I’m 63 years old, in general good health. I’ve been experiencing symptoms for maybe 5 years, gradually getting worse.
- Waking in the night to pee, 2 to 3 times.
- Hesitance
- Weak stream, stop start..
Thankfully no blood or pain.
So I finally went to the GP & had an examination 😳, GP said it felt normal. PSA tests also normal.
So I was placed on medication, Tamsulosin 400mcg. After 2 weeks I’m not seeing any improvement and to be fair, I don’t like to be on medication. Would always attack the cause rather than treat symptoms for the rest of my life with some toxic concoction.
I’ve done a bit of reading on Resum & other water-blast treatments. Also one where a catheter is inserted & expanded to stretch the urethra.
I’m interested to hear some best advice on this.
thanks
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knackersyard
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Well from a prostate cancer perspective.. I was healthy no symptoms at all .. PSA jumped high .. then biopsy, then intermediate risk , treatment, and waiting. I guess it depends on your PSA #doubling time .. if within a year not good. From the blogs I’ve read a low PSA doesn’t necessarily mean no cancer. Sometimes the low PSA values with symptoms can be misleading and people have reported aggressive prostate cancer … hard to discern . Some of the aggressive strains can not exhibit PSA which is misleading. I guess if you take antibiotics, check for prostatitis and have issues you can get a PSMA pet scan and or mri.. then maybe a biopsy . Considering your age I’d be careful, more than likely you are ok though .. good luck
Give the alpha-blocker some time to work and then ask your doctor to increase the dosage. See the following:
“0.4 mg orally once a day; the dose may be increased to 0.8 mg orally once a day in patients who fail to respond to 0.4 mg once a day within 2 to 4 weeks
Comments:
This drug should be administered approximately one-half hour following the same meal each day.”
If you are still not feeling positive effects, you could consider asking your doctor to prescribe you a 5 alpha reductase inhibitor such as finasreride. -
I had it done privately at the London clinic in London by Mr Barber. Not sure of costs. Great urologist with really his bedside manners.
The drugs my other urologist had me try beforehand gave me terrible headaches… and he wanted to do TURP after that to which I said not a chance given side effects.
Sorry Ive no experience of the techniques you list but I do have for finasteride which you should avoid at all costs imo. Also, since youre keen to address root causes and consider techniques that NHS wont cover, why not instead consider seeing a qualified Nutritional Therapist (NT) specialising in male hormones/issues? It could resolve that and help other health issues. My dad has managed his BPH well via this approach for ~14y and is drug-free at aged 70 🤞🤞. Let me know if you want links to NTs now or in future eg by pte message.
PS Interesting that "GP said it felt normal. PSA tests also normal", yet still "placed on medication, Tamsulosin 400mcg". Sadly I think that's a reflection on modern medicine which doesnt address the root cause and appears to experiment instead. Unless its been shown to help with curing prostatitis or something else besides the BPH it was developed for...which actually you dont appear to have according to the GP!
As I said, I prefer to avoid all medication unless absolutely necessary and I wouldn’t touch Finasteride under any circumstances!
My early research shows that the NHS are doing REZUM, so I’m making some enquiries. Also prepared to go private if necessary. I’m exploring all options.
BTW, the GP said no problems in terms of nodules or being overly large.
I will look into the Nutritional Therapy thanks. I have no intention of being on medication for the rest of my life.
OK, good. Keep my details if you want a list of qualified NT specialists in future.
I suspect you may struggle to get Rezum on the NHS with a prostate that the GP doesnt consider enlarged but Ive never been able to unravel the NHS!. But good luck.
I used Tamsulosin for a year no effect. I then added finasteride the two caused ED Now just take finasteride.
Your assuming it’s just your prostate and considering major changes to your urinary system I would ask are you emptying your bladder fully. I retain 200 mls of pee when I think I’ve finished. Best ask your doctor to get this checked out first before any surgery
Wow, sorry to hear about the ED! I will never touch Finasteride!!!
I definitely retain an amount. I noticed maybe 2 years ago that I would dribble after finishing. I now wait longer to finish to be safe.
I should say that this is very early days. I only saw the GP 2 weeks ago. I’m just gathering information on all the options before going back to see him.
I have BPH successfully managed by tamsulosin. My GP, in addition to the tests you had, sent me for an ultrasound scan specifically to check that I was able to completely empty my bladder. (I do).
Edit: you are more likely to develop a urinary tract infection if you don’t completely empty your bladder on voiding.
It could take up wards of at least 6 months to see results from any Rx drugs as the prostate is not an easy organ for medications to get to (or so I was told). Be that as it may, I, like you didn't want to go down the drug route so I had what was called indigo laser surgery which helped me.
I would have to contradict your statement that “medications & vaccines etc. more side effects than benefits”. There is absolutely no evidence that this is true. Most “possible” side effects are fairly rare and minor. There seems to be a wrong belief that all people will get every side effect listed on the patient information leaflet. I have now had 9 Covid vaccinatiins. No problems.
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