most common:

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What Are The Symptoms Of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Since the prostate gland surrounds the urethra , it is easy to understand that enlargement of the prostate can lead to blockage of the tube. Therefore, you may develop:

  • Slowness or dribbling of your urinary stream.
  • Hesitancy or difficulty starting to urinate.
  • Frequent urination.
  • Feeling of urgency .
  • Need to get up at night to urinate.
  • Pain after ejaculation or while urinating.
  • Urine that looks or smells “funny” .

The enlargement of the prostate can lead to blockage of the urethra.

As symptoms get worse, you may develop:

  • Damage to your kidneys from back pressure caused by retaining large amounts of extra urine in the bladder.

If you have any of these symptoms, see your doctor right away:

  • Pain in the area of the lower abdomen or genitals while urinating.
  • Cant urinate at all.
  • Pain, fever and/or chills while urinating.
  • Blood in the urine.

Treating Benign Prostate Enlargement

Treatment for an enlarged prostate is determined by the severity of your symptoms.

If you have mild to moderate symptoms, you won’t receive any immediate medical treatment, but you’ll have regular check-ups to carefully monitor your prostate.

You’ll probably also be advised to make lifestyle changes, such as limiting your caffeine and alcohol intake, and exercising regularly, to see if they improve your symptoms.

As well as lifestyle changes, medication is usually recommended to treat moderate to severe symptoms of benign prostate enlargement. Finasteride and dutasteride are medications that are commonly used. They block the effects of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone on the prostate gland, which can reduce the size of the prostate and improve associated symptoms.

Alpha blockers may also be prescribed. They help to relax your bladder muscles, making it easier to pass urine. Tamsulosin and alfuzosin are two alpha blockers commonly used to treat benign prostate enlargement.

Surgery is usually only recommended for moderate to severe symptoms of benign prostate enlargement that have failed to respond to medication.

Read more about treating benign prostate enlargement

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Symptoms Of Prostate Cancer

  • Frequent urge to pass urine, especially at night
  • Weak or interrupted urine stream
  • Pain or burning when passing urine
  • Blood in the urine or semen
  • Painful ejaculation
  • Nagging pain in the back, hips, or pelvis

Prostate cancer can spread to the lymph nodes of the pelvis. Or it may spread throughout the body. It tends to spread to the bones. So bone pain, especially in the back, can be a symptom of advanced prostate cancer.

What Are The Causes Of An Enlarged Prostate

Signs you may be suffering from an enlarged prostate

In a vast majority of cases, BPH is idiopathic, meaning it has no known cause. Doctors and researchers are still trying to figure out exactly how and why some peoples prostate cells start to divide abnormally.

But most cases of BPH impact men of at least 40 years of age, most commonly those 50 years of age and older. So most studies suggest that BPH is related to hormonal changes, specifically those that occur naturally with age.

As men grow older, their hormone levels change, especially levels of testosterone, estrogen, and a by-product of testosterone called dihydrotestosterone .

A few studies have shown that changes in the balance of these hormones may trigger some prostate cells to abnormally grow and divide.

Potential risk factors of an enlarged prostate include:

Most men have a 50 percent chance of having BPH by the age of 60 years old, and a 90 percent chance by the age of 85 years old.

Several types of foods and nutrients can reduce or trigger BPH and its associated symptoms.

Foods that may be beneficial to BPH include:

Foods people with BPH, or those at risk of developing it, should avoid or limit include:

  • caffeine

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How Is Enlarged Prostate Treated

Treatments for enlarged prostate include:

Lifestyle changes: These can include reducing liquid intake, bladder training , abstaining from alcohol and caffeinated beverages and regularly exercising the pelvic muscles.

Medication: A class of medication called Alpha Blockers works to relax muscle fibers in the prostate and bladder. This relaxation allows for increased urine flow and less frequent urination. A second class of medication, called Alpha Reductase Inhibitors, works to block the hormones that cause the prostate to swell. Many patients will take a combination of these two types of medication.

Minimally invasive procedures: Our specialists are trained in two minimally invasive procedures that can help remove or reduce the obstructing prostate tissue:

Surgery: For severe cases of a very enlarged prostate, surgical removal of the prostatecalled transurethral resection of the prostate may be the recommended course of action. Patients will decide with their doctor if aggressive treatment is warranted, depending on the size of the prostate and severity of symptoms.

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About Half Of Men Older Than 50 Have An Enlarged Prostate Here Are Some Of The Basic Facts You Need To Know About This Common Condition

As men age, many experience prostate gland enlargement. This condition is known as benign prostatic hyperplasia .

The prostate gland surrounds the urethra, the hollow tube that carries urine out of the body. When the prostate gets bigger, it can squeeze or partially block the urethra, which leads to problems urinating.

BPH is quite common in older men. In fact, the condition impacts about 50% of men between the ages of 51 and 60. For men 80 and older, the prevalence of BPH is approximately 90%, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

How Is Enlarged Prostate Diagnosed

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The first step is a standard physical exam which often involves a urine analysis and a digital rectal exam, which involves a doctor inserting a finger into the rectum. The physician will assess the size and contour of the prostate and determine if any nodules are present, which may suggest the presence of prostate cancer.

The physician may also assess for tenderness, which can be found when the prostate is inflamed. Tests may be done in the office to assess strength of urine flow or to check for residual urine in the bladder.

Next, doctors may run one or several tests to make an accurate diagnosis. These can include a PSA blood test, urodynamic tests , cystoscopy and transrectal ultrasound .

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Lifestyle Tips For Managing Bph

Lifestyle tips that may help someone manage the symptoms of an enlarged prostate include the following:

  • Attempt to urinate at least once before leaving home to avoid urinary leakage or other incidents in public that can be very stressful and embarrassing.
  • Double void by trying to urinate again a few minutes after urinating the first time, to drain the bladder as much as possible during bathroom visits.
  • Try not to drink fluids in the 2 hours before bedtime to avoid going to sleep with a full bladder.
  • Try to stay hydrated by drinking at least 2 liters of water daily.
  • Try maintaining a healthy body weight as much as possible.
  • Exercise regularly and as often as possible.
  • Try not to drink too much at one time.
  • Try to reduce or avoid stress to reduce the urge for urination.
  • Avoid or limit products that cause dehydration, such as cold medications and decongestants
  • Use absorbent urinary pads or pants to absorb urine leaks and decrease wetness and discomfort.
  • Use urinary sheaths, which are condom-shaped and fit over the penis to drain urine into a small bag strapped to the leg.
  • Use urethral massage, after urinating, by gently pressing the fingers upwards from the base of the scrotum to try to squeeze out any urine left in the urethra and prevent any leakage later.

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