Prostate Enlargement

Are you a man over 50 who has difficulty with starting your urine flow and a slowed and diminished urinary stream? If so, you may have benign prostatic enlargement. If this is occurring, I would see your physician to have a simple prostate exam and blood test to rule out prostate cancer.

If no prostate cancer is found, and the prostate is enlarged, therapy may be appropriate if the symptoms are uncomfortable, wake you up repeatedly during the night to go to the bathroom, or you have a bladder infection—which is uncommon in males.

Although your doctor may recommend medication to address the prostate enlargement, it is helpful to know about natural remedies which can be as or more effective—without the side effects or the high cost of medications. My favorite therapy for this problem is an herb called Saw Palmetto. Take 160 mg twice a day and give it six weeks to start working. Most often, this is all that you will need. Adding zinc 25 mg and selenium 200 micrograms a day can also be helpful.

For those of you who have high blood pressure, switching to the hypertensive medication Hytrin will often control blood pressure while also decreasing the symptoms of prostate enlargement. In addition, if you are under 50 years old and have urinary urgency and burning on urination, and your doctor has ruled out an acute prostatitis, you may simply have a prostate irritation called prostadynia. Taking the bioflavonoid vitamin Quercetin 500 mg twice a day for 6 weeks may also improve or eliminate your symptoms.