Prostate Health Supplements

Conventional treatments for prostate enlargement are based on severity of the symptoms. In very mild cases no treatment may be necessary. If symptoms are bothersome but not harmful, medications may be prescribed. More severe cases will call for more drastic measures, including surgery.

Medications

There are two major types of prescription drugs for treatment of BPH:

1. Alpha blockers which relax muscles around the bladder neck and make it easier to urinate.
2. Enzyme inhibitors which shrink the prostate gland.

Sometimes a combination of the two might be prescribed. Unfortunately, these drugs don’t cure the condition. In order for it to work, you need to take the medication continuously and indefinitely – once the treatment is stopped, the symptoms return. This type of treatment is also known to become less and less effective with time.
Side effects of alpha blockers include headache, pounding heartbeat, nausea, fatigue, nasal congestion, low blood pressure, weight gain, reduced semen during ejaculation, stomach or intestinal irritation. These drugs bring blood pressure to dangerously low levels, especially when combined with erectile dysfunction drugs. As a result, alpha blockers are known to increase the risk of heart failure with long-term use.
Enzyme inhibitors work by blocking the enzyme that converts testosterone (the male hormone) into its active form, dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is believed to be one of the causes of prostate enlargement. Enzyme inhibitors will decrease the need for surgery but have potential side effects of erection problems, reduced libido (decreased sexual desire), reduced semen during ejaculation, breast enlargement or tenderness.

Non-Surgical Therapies

These types of treatment use various technologies to destroy portions of the enlarged prostate gland without carrying out a full-size surgery. The most common therapies are:

1. Transurethral Microwave Therapy (TUMT). It involves using microwave energy to break down the inside of the enlarged prostate.
2. Transurethral Needle Ablation (TUNA) where radio waves are employed to heat and destroy the part of the prostate that is blocking urine flow.
3. Interstitial Laser Therapy (ILT). Here laser energy is used to destroy overgrown prostate tissue by directing laser energy at the inside of the enlarged prostate gland.

As can be imagined, these procedures also have serious side effects and often lead to a decrease in libido and impotence.

Surgical Procedures

Most severe forms of enlarged prostate are treated by surgery which is performed under a general anaesthesia. Most common surgical procedures are:

1. Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP), which involves making cuts in the prostate gland.
2. Transurethral Incision of the Prostate (TUIP) during which excess prostate tissue is scraped away.
3. Two types of laser surgery in which prostate tissue is destroyed by a high-energy laser beam:
   • Photosensitive Vaporization of the Prostate (PVP).
   • Holmium Laser Enucleation of the Prostate (HoLEP).

Common side effects prostate surgery are excessive bleeding in the short term,  painful urination , retrograde ejaculation  which leads to semen entering your bladder, which in turn leads to urinary tract infections, blood in your urine, bladder neck narrowing, impotence, inability to ejaculate and nerve damage.
Another factor to keep in mind is that although surgery will reduce symptoms of enlarged prostate in the short term, over time symptoms may return and you may need to undergo another surgery again.
It goes without saying that maintaining a healthy prostate is the best way to avoid getting into a situation where drastic and potentially dangerous procedures are called for. Look out for those early symptoms and treat emerging prostate problems safely and effectively in a natural way and with no side effects.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Prostate Health Supplements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.