Prostate Problems

Common Prostate Problems

Here are some examples of non-cancer prostate problems i.e.:

Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, is very common in older men. It means your prostate is enlarged but not cancerous. Treatments for BPH include:

• Watchful waiting, also called active surveillance. If your symptoms are not too bad, your doctor may tell you to wait to see if they get worse before starting treatment. Your doctor will tell you how often to return for check-ups.
• Medications. Medicines can help shrink the prostate or relax muscles near your prostate to ease symptoms.
• Surgery. If nothing else has worked, your doctor may suggest surgery to help urine flow.
• Other treatments. Sometimes radio waves, microwaves, or lasers are used to treat urinary problems caused by BPH. These methods use different kinds of heat to reduce extra prostate tissue.

Acute bacterial prostatitis

Acute bacterial prostatitis usually starts suddenly from a bacterial infection. See your doctor right away if you have fever, chills, or pain in addition to prostate symptoms. Most cases can cured with antibiotics. You also may need medication to help with pain or discomfort.

Chronic bacterial prostatitis

Chronic bacterial prostatitis is an infection that comes back again and again. This rare problem can be hard to treat. Sometimes, taking antibiotics for a long time may work. Talk with your doctor about other things you can do to help you feel better.

Chronic prostatitis

Chronic prostatitis, also called chronic pelvic pain syndrome, is a common prostate problem. It can cause pain in the lower back, in the groin, or at the tip of the penis. Treatment may require a combination of medicines, surgery, and lifestyle changes.

Be sure to talk with your doctor about the possible side effects of treatment.[1]

Prostate cancer is common Common Prostate Problems among American men. Your chance of getting prostate cancer may be affected by your:

• Age. Men age 50 also older run a greater risk.
• Race. Prostate cancer is most common among African American men, followed by Hispanic and Native American men. In detail, Asian American men have the lowest rates of prostate cancer.
• Family history. If your father or brother had prostate cancer, you are more likely to develop it, too.
• Diet. The risk of prostate cancer may be higher for men who eat high-fat diets.

Diagnosing Prostate Cancer

To find out if prostate symptoms are caused by cancer, your doctor will ask about your past medical problems and your family’s medical history. Your doctor also will perform a physical exam. During the exam, your doctor will put a gloved finger into your rectum to examine your prostate to check for:

• The size, firmness, and texture of the prostate
• Any hard areas, lumps, or growth spreading beyond the prostate
• Any pain caused by touching or pressing on the prostate

You may ask to give a urine sample for testing. Your doctor also may do a blood test to check the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. PSA levels can be high in men with an enlarged prostate gland or with prostate cancer. You may also need an ultrasound exam that takes computer pictures of the prostate.

If tests show that you might have cancer, your doctor will refer you to a specialist (a urologist) for a prostate biopsy. The doctor will take small tissue samples from several areas of the prostate gland to look for cancer cells.

Treating Prostate Cancer

Treatment for prostate cancer depends on whether cancer is in part or all of the prostate, or if it has spread to other parts of the body. It also depends on your age and overall health. Talk with your doctor about the best treatment choice for you and the possible side effects of treatment. You may want to ask another doctor for a second opinion.

Treatment for prostate cancer may be:

• Watchful waiting, also called active surveillance. If the cancer is not causing problems, you may decide not to get treated right away. Instead, your doctor will check regularly for changes in your condition. Treatment may start if the cancer begins to grow.
• Surgery. The most common type of surgery removes the whole prostate also some nearby tissue.
• Radiation therapy. This treatment uses radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Additionally, the radiation may come from an X-ray machine or from tiny radioactive pellets placed inside or near the tumor.
• Hormone therapy. Men having other treatments, like radiation therapy, also may treat with drugs to stop the body from making testosterone. This is done if it seems likely that the cancer will come back. Hormone therapy also can use for prostate cancer that has spread beyond the prostate.

PSA Testing

Until recently, many doctors encouraged yearly PSA testing for all men beginning at age 50, or even earlier for men at high risk of prostate cancer. As doctors have learned more about the benefits and harms of prostate cancer screening, they have begun to caution against annual PSA testing. Talk with your doctor about what is best for you.

Yearly PSA testing in men without symptoms is generally not recommended. However, in men who report prostate symptoms, PSA testing (along with digital rectal examination) can help doctors determine the nature of the problem. In men who have been treated for prostate cancer, the PSA test may be used to see if the cancer has come back.[1]

Complications of an enlarged prostate:

• Sudden inability to urinate (urinary retention).You might need to have a tube (catheter) inserted into your bladder to drain the urine. Some men with an enlarged prostate need surgery to relieve urinary retention.
• Urinary tract infections (in other words; UTIs).Inability to fully empty the bladder can increase the risk of infection in your urinary tract. If UTIs occur frequently, you might need surgery to remove part of the prostate.
• Bladder stones. These generally cause by an inability to completely empty the bladder. Bladder stones can cause infection, bladder irritation, blood in the urine also obstruction of urine flow.
• Bladder damage.A bladder that hasn’t emptied completely can stretch and weaken over time. As a result, the muscular wall of the bladder no longer contracts properly, making it harder to fully empty your bladder.
• Kidney damage.Pressure in the bladder from urinary retention can directly damage the kidneys or allow bladder infections to reach the kidneys.

Most men with an enlarged prostate don’t develop these complications. However, acute urinary retention and kidney damage can be serious health threats.[4]

Having an enlarged prostate is not believed to increase your risk of developing prostate cancer.

Homeopathic Treatment for Prostate Problems

Homeopathy is a safe and natural alternative and plays a vital role in reducing the size of the prostate if administered timely.

This line of treatment can be taken alone when the symptoms are mild to moderate, and along with any other alternative treatment when the symptoms are severe. Homeopathic medicines have no side effects or contraindications and can benefit most individuals if started timely.[4]

HRD’s Homeopathic treatment is offered only to the following individuals:

• Individuals having no strong indication for surgery, ascertained by the severity of complaints and clinical examination by your physician
• Recently diagnosed cases or those with infrequent and/or mild to moderated symptoms
• Patients refusing surgery or cannot be operated on due to other medical conditions

Mild to moderate symptoms of urinary retention, increased frequency at night and a weak stream should strongly consider homeopathic treatment for duration of 4-6 months.

Homoeopathic Approach

• Homeopathic remedies having anti-tumorproperties are prescribed.
• The prescribed remedy helps in: reducing the sizeof the enlarged Prostate, counteracts infection in the urinary tract and improves sphincter control.
• The treatment outcome does depend on the extent of prostatic hypertrophy. Individuals experiencing mild symptoms with marginal hypertrophy experience greater reliefas compared to chronic, advanced cases with severe retention.[4]

 Homoeopathic Medicines 

Aconite nep [Acon]

Prostatitis with great urging to urinate and great pain during micturition, or where in milder cases there is great pain in walking, especially down stairs.

Aesculus Hip [Ascu]

Desire to urinate often, but passes little at a time, scanty and dark-yellow, with scalding in passing through the urethra, some- times deep-red, with strong odor; amorous dreams and seminal emissions; blind piles, with shooting pains up back.[3]

Agnus Castus

When pressing at stool, discharge of prostatic fluid; pollutions from irritable weakness with prostatorrhoea; red, turbid urine, with burning and pressure in urethra.

Aloe

Sensation as if a plug were wedged between symphysis and coccyx, pressing downward; incontinence of urine from enlarged prostate; intense pain and soreness in rectum after stool with protrusion of piles, (<) from touch and temporarily (>) by cold water.

Apis Mell

Excessive pain in vesical region, frequent desire and pressing down in region of sphincter, not only during day, but has to get up often at night; AGONY IN PASSING URINE; retention of urine or dark, scanty urine.

Baryta Carb

HYPERTROPHY OF PROSTATE; after urinating renewed straining with dribbling of urine; numbness in genitals for several minutes; frequent micturition, no stool, in old men.

Causticum

PULSATIONS IN PERINEUM; after passing a few drops pain in urethra, bladder and spasms in rectum, with renewed desire; must pass water every few minutes at night with extremely painful pressing and urging; additionally chronic prostatitis; contraction of sphincter, with excoriating serous discharge from anus.[3]

Chimaphila

Sensation of swelling in perineum, as if on sitting down a ball were pressing against it; inability to urinate without standing with the feet wide apart and the body inclined forward. ACUTE PROSTATITIS from sitting on a cold damp stone, excessive itching and painful irritation of urethra from the end of penis to neck of bladder, which dysuria may increase to complete retention from swelling of prostate; great quantities of thick, ropy, bloody mucus in urine; prostatic disease with waste of prostatic fluid.

Copiva

INDURATION OF PROSTATE, in old men, with no increase in size or slight augmentation with extreme hardness; burning and sensation of dryness in region of prostate gland and in urethra, with great pain while urinating, urine emitted by drops; mucous discharge from bowels with much rumbling and rolling in abdomen.

Cyclamen

Prostatic troubles, with stitches and pressure, urging to stool and micturition; in and near anus and in perineum drawing- pressing pain, as from subcutaneous ulceration of a small spot, while walking or sitting; frequent desire to urinate, with scanty discharge; while urinating, pricking pain at the end of the urethra.

Digitalis

HYPERTROPHY OF PROSTATE, CARDIAC SYMPTOMS MARKED; dribbling discharge of urine and continued fullness after micturition or fruitless effort to urinate; throbbing pain in region of neck of bladder during the straining efforts to pass water; increased desire to urinate after a few drops have passed, causing the old man to walk about in distress though motion increases desire to urinate; frequent desire to defaecate at the same time; very small, soft stool passed without relief, urine pale, slightly cloudy, looking smoky.

Kali Bichrom

STITCHES IN PROSTATE when walking, must stand still; prostatic fluid escapes at stool; painful drawing from perineum into urethra; after micturition burning in back part of urethra as if a drop had remained, with unsuccessful effort to pass it; stitches in urethra.

Magnesia Carb

DISCHARGE OF PROSTATIC FLUID WHEN PASSING FLATUS; involuntary urination while walking or rising from a seat.

Pulsatilla

Continued dull stitches in neck of bladder, with a pressure of urine, while lying upon his back; AFTER MICTURITION SPASMODIC PAINS IN NECK OF BLADDER, EXTENDING TO PELVIS AND THIGHS; prostatic troubles of older people, faeces flat, small in size.[3]

Selenium

Prostatic juice oozes while sitting, during sleep, when walking and at stool; involuntary urination while walking, drips after stool or micturition; additionally stool hard also impacted that it requires mechanical aid; (<) in hot weather, after sleep, from anything which causes relaxation.

Staphysagria

Frequent and copious urination; burning the whole length of urethra; frequent urging with scanty discharge of a thin stream of red-looking urine; urging as if bladder were not empty; In detail; discharge of dark urine by drops; pain extending from anus along urethra, coming on after either walking or riding.

Sulphur

Offensive sweat around genitals; stools hard, knotty, insufficient; urine foetid, with greasy-looking pellicle on it; painful desire, with discharge of bloody urine, requiring great effort; besides this; mucous discharge from urethra.

Thuja

Syphilis and sycosis, especially suppressed or badly treated gonorrhoea; stitches in urethra from behind, also from rectum into bladder; rectal tenesmus, deep perineal pains; dysuria, retained urine; cutting at beginning of passing water, the pain descending the urethra to a point just above the external meatus; urine squirts either out or slowly drops; besides this scalding also cutting at the close of urination; stream interrupted several times before bladder is entirely emptied; frequent desire to urinate in the evening, (>) by lying down.

Sabal Serrulata: Sabal Serrulata is one of the most popular homeopathic medicines for prostate gland enlargement with many patients having consumed it reported great results. It works for most causes of prostate gland enlargement as well.[3]

Diet & Regimen for Prostate Problems

Foods to eat

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats protect the prostate.

Specific foods known to benefit the prostate include i.e.:

• Salmon: Salmon is rich in healthy fats that contain omega-3 fatty acids, which help prevent and reduce inflammation within the body. Other cold-water fish, such as sardines and trout, are also rich in these types of fats.
• Tomatoes: Tomatoes are packed with lycopene, an antioxidant that may benefit prostate gland cells. Cooking tomatoes, such as in tomato sauce or soup, helps to release the lycopene and make it more readily available to the body.
• Berries: For example; Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are excellent sources of antioxidants, which help to remove free radicals from the body. Free radicals are the by products of reactions that occur within the body and can cause damage and disease over time.[2]
• Broccoli: Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, including bok choy, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, also cabbage, contain a chemical known as sulforaphane. Additionally, This is thought to target cancer cells and promote a healthy prostate.
• Nuts: Nuts are rich in zinc, a trace mineral. Zinc is found in high concentrations in the prostate also is thought to help balance testosterone and DHT. Besides nuts, shellfish and legumes are also high in zinc.
• Citrus: Oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits are all high in vitamin C, which may help to protect the prostate gland.
• Onions and garlic: One study found that men with BPH tended to eat less garlic also onions that men without BPH. More research is needed to confirm these results, but onions and garlic are healthful additions to most diets.

A healthful diet for an enlarged prostate is more than just eating good foods. It also means avoiding other types of foods that are not good for the prostate.

Some foods to avoid include:

• Red meat: Research suggests that going red meat-free may help improve prostate health. In fact, daily meat consumption believed to triple the risk of prostate enlargement.
• Dairy: Similarly to meat, regular consumption of dairy increased risk of BPH. Cutting out or reducing butter, cheese, and milk may help reduce BPH symptoms.
• Caffeine: Caffeine may act as a diuretic, which means that it increases how much, how often, and how urgently a person has to urinate. Cutting back on coffee, tea, soda, and chocolate may improve urinary symptoms of BPH.
• Alcohol: Alcohol can also stimulate urine production. Men with BPH may find that their symptoms improved by giving up alcohol.
• Sodium: A high salt intake may increase the urinary tract symptoms associated with BPH. Following a low-sodium diet by not adding salt to meals and avoiding processed foods may be helpful for some men. [2]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Prostate Problems?

The prostate is a small gland in men that helps make semen. In detail; It tends to grow larger as you get older. If your prostate gets too large, it can cause a number of health issues.

Homeopathic Medicines used by Homeopathic Doctors in treatment of Prostate Problems?

• Aesculus
• Agnus Castus
• Aloe
• Baryta Carb
• Causticum
• Copiva
• Chimaphila
• Cyclamen
• Kali Bichrom
• Magnesia Carb
• Selenium
• Staphysagria

What are common Prostate Problems?

• Benign prostatic hyperplasia
• Acute bacterial prostatitis
• Chronic bacterial prostatitis

What are the symptoms of Prostate Problems?

• Frequent urge to urinate
• Need to get up many times during the night to urinate
• Blood in urine or semen
• Pain or burning urination