Ever wondered, ‘What is the Root Cause of BPH’? Situated below the bladder, the prostate gland can enlarge, affecting the urethra and leading to lower urinary tract symptoms. Experience frequent urination, weak flow, or urine leakage? Prostate supplements and medications can help, but some men may require surgery. Explore deeper now!
Causes
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a condition in which the prostate grows larger over time, becoming larger with each passing year as men age and produce semen for reproduction. The prostate gland contains cells responsible for making semen that get larger over time as men become older.
An enlarged prostate can make urination difficult. An enlarged prostate often presses on the urethra – the tube that transports urine out of your bladder – preventing complete emptying, weak or intermittent urine streams, and even dribbling urine flow. Common symptoms are frequent night-time needs to urinate; pain or burning when urinating; and blood in your urine (hematuria).
BPH remains undiagnosed; however, scientists know that its origin lies within hormones found in men’s bodies. Testosterone – commonly referred to as male sex hormone – and dihydrotestosterone produced when testosterone breaks down may play a part in its onset; both hormones likely shift as men age leading to abnormal prostate growth.
Altering one’s diet and lifestyle may help relieve symptoms associated with BPH. Doctors advise drinking plenty of fluids while limiting liquids that could contribute to urinary retention, such as caffeine or alcohol. Furthermore, men should urinate frequently and try not to hold onto urine for extended periods. They should avoid alcohol and caffeine before bedtime; also they should limit alcohol and caffeine consumption within 2 hours before sleeping. Stress has also been shown to worsen symptoms by inflaming the prostate gland itself while tightening muscles that restrict urine flow further – potentially further restricting urine flow from passing. Furthermore, stress can stripping our bodies of important vitamins like zinc which helps keep our prostate healthy.
If changes do not help relieve symptoms, doctors can prescribe medicines to either alleviate or completely alleviate them. A cystoscopy involves inserting a tube into the urethra to examine both it and bladder for any changes or irregularities.
Symptoms
The prostate is part of the male reproductive system and about the size of a walnut. It sits below the bladder, directly in front of urethra (which transports urine from penis to bladder), and when large enough it may irritate or compress urethra causing blockages of urine flow through its penis ducts. When growing too large for comfort it may even irritate or squeeze the urethra further restricting flow. Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) may include: the need to urinate frequently–roughly every one or two hours at night, particularly while sleeping–or an incomplete emptying of your bladder (meaning it still feels full after you’ve passed urine); pain when passing urine; burning when passing it out, blood in urine (hematuria); urgent urination even if your bladder is not full; weak, cloudy urine that has difficulty draining out.
BPH symptoms vary for everyone and may range from mild to severe, compromising your quality of life and decreasing its enjoyment.
Your doctor will discuss how the symptoms you’re experiencing are impacting your daily life, before determining which treatment option would be most suitable for you. For mild cases of BPH, “active surveillance” might be recommended; that way they will monitor it and only intervene if symptoms appear or worsen over time.
Under this approach, you’ll attend regular appointments with your physician to make sure that your symptoms don’t worsen. They may prescribe medication such as alpha blockers to relax bladder and prostate muscles to make urination easier; just be sure that these pills don’t interact with any medications such as nitrates or antibiotics as these could negatively alter treatment results.
Your symptoms can also be improved by eating healthily and becoming more physically active. Limiting how much fluid you drink at once may help decrease urination frequency; alternatively, over-the-counter drugs like pyridoxine hydrochloride (BPH), fludrocortisone acetate (Florinef), and tamsulosin HCl (Uroflow) may provide more relief than anticongestants or antihistamines do. You could also do pelvic floor exercises to strengthen your bladder muscle further.
Diagnosis
symptoms of BPH develop when the prostate gland (figure 1) enlarges, compressing urethra and blocking urine flow. Although not harmful, symptoms of BPH can cause discomfort. Mild cases can be managed using medication or surgery; medication relaxes muscle fibers around your bladder neck and prostate to ease or eliminate urinary flow; examples include alpha blockers such as Tamsulosin, Terazosin and Doxazosin are popular alpha blockers while 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors help shrink prostate over time while improving urinary flow; these inhibitors include finasteride and dutasteride as finasteride/dutasteride respectively.
Your doctor can diagnose BPH by performing an exam of your pelvic area and asking about your symptoms, including performing a digital rectal exam – inserting a small finger into your rectum to detect an enlarged prostate – or ordering a urinalysis, where urine samples are tested for signs of kidney problems and blood in urine that could indicate prostate cancer. But the key test for diagnosing BPH is prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood testing which measures whether your prostate has become larger; also this test shows whether this level increases due to other illnesses and treatments such as increasing PSA blood test can.
BPH does not always require treatment; in such instances, active surveillance (also called periodic exams by your urologist) may suffice. Your urologist can monitor your condition with regular exams to detect worsening or new symptoms as part of this approach – also called passive surveillance.
At other times, your doctor will suggest minimally invasive or surgical treatments to alleviate your symptoms. Most types of surgery involve either removing or damaging prostate tissue; transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), whereby your surgeon inserts a tube through your penis and extracts small sections from the prostate using laser energy; another option would be simple prostatectomy which involves your surgeon extracting all or parts of it altogether; some urologists use robots for such procedures, which reduces complications risk significantly.
Never ignore symptoms of BPH. Left untreated, they can quickly escalate into something much more serious and cause irreparable harm. If your symptoms are severe, seek medical advice immediately from a urologist; they can help manage your symptoms and maintain an active, healthy lifestyle for you.
Treatment
Not too long ago, men with BPH had only one option available to them: surgery. Now though, drug manufacturers have developed numerous medicines to ease symptoms. These relax muscles in your bladder and prostate to stop urine flow while simultaneously decreasing prostate growth. There are multiple kinds of these medications available on the market – it’s impossible to know which will work best for any one individual man!
If you opt for medical treatment, your doctor may suggest performing a blood test to measure your prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. This test can give vital insight into both the size of your prostate and future urinary issues. He may also perform bladder studies (urodynamic studies) to measure how efficiently both your bladder and urethra are working together.
Alpha blockers may help treat BPH by relaxing the muscles in both your prostate and bladder, helping you feel less pressure during urinary flow or weakening its stream. 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors may also ease symptoms; however, they may lead to decreased sexual drive or even erectile dysfunction; though usually improve once taken off their medications.
If medication fails to help, other treatment options should be explored. One such procedure is known as transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), in which a device known as a resectoscope is passed through your urethra into your bladder with local anesthesia so as to relieve your symptoms in about 90% of people.
Other procedures use light or heat to reduce prostate tissue. Due to being newer techniques, researches do not have much information on their efficacy or potential long-term side effects. They can be used on either part or all of the gland and may help relieve symptoms while decreasing urinary complications in future years. These treatments should not be seen as cures for BPH but instead as relief measures that could potentially relieve future urinary issues and even help relieve symptoms sooner rather than later.