What is the prostate?

The prostate is part of a man’s sex organs. It’s about the size of a walnut and surrounds the tube called the urethra, located just below the bladder.

The urethra has two jobs: to carry urine from the bladder when you urinate and to carry semen during a sexual climax, or ejaculation. Semen is a combination of sperm plus fluid that the prostate adds.

The male urinary tract. The prostate surrounds the urethra, where urine leaves the bladder.

What are prostate problems?

For men under 50, the most common prostate problem is prostatitis.

For men over 50, the most common prostate problem is prostate enlargement. This condition is also called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Older men are at risk for prostate cancer as well, but this disease is much less common than BPH. More information about prostate cancer is available from the National Cancer Institute.

For younger men, the most common prostate problem is prostatitis. For older men, it’s an enlarged prostate.

What is prostatitis?

Prostatitis means the prostate might be inflamed or irritated. If you have prostatitis, you may have a burning feeling when you urinate, or you may have to urinate more often. Or you may have a fever or just feel tired.

Inflammation in any part of the body is usually a sign that the body is fighting germs or repairing an injury. Some kinds of prostatitis are caused by bacteria, tiny organisms that can cause infection or disease. If you have bacterial prostatitis, your doctor can look through a microscope and find bacteria in a sample of your urine. Your doctor can then give you an antibiotic, a medicine that kills bacteria.

What is prostate enlargement, or BPH?

If you’re a man over 50 and have started having problems urinating, the reason could be an enlarged prostate, or BPH. As men get older, their prostate keeps growing. As it grows, it squeezes the urethra. Since urine travels from the bladder through the urethra, the pressure from the enlarged prostate may affect bladder control.

If you have BPH, you may have one or more of these problems:

• A frequent and urgent need to urinate. You may get up several times a night to go to the bathroom.
• Trouble starting a urine stream. Even though you feel you have to rush to get to the bathroom, you find it hard to start urinating.
• A weak stream of urine
• A small amount of urine each time you go
• The feeling that you still have to go, even when you have just finished urinating
• Leaking or dribbling urine
• Small amounts of blood in your urine

How is BPH treated?

Several treatments are available. Work with your doctor to find the one that’s best for you.

• Watchful waiting. If your symptoms don’t bother you too much, you may choose to live with them rather than take pills every day or have surgery. But you should have regular checkups to make sure your condition isn’t getting worse. With watchful waiting, you can be ready to choose a treatment as soon as you need it.
• Medicines. In recent years, scientists have developed several medicines to shrink or relax the prostate to keep it from blocking the bladder opening.
• Nonsurgical procedures. A number of devices have been developed that allow doctors to remove parts of the prostate during nonsurgical procedures. These procedures can usually be done in a clinic or hospital without an overnight stay. The procedures are transurethral, which means the doctor reaches the area by going through the urethra. The doctor uses thin tubes inserted through the urethra to deliver controlled heat to small areas of the prostate. A gel may be applied to the urethra to prevent pain or discomfort. You won’t need drugs that make you go to sleep.
   

What are the side effects of prostate treatments?

Surgery for BPH may have a temporary effect on sexual function. Most men recover complete sexual function within a year after surgery. The exact length of time depends on how long you had symptoms before surgery was done and on the type of surgery. After TURP, some men find that semen does not go out of the penis during orgasm. Instead, it goes backwards into the bladder. In some cases, this condition can be treated with a drug that helps keep the bladder closed. A doctor who specializes in fertility problems may be able to help if backwards ejaculation causes a problem for a couple trying to get pregnant.

If you have any problems after treatment for a prostate condition, talk with your doctor or nurse. Erection problems and loss of bladder control can be treated, and chances are good that you can be helped.

If your prostate is removed completely to stop cancer, you’re more likely to have long-lasting sexual and bladder control problems, such as leaking or dribbling. Your doctor may be able to use a technique that leaves the nerves around the prostate in place. This procedure makes it easier for you to regain bladder control and sexual function. Not all men can have this technique, but most men can be helped with other medical treatments.

The Natural Way to Solve Prostate Problem

There are a number of well-controlled clinical studies that confirm the safe and effective use of saw palmetto for the treatment of BPH. Saw palmetto extracts can reduce the activity of 5-alpha-reductase by about 40 percent, and hence reduce the uptake of dihydrotestosterone by the prostate gland. The active substances in saw palmetto berries, such as the phytosterols, provide beneficial effects such as increased urinary flow, increased ease in commencing urination, reduced post-voiding residual volume, decreased frequency of urination, and a decreased urge to void during the night. While saw palmetto effectively diminishes the symptoms of BPH, it appears to act without reducing the Size of the prostate.

In addition, the spasmolytic and antiinflammatory effects produced by extracts of saw palmetto berries help explain its beneficial role in treating BPH. Experiments have shown that men with an enlarged prostate who received an extract of saw palmetto for 30 days experienced 45 percent less nocturnal trips to the bathroom, a 50 percent increase in urinary flow rates, diminished residual urinary volume, and less pain during urination. After three months 90 percent of the patients using the saw palmetto considered the therapy successful with few, if any, side effects. One-half to one teaspoon of the dried berries, or two to three capsules (each 500 milligrams), is the typical daily dose. A recent study found that saw palmetto extract had a higher benefit-to-risk ratio and a lower cost to patients than did the conventional synthetic drugs

Source: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/prostate_ez/