Why Would An Enlarged Prostate Gland Interfere With Urination

Does An Enlarged Prostate Mean Cancer

Most men who have a prostate problem do not have cancer. Cancer does occur in the prostate gland and is more common as men age. It is important for your doctor to check your prostate gland for enlargement or abnormalities, particularly as you age. In addition, there is now a blood test called the PSA, or prostate specific antigen test, which measures a substance that increases in the blood when prostate cancer has spread. The American Urologic Association recommends a yearly prostate examination for all men over age 50. However, men who have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer, such as African-American men and men who have a family history of the disease, are advised to begin yearly prostate exams at age 40. Other tests, such as ultrasound, can also give information about the prostate gland.

Can Claritin Cause Prostate Problems

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. In respect to this, do antihistamines cause prostate problems?

Decongestants and AntihistaminesSuch drugs, known as adrenergics, can worsen urinary symptoms by preventing muscles in the prostate and bladder neck from relaxing to allow urine to flow freely. Antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine , can also slow urine flow in some men with BPH.

One may also ask, what decongestant is safe with enlarged prostate? Decongestants. Decongestants, such as pseudoephedrine , are used to treat congestion often associated with a cold. These drugs, which are called vasopressor adrenergics, worsen BPH symptoms because they tighten muscles in the prostate and bladder neck.

Beside this, does Claritin affect urination?

The D in Claritin-D and many other allergy and cold medicines stands for a decongestant called pseudoephedrine. It is found in Actifed, Allegra-D, Mucinex D, Sudafed and Zyrtec-D. This compound can aggravate symptoms of prostate enlargement and make it difficult to urinate.

How can I naturally shrink my prostate?

Below are some natural remedies you can try at home to ease symptoms of BPH.

Closing The Urethra During Ejaculation

During ejaculation, the prostate contracts and squirts prostatic fluid into the urethra. Here, it mixes with sperm cells and fluid from the seminal vesicles to create semen, which the body then expels.

When the prostate contracts during ejaculation, it closes off the opening between the bladder and urethra, pushing semen through at speed. This is why, in normal anatomic situations, it is impossible to urinate and ejaculate simultaneously.

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How Prostate Cancer Is Diagnosed And Staged

Cancer staging helps you and your doctor understand how advanced your cancer is and how much it has spread at the time of diagnosis. Knowing your cancer stage also helps your doctor determine the best treatment options for you and estimate your chance of survival.

The most widely used staging system for cancer is the American Joint Committee on Cancers TNM system that classifies cancer from stage 1 to stage 4.

TNM stands for:

• Tumor: the size and extent of the tumor
• Nodes: the number or extent of nearby lymph node involvement
• Metastasis: whether cancer has spread to distant sites in the body

The TNM scale is used for many types of cancer. When a doctor uses it to determine your prostate cancer stage, theyll consider several other factors as well, including:

• grade groups

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Gleason Score Vs Grade Groups

The International Society of Urological Pathology released a revised prostate cancer grading system in 2014. The grade group system seeks to simplify Gleason scores and give a more accurate diagnosis.

One of the major problems with the Gleason score is that some scores can be made up in different ways. For example, a score of 7 can mean:

• 3 + 4. The 3 pattern is the most common in the biopsy and 4 is the second most common. This pattern is considered favorable intermediate risk.
• 4 + 3. The 4 pattern is the most common in the biopsy and 3 is the second most common. This pattern is considered unfavorable and may mean local or metastatic spread.

So, although both situations give a Gleason score of 7, they actually have very different prognoses.

Heres an overview of how the two grading systems compare:

Not all hospitals have switched to the grade group system. Many hospitals give both grade group and Gleason scores to avoid confusion until grade groups become more widely used.

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The Link Between Bladder And Prostate Problems

Unfortunately, prostate issues are very common among men, and the number of those affected increase with each year. Along with prostate issues often comes Urinary Incontinence just another unfortunate symptom in an already devastating prostate condition. To better understand why men with prostate issues experience bladder problems, we need to understand the anatomy of the male body.

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International Prostate Symptom Score

You’ll be asked to complete a questionnaire to assess your symptoms. Each question has five possible answers that carry a score, and your overall score is used to assess the severity of your symptoms.

The checklist includes the following questions.

Over the past month:

• How often have you had the sensation of not completely emptying your bladder after urinating?
• How often have you had to urinate again less than two hours after finishing urinating?
• How often have you found that you stopped and started again when urinating?
• How often have you found it difficult to postpone urination?
• How often have you had a weak stream of urine?
• How often have you had to push or strain to begin urinating during the course of one night?
• How often have you had to get up during the night to urinate?

After your GP has assessed the severity your symptoms, they’ll aim to rule out other conditions with similar symptoms using certain tests.

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Diagnosis Of Enlarged Prostate Gland And Urinary Problems

If you are troubled by urination problems, see a doctor no matter what your age. If your doctor agrees that your symptoms need further evaluation and treatment, you may need to undergo a few tests.These may include:

• general examination medical history and review of any health conditions including obesity, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, depression and erectile dysfunction. A rectal examination may be done to check the size and shape of your prostate gland
• a urine check to ensure the prostate is not infected
• a flow-rate check to estimate the speed with which you pass urine
• an ultrasound examination to assess if the bladder is emptying completely and to examine your kidneys
• urodynamics a series of tests on the bladder to see how your urinary system is functioning may be recommended in some circumstances.

What To Do If You Think You Have A Uti

The first thing you should really do is go to your GP so they can double check that this change in symptoms is definitely a bladder infection. If you havent been diagnosed with an enlarged prostate yet, then it is vital that you go to the GP, because if BPH isnt causing your infection then it is important to make sure there is no underlying problem such as diabetes.

The doctor may prescribe you antibiotics to help shift the infection, particularly if it is severe. However, there are also a few ways to treat a UTI at home:

Drink plenty of water. This will help to flush the bacteria out of the bladder and will make urination less painful.

Reduce sugar intake. Bacteria love sugar, so starve them by reducing your sugar intake!

Try cranberries. Cranberries are commonly used to ease UTI symptoms, as they are thought to prevent bacteria from sticking to the bladder walls, making it easier to flush them out. However, cranberries can be incredibly bitter, so most cranberry juices are full of sugar. Instead Id recommend our own Cranberry Complex, which contains fresh cranberry as well as other bladder-friendly herbs like horseradish and golden rod. You could also try Biottas Cranberry Juice, which is sweetened with agave nectar and birch leaf infusion.

Top up on vitamin C. This vitamin is famous for supporting the immune system, so it can help your immune cells fight off the infection.

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Is There Anything That Could Benefit Me Now

For symptomatic relief, a fruit known as Saw Palmetto may be just the answer you were looking for, Long-term treatment of BPH with Serenoa repens saw research participants experience decreased urinary obstruction and increased flow, as well as an increase in sexual function. Products such as Prostate 1 come in tablets containing organic saw palmetto fruit extract and can be taken every day to manage symptoms. The berry works due to its ability to inhibit 5-reductase which results in reduced levels of dihydrotestosterone and a decreased risk of developing BPH. It also has the ability to inhibit epidermal growth factor which contributes to the enlargement of the prostatic glandular tissue.

Diagnosing Benign Prostate Enlargement

You might have several different tests to find out if you have an enlarged prostate.

A GP may do some of these tests, such as a urine test, but others might need to be done at a hospital.

Some tests may be needed to rule out other conditions that cause similar symptoms to BPE, such as prostate cancer.

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Signs Of Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men. Here are some symptoms to look out for:

• feeling a need to urinate frequently or urgently and being unable to control it
• needing to go more often than usual but not producing much urine upon release
• having a weak or interrupted flow of urine when at rest
• coughing up blood in your semen or ejaculate *

If you have any of these symptoms consult a urologist without delay! The earlier you catch this disease, the better chance there is of fully recovering.

Risk Factors You Can Control

Diet seems to play a role in the development of prostate cancer, which is much more common in countries where meat and high-fat dairy are mainstays. The reason for this link is unclear. Dietary fat, particularly animal fat from red meat, may boost male hormone levels. And this may fuel the growth of cancerous prostate cells. A diet too low in fruits and vegetables may also play a role.

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Problems With Enlarged Prostate Gland

Benign enlargement of the prostate gland is more common as men get older. It can cause troublesome symptoms, although it doesnt always.

The urethra passes through the prostate gland, so men may have problems urinating if the enlarged gland restricts the flow of urine. If the flow stops completely, a catheter is required to empty the bladder. It is rare for this form of acute urinary retention to cause kidney damage.

An enlarged prostate doesn’t always cause urinary problems. Studies indicate that the size of a man’s prostate gland has little influence on the type or severity of his urination problems. BPH is just one possible cause of urinary symptoms.

Another cause of urinary symptoms can be changes to the muscular wall of the bladder, which may cause spasms of the bladder or weaken the bladder, causing problems passing urine.

Medication For Urinary Problems

Your doctor may suggest various medications to help ease your urinary problems, including:

• medications to reduce the tone of the muscles of the urethra and prostate to minimise any constriction to urine flow caused when these muscles contract
• medication to reduce the size of the prostate gland. These medications work by blocking the action of male hormones produced by the prostate gland
• medications to relax the bladder, making unwanted contractions less likely and reducing the symptoms of urgency and frequency of urination
• the over-the-counter preparation ‘saw palmetto’ is sometimes used. This may help some men, especially if frequent urination at night is a problem.

However, recent reviews of the evidence for using saw palmetto as a treatment for mild or moderate urinary symptoms did not show any improvement, compared to no treatment, in men with BPH.

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Are There Different Causes For Men

In some cases, blood in the urine may mean something different for men than for women. Blood may show up from either an enlarged prostate gland or prostate cancer.

And, both bladder and kidney cancers are more common in men than in women.

For 2018, the American Cancer Society estimates 42,680 new diagnoses of kidney cancer in men and 22,660 in women.

For bladder cancer, the society estimates 62,380 new cases among men and 18,810 in women in 2018.

The most common cause of bladder cancer is smoking, Dr. Abouassaly says.

The carcinogens get absorbed in the blood and filter into the kidneys and bladder and they just sit there, he says. I recommend if you are a smoker, do everything you can to stop smoking.

How Does An Enlarged Prostate Affect The Bladder

As the prostate begins to swell it can start to affect different parts of the urinary system. It can begin to tighten around the urethra, making it harder for urine to flow through the narrow tube. It can also start to press on the underside of the bladder and can even reduce the amount of space available in the bladder.

Due to the narrowing of the urethra, some of the common symptoms of an enlarged prostate include a difficulty starting urination, and a weak stream or poor flow when you do start. You may also find that your bladder doesnt quite feel empty afterwards. In serious cases, the urethra can become completely blocked, causing urinary retention.

As a result of the prostate pushing on the bladder, youll probably also find that you need to urinate more often, and that the urge to urinate can come quickly and suddenly.

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What Happens To The Prostate After Radiation

The entire prostate gland is radiated when we treat the cancer. The prostate normally produces some of the fluid in the ejaculation. Radiation therapy has the side effect of damaging the glands in the prostate, so a lot less fluid is produced. The ejaculation may be dry or nearly dry. In addition, you will probably be sterile after radiation, but this is not 100% guaranteed and should not be relied upon as a form of birth control. You can still usually have erections because the nerves and blood vessels that go to the penis are not as damaged as the prostate gland.

The prostate gland will end up having a lot of scar tissue. It will shrink in size to about half its original weight within a couple years after finishing radiation. The urethra passes through the canter of the prostate gland like the hole of a doughnut. Sometimes this passage can widen, other times it can shrink after radiation. In summary, the prostate gland is heavily damaged from radiation and does not work normally afterwards.

Blood That You Cant See

Sometimes there is blood in your urine that you canât see. This is called microscopic hematuria because it is only visible under a microscope. âGuidelines state that any more than three red blood cells in a urine sample under microscope should prompt a referral to a urologist,â Dr. Bakare says. Routine urine tests can be part of annual wellness exams.

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Is A Prostate Massage The Same Thing As Trying For A Prostate Orgasm

Yes. If you massage the prostate in a way that feels good, youre probably going to have an orgasm if you keep at it.

Some doctors recommend prostate massage therapy to help relieve the symptoms of certain conditions, such as painful ejaculation prostatitis.

Yep! Though evidence on the efficacy of prostate massage for certain conditions is somewhat limited, it does appear to have some benefits.

What Causes An Enlarged Prostate And Is It Preventable

If youre a man dealing with prostate problems, youve probably wondered what causes an enlarged prostate aside from the age factor. What exactly is going on down there?

The walnut-shaped prostate gland is a vital part of the male reproductive system, generating the fluids necessary for semen production. It sits right below the bladder and surrounds the urethra, which means it can directly affect the urinary tract.

If you live long enough, its nearly inevitable that youll develop an enlarged prostate, also known as BPH . About 30% of men over 50 will develop the condition, and 90% will develop it by age 85.

But what causes this condition, and is prevention possible?

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Blood In Urine: Symptoms Causes And Treatment

One of the most stressful experiences in life is to suddenly be confronted with a new health problem we hadnt even considered before. Its especially true when its related to something we do every day for our entire lives. You move along with your life as usual, not even thinking about something as seemingly innocuous as using the bathroom. And then one day you look down in the toilet and see bloody urine.

Its perfectly natural to feel some panic set in as you stare into the toilet, wondering if that really is blood in the urine or just some trick of the light. Or maybe some other reason that could explain what you see. Most people will immediately run to the internet to frantically search: what causes blood in urine?

The term for the presence of blood in urine is hematuria, and there are many possible reasons why you might be experiencing this ailment. For that reason, its important to understand the causes and potential related symptoms for your own peace of mind and to give you a sense of when its time to talk to your doctor.