Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is also known as an enlarged prostate. It’s important to assess the urinary symptoms you experience to work out the degree of impact that it has on your life.
Introducing the Prostate Gland
The prostate gland is part of the reproductive system unique to males. It’s a very small gland, roughly around about the size of a walnut and with a doughnut-shaped geometry. The prostate gland features a central cavity and through this central cavity passes the outlet pipe of the bladder (the urethra). The bladder is on top, and underneath is the prostate through which passes the outlet pipe of the bladder.
It turns out that the older a man gets, the larger the prostate gland gets. Many men tend to find they have more and more troubles with their bladder and sexual organ function as they age, and some believe it’s because their prostate is enlarged. However, research has shown that there is no linear correlation between the size of the prostate and the degree to which someone has problems with their prostate.
You may have a very large prostate, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to have very severe troubles with reproductive and bladder issues. Many men have small prostates but very severe symptoms, while others have huge prostates but no discernible increase in the incidence of prostate dysfunction.
Age is one of the biggest risk factors when it comes to an enlarged prostate. When a man gets older, the transition zone around the urethra increases in size. This size increase is due to there being more prostate cells, and these cells end up occupying more space. That ends up squeezing the urethra just like a clamp around a pipe. This can also be related to symptoms like nocturia, which is when someone gets up through the night to use the bathroom.
Urinary Symptoms Arising From Prostate Complications
The most common symptoms an enlarged prostate fall under two main categories: obstructive symptoms or overactive bladder symptoms. Obstructive symptoms are characterized by a slow pee stream, the need to strain to empty, an intermittent stream and a feeling that the bladder isn’t quite empty when you’ve finished emptying your bladder. Overactive bladder symptoms include going very frequently throughout the day, having a real urgency and needing to rush to the toilet and sometimes leaking small amounts of urine because you didn’t make it to the toilet in time.
Tests to Assess the Health of the Prostate Gland
Some tests are required to diagnose what’s going wrong with a man’s prostate. Some of these tests include a urine test, a blood test, some imaging tests as well as possibly other more advanced tests.
The urine test helps diagnose if there’s an infection or perhaps any blood within a man’s urine. The urine test will also show whether or not there are any abnormal cells within the urine. Blood tests include a PSA check to assess for a man’s prostate cancer risk. Imaging tests can include an ultrasound to allow doctors to get a better idea of the size of the prostate. This test will also tell your doctor how well the bladder is emptying and whether or not there is any impact on the kidneys.
Simple Natural Treatments to Shrink an Enlarged Prostate Gland
Shrinking an enlarged prostate is often made more complicated and taxing than it needs to be. Before you resort to prescription drugs or invasive surgery, there are some safe and simple lifestyle changes you might want to try first.
- Drink more water.
Increasing your daily intake of water sounds almost too easy that it doesn’t require mentioning. If you’re suffering from an enlarged prostate that gives you the frequent urge to urinate, then drinking more water would seem to make your prostate symptoms worse. Although it might make your symptoms get a bit worse in the short term, your prostate needs lots of water each day to stay lubricated. Water also helps to flush out irritants that can aggravate your prostate.
- Have more sex.
Another thing you should do is have more sex. Sex is great for shrinking an enlarged prostate. It keeps it clear by getting out all the toxins that accumulate over time. Sex also helps a man cope as it provides natural pain and stress relief. Sex can also shrink your prostate (post coitus).
- Don’t eat foods that increase inflammation, and use prostate supplements.
Many prostate issues, including BPH, are caused by inflammation in your body. Inflammation makes your body more likely to get sick and have infections and other health problems. If you live in a developed society with a plentiful variety of food to choose from, then there’s a good chance that your body is already in a state of inflammation. This could be due to pollution and the low quality of foods we regularly consume as part of our diets. These include foods that are high in fat as well as sugar.
Simply reducing your intake of refined sugar would probably go a long way towards reducing your inflammation levels in your body. This may also help reduce your BPH symptoms.
By adding supplements to your diet under your doctor’s supervision, you can start taking selected herbs to help correct any imbalances that your diet presents your body. Some natural supplements that help with prostate problems include:
- Saw palmetto
- Pygeum bark
- Stinging nettles
- Beta-sitosterol
Once you find some natural remedies that work, try to stick to a schedule where you use them daily.
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