Description: BPH meaning benign prostatic hyperplasia is a condition that affects mostly men.
A study has found that fifty percent of men above the age of 60 years are bound to be having symptoms of BPH and ninety percent of men above 70 years have them. The condition of BPH begins when your prostate begins to grow larger with age, as the prostate is located just where the urine leaves your bladder, its growth reduces your urine stream. As a result, most men with BPH need to meet a medical practitioner for treatment. Listed below are a few tips that can help you manage the symptoms of BPH.
- Avoid Beverages – Since frequent urination is a common symptom of BPH, which refers to waking up four or five times during the night to pass urine or having an urgent need to find the restroom when you are out of your house, it is best to totally avoid beverages that could make you urinate frequently. The biggest offenders are coffee and alcohol, thus restricting them in your daily intake is the best way to manage BPH. You can try to keep your intake of fluids to a minimum of two quarts per day and also drink less water too from dinner time till the time you go to bed.
- Urinate before you feel the urgency – When you cannot urinate totally when you visit the washroom, this aggravates the frequency to urinate. BPH has the tendency to urinate frequently and also does not allow you to empty the bladder. When you are out of your house, do be sure to use the nearby restroom as you may have to wait for the next opportunity. BPH condition does not allow you to hold urine for a long time. Through the day, you can plan and use the washroom to urinate once every three hours if you are in the house, urinate before going to bed too, and use the washroom before you leave to go out of your house for a while. Follow the method of double voiding, which means while urinating, if you feel it is done, wait for a few seconds more and try again to be sure you have emptied your bladder.
- Exercise Bladder Muscles – There are some more BPH symptoms other than frequent urination you have to watch out for, and they are dribbling, leaking, and feeling of urgency to urinate. All these symptoms together could be irritating for a person with BPH, therefore it is necessary that you are in a state that these symptoms can be controlled by strengthening your muscles that you use for urinating, or those muscles around the bladder neck. This can be established by doing kegel exercises, that involves contracting these muscles, squeezing them tightly for 10 seconds, then relaxing them. Repeat these exercises about 3 to 5 times everyday. The kegel exercises will improve your bladder control thus giving you some relief in BPH.
- Prostate Friendly Diet – Apart from exercise, a prostate friendly diet is absolutely necessary to help you come over the symptoms of BPH. Ensure that you include lots of fruits and vegetables, soy products and green tea. Intake of plenty of omega-3 fatty acids (found in coldwater fish or as a supplement) definitely would be beneficial. Do not include unhealthy saturated fats and trans fats. A well-known herbal remedy for BPH is saw palmetto made from berries of plant Serenoa. This herbal remedy has contradicting results, as it reduces nighttime urination by 25% but 5000 men with BPH who tried it did not find much difference in urinary symptoms, urinary flow or prostate size when compared to those who took a placebo.
- Medicines avoided for BPH symptoms – Certain over-the-counter medications for cold and allergy has a tendency of making the symptoms of BPH worse. On a similar note, decongestant medications like pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), and antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl) do interfere with the urination process. Other prescription medications can also aggravate BPH. The diuretics that are used for high blood pressure can increase urine frequency and antidepressants can reduce the urine flow itself. Check with your doctor in case you are on any of the above medications.
- Reduce Stress – Although BPH itself has many stressful symptoms, you need to remember that any extra stress taken by you could in turn be the cause of increased symptoms of BPH. Manage stress by doing exercises on a daily basis so as to be in a better stage to manage BPH symptoms. Other methods of dealing with BPH are meditation, yoga and focussed breathing exercises. Some other simple ways of managing stress are long hot baths followed by reading a book that can help you get over stress.
- When to call a doctor – The right time to call a doctor when you are dealing with BPH is when the symptoms have become difficult to manage on your own. Although medications do work, you might need surgery if medications are actually not helping you with BPH. When you have the following such as you are unable to urinate when you want to, you have frequent urinary tract infections, or you have bladder stones, it is an indication that you have waited too long to get treatment. Although the symptoms of BPH may be similar to prostate cancer, it should be known that BPH does not cause prostate cancer. Ensure that you call for an appointment with a urologist at The Urology Hospital, Bangalore to get the right treatment for all your symptoms.
