Frequent Sex May Be Protective
Hence, not until very recently, the mainstream hypothesis had been too much sex might provoke the development of prostate cancer but a recently published research study thinks the direct opposite, postulating that frequent sex may be a protective factor in prostate cancer.
The findings, published in the April 7 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association and reviewed on webmd.com, are based on data collected from nearly 30,000 predominately white men aged 46 to 81.
At the start of the study, men provided information on ejaculation frequency in their 20s, 40s, and in the previous year . Ejaculation frequency included sexual intercourse, masturbation, and nighttime ejaculations that can occur during sleep. The men were then monitored for eight years.
Ordinarily, researchers found most categories of ejaculation frequency were unrelated to prostate cancer risk. But when they looked at men in the highest category of ejaculation frequency , they found evidence of a protective effect.
According to Michael Leitzmann, MD, an investigator at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, USA, who conducted the research during a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University, when you look at the data in a little bit more detail, you do see that not only is there not an increased risk, but there is potentially even the possibility of a slight decrease in risk with high ejaculation frequency.
How Can An Enlarged Prostate Be Treated
Medical treatment for BPH focuses on addressing both its urinary and sexual manifestations. Alleviating or eliminating the urinary symptoms in men with mild to moderate BPH might be accomplished through the use of various medications. However, in those with more severe presentations producing potentially dangerous symptoms like urinary retention, a surgical procedure known as Transurethral Resection Of The Prostate may be recommended.
The use of medications to reduce the sexual manifestations associated with BPH have met with mixed results. Drugs commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction have been prescribed to men diagnosed with BPH. Studies involving some of these well-known preparations have been conducted and concluded that some men with BPH experienced an improvement in sexual performance. However, it is important to note that these investigations only examined the effects of these medications over short periods. Therefore, the effectiveness of these drugs over the long haul are not known.
Medications specifically prescribed to address BPH have been found to produce sexually counterproductive symptoms like erectile dysfunction, decreased ejaculation and problems with sperm count, strength and motility . TURP has produced retrograde ejaculation in anywhere from one-half to three-quarters of the men who have undergone the procedure.
Enlarged Prostate And Ed
Living with an enlarged prostate can be even more difficult if you experience erectile dysfunction, or ED. ED happens when the penis cant get hard enough to maintain an erection to allow sexual intercourse.2 More than 50% of men over 40 suffer from some degree of ED.3 Like BPH, ED can lower quality of life for both you and your partner. Learn more by visiting EDcure.org.
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Best Evidence Yet: Ejaculation Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk
Nick Mulcahy
May 17, 2015
NEW ORLEANS Good news, men: you may be able to decrease your risk for prostate cancer by ejaculating frequently, according to research presented here at American Urological Association 2015 Annual Meeting.
The frothy advice is not new but is now backed up by the strongest evidence to date on the subject, according to lead author Jennifer Rider, ScD, MPH, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
There is no modifiable risk factor for developing prostate cancer, Dr Rider told Medscape Medical News. It would be exciting to tell men that there was a way to modify their risk.
However, she noted that these are observational data and urged caution when interpreting them.
The results are fascinating, said Jesse Sammon, MD, a urologist at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, who attended Dr Riders presentation. It was the highlight of the session on cancer epidemiology the moderator called it the study most likely to be tweeted.
These are incredibly high-quality data, said Dr Sammon, who was not involved with the study.
The data come from nearly 32,000 men in the prospective Health Professionals Follow-up Study, who now have been followed for 18 years.
During the study period, 3839 men have been diagnosed with incident prostate cancer, 384 cases of which were lethal.
At ages 40 to 49, men most reported 8 to 12 ejaculations per month only 8.8% reported at least 21 ejaculations per month.
Enlarged Prostate Doesnt Just Affect Your Bladder
According to research, as many as half of the men aged 51 to 60 will develop BPH or benign prostatic hyperplasia. An enlarged prostate. The good news about BPH lies in that one little, yet the uber-important word benign. To have an enlarged prostate doesnt indicate that you have prostate cancer, or that your risk for cancer is substantially higher. It can mean that you have to face a few unpleasant symptoms, though.
The most common symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia revolve around urination. Because your prostate gland is adjacent to the bladder, its enlargement can cause the blockage. This may result in frequent urination, difficulty starting urination, a sensation of fullness after urination, dribbling, and weak urine flow. These are the symptoms that most men have been told or experienced for themselves. But theres more. BPH can also affect your sex life. Heres how:
- Reduced sex drive and sexual satisfaction. This is related to the loss of sleep that stems from having to urinate frequently through the night more than it does any other aspect of BPH. Additionally, when the bladder feels uncomfortably full due to pressure from the blockage, anxiety may coincide with sex, diminishing the overall experience.
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Enlarged Prostate This Treatment Can Help You Avoid Sexual Side Effects
Benign prostatic hyperplasia , or enlarged prostate, is a common condition in men older than age 50. BPH occurs when the prostate gland becomes enlarged and begins to press on the urethra the tube that carries urine out of the body.
When the prostate continues to grow, it can lead to urinary symptoms that include:
- Leaking or dribbling of urine
- Frequent nighttime awakenings to urinate
- Urinary retention or urgency
- A weak urine stream
BPH is not prostate cancer and it doesnt lead to cancer. However, the two conditions may have similar symptoms in the early stages
So its important that men who experience these symptoms be evaluated by a mens health specialist to rule out cancer and determine the best treatment options to relieve their symptoms.
Without treatment, BPH can lead to serious complications in some men, including incontinence, kidney or bladder damage, urinary tract infections and bladder stones. In some extreme cases, BPH can cause a total inability to urinate and require emergency catheterization.
Prostate Cancer Diagnoses And Treatment
All cancer is complex, but prostate cancer testing and treatment is particularly complicated.
In some men with prostate cancer, the cancer will grow very slowly, and wont significantly affect them during their lifetime. Other mens prostate cancer can grow and spread very quickly. At the moment, there is no test that can tell what type of prostate cancer a man has when he is diagnosed.
Because some treatments for prostate cancer can cause side effects which might impact on quality of life, its important for men to discuss with their doctor all their options for testing and treatment, and to discuss these with their partners and families. These might include watchful waiting, which means waiting to see what the cancer does over time, radiation, surgery or taking medications.
You can read more about what kinds of questions to ask your doctors about prostate cancer testing and treatment on the Cancer Council website.
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How To Prevent Prostate Enlargement
This article was medically reviewed by Scott Tobis, MD. Dr. Scott Tobis is a board certified Urologist. With more than seven years of experience, he specializes in treating patients for urologic conditions such as urologic cancers, prostate enlargement, vasectomy, kidney stones, frequent/urgent urination, erectile dysfunction, incontinence, and blood in the urine. Dr. Tobis holds a BS in Cellular and Developmental Biology from The University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MD from Dartmouth Medical School. He completed his internship in General Surgery and residency in Urologic Surgery at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and his fellowship in Urologic Oncology and Robotic Surgery at The City of Hope National Medical Center. Dr. Tobis is a diplomat of the American Board of Urology.There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 18,227 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.
Bph Medications And Sexual Side Effects
Some drugs used to treat BPH can cause difficulty in maintaining an erection. Men who take alpha-blockers such as doxazosin and terazosin may experience decreased ejaculation. This is because alpha-blockers relax the bladder and prostate muscle cells.
Alpha reductase inhibitors can also cause ED. Additionally, reduced sex drive is a possible side effect of the alpha reductase inhibitors dutasteride and finasteride.
Approximately 3 percent of men taking dutasteride reported experiencing a decreased libido in the first six months. About 6.4 percent of those taking finasteride experienced this within the first year. Roughly 4.5 percent of men taking dutasteride-tamsulosin reported decreased libido in the first six months.
Men who take these medications may also experience lower sperm count, decreased sperm volume, and lower sperm movement. Adverse events typically decrease with continued use.
Medications that treat erectile dysfunction may help improve BPH. The ED drugs below have all been shown to reduce BPH symptoms:
- sildenafil
- tadalafil
However, they arent currently approved to treat BPH.
These medications inhibit a protein that breaks down a chemical called cyclic guanosine monophosphate , which increases blood flow to the penis. By inhibiting the protein that breaks down cGMP, blood flow to the penis can be increased.
One comparing tadalafil and a placebo showed that men who took 5 milligrams of tadalafil daily had significant improvement in both BPH and ED symptoms.
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What Causes An Enlarged Prostate
Growth of the prostate is a relatively common condition that can have a variety of causes. This condition, referred to as Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia often occurs naturally as part of the aging process. Typically, once men turn 40, their prostates gradually enlarge.
Scientists are not entirely certain what causes the growth of prostatic tissue as men age or why the condition impacts some men more severely than others. Aside from age, however, some medical professionals believe that BPH may also emerge as the result of an imbalance of sexual and reproductive hormones, a family history of the malady, affliction with certain illnesses like heart disease and diabetes, the use of specific medications, obesity and lifestyle factors.
Vitamin D Deficiency: Health Complications
Additionally, vitamin D deficiency can increase cardiovascular risk factors. Some of them increases the risk of BPH. These parameters are inversely related to prostate volume. In other words, as obesity or hypertension becomes worse, the prostate gland tends to increase.
Another vitamin D deficiency risk that causes prostate enlargement is oxidative stress. In an environment with excess free radicals, the structures of the molecules start to change. The prostate tissue undergoes changes as well and starts to grow in response.
Thats why a recent study evaluated all of these associations, and the authors gave their opinion. They suggest that vitamin D deficiency counts as an independent risk factor for BPH. In other words, you can have normal health, but vitamin D deficiency alone will cause BPH. The authors of this study published in the journal Urology recommend vitamin D as a therapeutic target and a potential marker of BPH .
Similarly, other studies have evaluated the effect of vitamin D levels in the incidence of prostate cancer. The authors report that vitamin D levels are lower in patients with BPH. However, they are still lower in patients with prostate cancer. As vitamin D levels were reduced, the Gleason score and the aggressiveness of cancer increased .
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Ejaculation May Lower Prostate Cancer Risk
The findings, published in the April 7 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, are based on data collected from nearly 30,000 predominately white men aged 46 to 81.
At the start of the study, men provided information on ejaculation frequency in their 20s, 40s, and in the previous year . Ejaculation frequency included sexual intercourse, masturbation, and nighttime ejaculations that can occur during sleep. The men were then monitored for eight years.
Researchers found most categories of ejaculation frequency were unrelated to prostate cancer risk. But when they looked at men in the highest category of ejaculation frequency, they found evidence of a protective effect.
“When you look at the data in a little bit more detail, you do see that not only is there not an increased risk, but there is potentially even the possibility of a slight decrease in risk with high ejaculation frequency,” says researcher Michael Leitzmann, MD, an investigator at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. Leitzmann conducted the research during a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
Leitzmann says researchers suspected that ejaculation frequency might be a marker of a healthier, more active lifestyle. But when they accounted for diet, exercise, and other risk factors for prostate cancer, the link between frequent ejaculation and lower prostate cancer risk remained.
The Sexual Side Effects Of An Enlarged Prostate
The prostate is a small gland situated between a man’s bladder and urethra. During sex, the gland’s primary function is to secrete the fluid that makes up a major portion of the semen which contains sperm necessary for reproduction. Prior to ejaculation, the prostate’s muscles push this fluid into the urethra. In addition, prostatic fluid contains an important enzyme known as Prostate Specific Antigen . Following ejaculation, semen has a tendency to thicken, which could threaten sperm efficacy and quality. However, PSA has semen-thinning properties that enable sperm to swim more freely upon entering a female’s reproductive tract.
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What Are The Best Treatments For Prostate Cancer
Surgery, radiation, hormone therapy, chemotherapylots of treatment options exist for prostate cancer. And, in some cases, you may need no treatment at all. Whats right for you will depend several factors:
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Your PSA level
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Your Gleason score
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Your current health and comorbidities
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The stage of your cancer, particularly whether it remains confined to your prostate or has spread to other parts of your body
Now, lets take a look at the different possibilities:
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What Are The Most Common Prostate Problems
For such a little gland, the prostate seems to cause a lot of concern. Like a troubled, war-torn country, its in the news all the time and something always seems to be going wrong there, but you dont really know where it is or why its important.
All men are at risk for prostate problems. Thats because all men have a prostate. Take a look at this overview of prostate problems to assess your risk for trouble with your prostate.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia .BPH, also known as an enlarged prostate, is growth of the prostate gland to an unhealthy size. A mans chances of having BPH go up with age:
- Age 31-40: one in 12
- Age 51-60: about one in two
- Over age 80: more than eight in 10
However, only about half of men ever have BPH symptoms that need treatment. BPH does not lead to prostate cancer, although both are common in older men.
Prostate Cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men . About one man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Lets keep these numbers in perspective, though. Because prostate cancer is usually slow growing, only about one in 35 men will die of prostate cancer.
Like BPH, the risk for prostate cancer increases with age. About two out of every three men with prostate cancer are over age 65. No one knows exactly what causes prostate cancer, but risk factors associated with it include:
Read Real Stories Of Men Who Underwent Treatment Of Enlarged Prostate At New York Urology Specialists
We offer treatment for prostate problems, including slow urine stream, frequent urination at night, difficulty emptying the bladder, and other problems to patients within driving distance to our offices as well as from other states and countries. Our patients come from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and over 70 countries worldwide.
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