Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) affects 14 million men in the United States and your chances for developing the condition are considerable — 90% of men over the age of 80 have BPH. The good news is that the condition, as the name implies, is benign. The bad news is that BPH can lead to some very serious quality-of-life issues.
To help you recognize whether you have this condition, the team of urology experts here at Arizona Urology has outlined the 10 most common complications that develop on the heels of BPH and your treatment options.
When you passed through puberty, your prostate gland, which is responsible for producing seminal fluid, doubled in size. Then, at about 25 or so, this walnut-sized gland began another growth journey that continues throughout your life, albeit slowly.
Unfortunately, your urethra passes right through the center of your prostate gland, so, as your urethra enlarges, it can squeeze this lower part of your urinary tract and create problems, such as:
If you find yourself needing to urinate far more than usual, about every one to two hours, this is one of the hallmarks of BPH.
After you urinate, your bladder doesn’t feel as if it’s voided fully.
Unfortunately, the need to urinate frequently often occurs at night, forcing you out of bed and into the bathroom every hour or two.
You feel the urge to urinate, but when you try, you find you need to strain to get the fluid out.
When you have BPH, you may experience sudden urges to urinate, even after you’ve already recently gone to the bathroom
When you urinate, your stream is far weaker than it once was.
Another sign of BPH is needing to start and stop your urination several times.
After you feel you’ve completed your urination, droplets of urine still exit afterward.
The dribbling you experience after urination can continue long after you leave the bathroom, creating problems with incontinence.
If your BPH is advanced, your prostate may block your urethra entirely. If this happens, it’s a medical emergency and you should seek help immediately.
If any of the symptoms above sound familiar, we urge you to come see us so we can first determine whether BPH is the cause and, if so, we evaluate the extent of the problem.
Based on our findings, we offer several treatment options for BPH that can greatly improve your symptoms, including:
Our goal with these treatments is to provide you with long-term solutions that will allow you to live more comfortably.
To learn more about BPH and your treatment options, we invite you to contact one of our locations in Goodyear, Glendale, or Gilbert, Arizona.
