Jul
22
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
July 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
• Measure your blood pressure, (Omron)
• Monitor your stress level with a mood ring *** •Take time-outs and relax (www coated ibuprofen .drmiller evista negative .com)***
• Learn to breathe (RESPeRATE) I**
• Stay connected with friends and family
• Follow the DASH diet ****
• Lose weight (it’s worth the effort!)
• Drink tea and avoid coffee and soda
• Try pomegranate juice I ****
• Drink Concord grape juice
• Treat yourself to a little dark chocolate ***
• Maximize your minerals (magnesium!)
• Beware of the beta-blocker blues
• Avoid licorice and drugs that raise blood pressure
• Ask your MD about chlorthalidone ****
• Have an ACE up your sleeve *****
High blood pressure is a very big deal evista raloxifene massachusetts . According to the American Heart Association, it affects up to 65 million Americans (nearly one in three adults) identify prednisone placebo pills . The majority (more than 70 percent) are not controlling it adequately lithium bromide ammonia safe . For the most part, the experts are still trying to figure out what causes this common condition and why it becomes so widespread as people age caffeine and jet tea .
If you were to reduce traditional medical wisdom on hypertension to its essence, it would probably come to these four points:
1 trazodone buy . High blood pressure is bad! It contributes to atherosclerosis and leads to strokes, heart attacks, kidney damage, and dementia avadart vs proscar .
2 coumadin blood thiner . Low blood pressure is good propantheline and dog .
3 ibuprofen positive drug screen meloxicam . Eat less salt purchase benzoyl peroxide products .
4 what is zovirax . Take your pills effexor patent .
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were that simple? Like so many things, though, blood pressure (BP) is complicated adverse reactions to erythromycin in children . For one thing, your blood pressure is not a single, solitary number that remains stable day in and day out risperdal dangerous side effects . If you were to monitor your BP every few minutes throughout the day and night you would likely discover enormous vafiability prozac maximum dose . Over the course of 24 hours, readings could change by as much as 50 points lipitor atorvastatin nevada .”
Some people may have relatively low blood pressure in the morning when they first get Up georgia accutane attorneys .550 After drinking coffee and dealing with rush hour traffic, however, their BP may go up by 10 or more points usa today fosamax .551 A stressful interaction with a co-worker or family member can jack it up even higher zocor and neuropathy .”‘ Exercise (including sex) pushes up blood pressure dramatically, but after a strenuous workout, pressure often comes down below where it started job outlook pharmacy paxil . And blood pressure can vary while you are asleep, depending upon whether you are dreaming, sleeping peacefully, or snoring (with sleep apnea) lithium cell phone batteries transportation .”‘
Even the day of the week can affect your blood pressure topamax for anziety . One study revealed that readings are substantially higher on Monday and Tuesday compared to Saturday and Sunday augmentin suspension .”‘ That’s presumably because people relax on the weekends and are under a lot less stress at home than at work what is augmentin xr 1000 mg .
Then there’s the whole issue of “white coat hypertension,” so named because it is triggered by the presence of a health professional wearing a white coat provera to induce menses . Some years ago Italian researchers demonstrated that when a doctor walked into a patient’s room, systolic blood pressure (the first, or top, number of a blood pressure reading) went up an average of 27
“Although a large number of guidelines and recommendations describing how blood pressure [should be> measured are available, research shows that health care providers frequently do not comply with these guidelines inderal for performance anxiety . This leads to possible mistakes in the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension mini-mite dremel 10.8 lithium . Additionally, the
guidelines are not always consistent with each other points within 2 minutes fosamax heart . 5-16 This increase occurred in 47 out of 48 subjects regardless of whether they started with normal blood pressure or had a history of hypertension amitriptyline for anxiety . SittinS in a doctor’s exam room in a goofy gown with your butt hanging out while you wait forever to see the doctor is not designed to put you at ease diclofenac sodium forum . The minute he knocks on the door and comes rushing in, you are likely to feel even more stressed out pituitary testosterone .
The point is that blood pressure is a constantly moving target zoloft versus effexor . Relying on a single measurement in a doctor’s office would be like looking at a still shot from a 90-minute movie and trying to decipher the plot doxycycline small dogs recommended dosage . If you happened to catch a love scene, you might think the movie was romantic other birth control similar to mircette . If the actors were laughing, you might assume it was a comedy can viagra hurt younger males . In reality, though, you could not predict how the movie would play out based on a couple of quick snapshots testosterone sulfate urine . Likewise, trying to draw conclusions about someone’s blood pressure based on a few readings in a doctor’s office is virtually impossible fosamax don’t lay down .
Measuring Blood Pressure
Many physicians, nurses, and physician’s assistants assume that they know how to take your blood pressure correctly carbamazepine price of . It is, after all cialis sources . one of the primary tricks of the trade effects of salbutamol on pregnant uterus . In truth, there is tremendous variability in technique tnt atorvastatin .557 How your blood pressure is measured will affect the number recorded in your chart and, ultimately, whether you will receive a prescription alternative to synthroid .
European and American guidelines suggest that you be allowed to sit quietly for 5 minutes before any measurement is taken metformin pregnancy . Tight clothing should be removed from the upper arm glucovance patient odor . The health professional should measure your arm circumference and select the appropriate cuff to match your arm size effexor xr cause weight gain . The cuff should be applied snugly to the bare arm about half an inch above the elbow crease dexamethasone dosage cancer paranoia . The arm should be resting comfortably on a desk, and the cuff should be at heart level bayer asprin rapid release . Your back should be suppmled lithium model . Sitting on the exam table to Wave your blood pressure taken could raise it by as much as 5 points ponstel capsule 500mg .
You should never talk prior to or during measurements agency carisoprodol drug drug enforcement picture . Blood pressure should be measured twice in each arm with at least 15 seconds between readings levitra vs cialis viagra . If there is a difference of greater than 5 points between readings, repeat measurements should be taken until this variability is below 5 griseofulvin without artificial colors .Me two numbers should then be averaged caffeine gain weight .
Omron Digital Blood Pressure Monitor with IntelliSense
We like this device because it is so easy to use another name for calcitriol . The cuff wraps around the arm without requiring any assistance and fits people with medium to large arms (9 to 17 inches in circumference) atenolol dosing schedule . This is important to get accurate readings lexapro patent teva . There is easy cuff storage and memory recall so you can monitor your progress over time children’s ibuprofen liquid .
Cost: Approximately $80 to $90
Even if everything is done correctly at the doctor’s office or clinic, it is still only a snapshot of your 24-hour blood pressure zyrtec utah . The only way to really know what is going on is to measure your own blood pressure on a regular basis under a variety of different circumstances nolvadex gynecomastia studies . Many physicians now believe that even white coat hypertension may be a predictor of problems to come how to stop taking prevacid . Someone who has “normal” blood pressure at home and elevated readings in a doctor’s office may react to other stressful situations (such as a demanding boss or a spat with a spouse) with bouts of high blood pressure how much does clomid cost . This might lead to true hypertension, with all its negative health consequences, down the road memory lithium ion battery .
So, how would you begin to determine whether you have high blood pressure? If you even suspect you may be at risk, invest in a blood pressure monitor penicillin’s effect of life . If you have hypertension, this device is crucial for measuring your progress dystonic cymbalta . We have looked at lots of machines over the last three decades and have found that those in the Omron line are as easy to use and as accurate as anything on the market vitamin b metformin . In past years Consumer Reports has given the, Omron Automatic BPM with IntelliSense its highest rating is lopid a statin .55′ The ReliOn brand, available from Wal-Mart, is also manufactured by Omron, but is less expensive ($40 to $60) zyprexa papers . We prefer the old-fashioned arm cuff to a wrist device zocor and suicide . We think the arm cuff produces more reliable readings most of the time snorting strattera for a high .
We encourage people with borderline or diagnosed hypertension to measure blood pressure regularly under a variety of conditions celexa and 20mg . Until you detect clear trends, we think it makes sense to monitor in the morning, in the middle of the day, and again in the evening taking prednisone for a long time . Keep a machine at work so you can check your blood pressure in stressful working conditions drug toradol .
Once you have a pretty clear picture of what’s going on, you can cut back to once a day or even a couple of times a week, as long as you change the time of day you take your measurement atarax susp . Keep a diary of all your numbers so you can show them to your physician ziprasidone schizotypal personality . If you want to really go high-tech, you can plug the values into your computer and use a program like Excel to plot out your readings in a graphical form how to use nexium . Your doctor will be blown away by your diligence lady soma . It will also make it easier for her to track your progress urso forte 500mg .
We cannot emphasize enough how critical it is to work closely with your physician to find a blood pressure—lowering approach that controls hypertension and maintains your quality of life buspar buspirone anxiety . It will take patience and persistence pictures of digoxin allergies .
How High Is High? How Low to Go?
Just as cardiologists keep lowering the target levels for cholesterol, they are also reducing the goals for blood pressure lotrel hydrochlorothiazide . It used to be that many physicians didn’t treat high blood pressure unless the systolic pressure (the upper number) stayed above 160 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and the diastolic (the bottom number) was above 100 mmHg prescribing information on nizoral . These days many doctors define hypertension as anything over 140/90 price comparison cialis .111 Some who would have us aim even lower have proposed a goal blood pressure reading of 115/75 allergy to penicillin hereditary .5«’ To be perfectly candid, even the experts cannot decide precisely when it is necessary to treat prevacid soltab pediatrics . Different countries frequently have different guidelines benzoyl peroxide acne .
Some data even suggest that very low blood pressure may have certain negative consequences tell me about aricept . Although many physicians believe that there is no such thing as too tow a cholesterol score or blood pressure reading (unless someone is MAY sick), that might not always be true caverta mail order . Older people may be more vulnerable to falls if they experience low blood pressure when they stand suddenly lenor reclame . (This can be caused by some blood pressure medications evista the drug .) Dizziness is a frequent complaint when blood pressure drops dramatically ampicillin potassium .
Swedish researchers have reported that although elevated blood pressure in midlife is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, so is a fall in blood pressure when people get older pediatric ampicillin dosing .
TIPS FOR BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING
• Use the proper cuff size diovan hct use in pregnancy description . If your arm is larger than 13 inches in circumference, you must use a larger cuff (just as your doctor must when taking your blood pressure!) rozerem plus sinequan . Using a normal cuff if you have a large arm can lead to falsely elevated blood pressure readings ceftin breastfeeding .
• Maintain correct arm position zetia tanning beds . Rest your arm horizontally on a desk or the arm of a chair or couch can give cough medicine and motrin . Your arm should be at roughly the same level as your heart and resting comfortably general anxiety disorder wellbutrin serzone working . If your arm is lower (like in your lap) your blood pressure reading may be falsely elevated what foods contain caffeine .
• Do not talk! Doctors and nurses often try to put patients at ease by chatting them up while taking their blood pressure lexapro compendium . A seemingly simple question like “How are the kids?” could trigger a dramatic jump in blood pressure soma body cells . We don’t know why, but talking while measuring blood pressure can increase a reading by more than 20 points zithromax refrigerat .561 Sit quietly and breathe deeply from the belly for 5 minutes before measuring blood pressure digital camera batteries lithium .
their study, elderly subjects who experienced a 15-point or greater decline in blood pressure had an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia does methotrexate decrease effect of zoloft . evista medicine .562
Q sideaffects of prozac . My father has had trouble getting his blood pressure under control uses for metformin . His doctor has him on atenolol, reserpine, Accupril, Norvasc, and hydrochlorothiazide synthroid alchohol effects . Dad is terribly depressed and can barely drag himself out of bed what is metformin 500mg . As a result, his doctor prescribed Lexapro why is caffeine bad for you . Isn’t this too much medication?
A lamictal rare side effects . We are astonished physicians are still prescribing reserpine for hypertension tramadol online cod shipping . It is an old-fashioned medication lamotrigine titration bipolar . Reserpine is notorious for causing severe depression levothyroxine sideaffects . Treating it with an antidepressant like Lexapro is not logical amoxicillin penicillin false positive drug test .
A meta-analysis of atenolol in the journal Lancet (November 6, 2004) “cast doubts on atenolol as a suitable drug for hypertensive patients methotrxate prednisone dematomyositis .” It may cause fatigue, dizziness, or depression in some patients, but such blood pressure medication should never be stopped suddenlyl
Your father should discuss his symptoms with his doctor who should be able to control your dad’s blood pressure without severe side effects like depression or fatigue cheap generic cialis .
0 0 9
The bottom line is that there is no bottom line for you withdrawal symptoms from verapamil . Hypertension guidelines are created for large populations or countries, but not for individuals taking ultram er and floricet . Remember, blood pressure is just one more risk factor for cardiovascular disease, like cholesterol, smoking, and diabetes vardenafil bayer side effects . Granted, it is a key risk factor, but the point of treatment is not only to get your numbers down to some arbitrary ideal—the goal is to keep you as healthy as possible and prevent atherosclerosis that might lead to a heart attack, a stroke, or kidney damage kamagra direct .
Aggressive treatment may be called for in some cases when there are many other risk factors like diabetes, overweight, high triglycerides, and coronary artery disease keflex symptoms in dog .563 In other situations, a more modest approach may be appropriate ultramed in california .564
Lowering Blood Pressure without Drugs
Hundreds of medications lower blood pressure, but they all can cause side effects deal with effexor xr symptoms . In some cases the complications are extremely subtle, such as a loss of potassium nolvadex d20 . This serious situation can go undetected for years unless you get a blood test reuters and propecia and october 2004 . If potassium levels go too low, an irregular heart rhythm may result or, in the worst case, cardiac arrest lexapro sam-e . Since there is no perfect pill to control hypertension, it only makes sense to try to manage things first with nondrug approaches caffeine free diet coke nutritional .
Jul
16
OVER THE COUNTER DRUGS FOR PROSTATITIS
July 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment
OVER THE COUNTER
Just what does the March, 1990 publicity release by the FDA mean? Will there still be over the counter preparations designed to help with BPH problems by the end of the year, or into 1991? Only the FDA knows.
A check of health food and nutrition specialty stores in mid 1990 showed at least five products on the market. Many of these tend to be regional and there well could be twenty or fifty more out there. These are shown as examples of what’s on the market now. We do not judge any of them but present them here as another element of the BPH real-life picture for the layman.
Prostate Plus
This product came to our attention through a multi-page tabloid type newspaper mailed to a name and address (or current occupant). It was a national mass mailing and held a 3/4 page story and advertisement for Prostate Plus.
Prostate Plus was described as a “Total nutritional support for a healthy prostate.” It went on to say that it: “provides every nutrient known to benefit a healthy, well-functioning prostate gland.” Since it is advertised as a nutritional supplement and not a medical treatment, perhaps it will get around the FDA broadsword.
What’s in it? I-Glycine, I-Alanine, I-glutamic acid, zinc, raw prostate, saw palmetto, pumpkin seed concentrate, vitamin E, golden rod, and flaxseed oil.
Ninety capsules cost you $14.95 in the store.
Prostone
Prostone comes from the Enzymatic Therapy people in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Prostone No. 190 is described this way: “The nutrients in this formula including zinc, Vitamin A, essential fatty acids and amino acids, are vital for proper prostate function.”
What’s in it? Oil concentrate from wheat germ and safflower seeds, linoleic acid from safflower seed oil, intrinsic glandular lipids, lecithin, L-Glutamic acid, L-A Ian i fie, Amenoacetic acid, Prostate tissue, Vitamin B6, Vitamin A from fish liver oil, Zinc chelate, bee pollen and saw palmetto berries extract.
Sixty capsules will cost you $11.95.
Raw Prostate With Gaba
This product is made up exclusively of raw bovine prostate and gamma amino butyric acid. That’s about all we know about it except that it comes from Country Life, a large maker of health food additives and products. It’s on the market. Glad they told us it was bovine prostate. Ninety tablets will cost you $13.00
Prostatrophic Concentrate
This one is made up entirely from raw bovine prostate. One such ingredient indicated it had been freeze dried. Here 100 tablets are priced at $8.00.
Search
This small bottle of sixty tablets was priced at $10 and the ingredients were listed as raw bovine prostate.
So, we’ve talked about the non-surgical, minor surgery and drug type of treatments for BPH. Where do we go from here? If none of the other methods are right for you, your urologist may suggest traditional surgery for your BPH. What’s that? Move right on to the next chapter and find out.
Jul
14
INFECTIOUS AND NONINFECTIOUS PROSTATITIS
July 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment
INFECTIOUS AND
NONINFECTIOUS
PROSTATITIS
Prostatitis is an inflammation of the prostate gland and it is one of the most common of men’s diseases keflex tape . There is no age limit here — prostatitis attacks any man from teenager to grandfather in his nineties celebrex half life .
How do you know if you have it? You’ll be absolutely certain that something is wrong inderal for cats . Prostatitis is not subtle omeprazole and irritability . A case of acute prostatitis may bring on a sudden fever, chills, nausea and vomiting besides urgency of urination, hesitancy, burning pain during urination and even pus or blood in the urine apoe quinapril .
Most family physicians who diagnose acute prostatitis will suggest the patient go to a specialist, the urologist fosamax tumors .
Prostatitis can be caused by infection, irritation and congestion or a combination of these problems geodon msds . Many urologists will tell you that sometimes there is no apparent cause of the condition viagra teens teenager .
This ailment does respond well to treatment, even if it is a bit slow sometimes menopause high testosterone .
The infectious type of prostatitis results from some microorganism or bacteria that has invaded the prostate jitters from celexa . With its tough outer shell, the prostate is hard to get into dipyridamole allergic reaction . But it can be infected through the bloodstream, the lymph system, and the urine motrin package insert .
A lot of the infections come from bacteria from the colon prilosec long . However, antibiotics now can be used to knock out this type of infection before it gets serious effexor side effects headaches .
Bacteria can get into the prostate from sexual contact amoxicillin price overnight . The yeast infections as well as gonorrhea can be sexually transmitted order tetracycline . This danger is just another reason to be safe in your sexual life, wear a condom evanescence lithium guitar tab .
Some people can develop prostatitis simply by eating or drinking certain foods or beverages drug-herb interraction metoprolol aconite . On the avoidance list for some people are coffee, gin, red wine and Scotch whiskey arv efavirenz . Aromatic oils are used to flavor these drinks and that is what irritates the prostate and sets it to complaining leg lipitor pain .
We mentioned gonorrhea as one problem ibuprofen and benedryl . At one time it was the most prevalent infection of the male urogenital tract floxin otic . But now with the better antibiotics, this sexually transmitted social disease can usually be cured quickly benadryl prednisone interactino . A fast cure has the added benefit of stopping the infection before it can travel to the prostate avapro micardis .
Sometimes abscesses do develop in the prostate from gonorrhea unichem laboratories rimonabant conterfiet . This is often because the man has an antibiotic resistant strain or did not get prompt enough treatment to kill off the disease quickly effexor side affects uses . The abscesses result in the same usual symptoms of acute prostatitis evista and respiratory infections .
A urine sample usually shows up minute amounts of the prostate emissions and microscopic examination of the emissions will help the doctor determine what bacteria have made their attack and that will determine what treatment is prescribed does metformin help in getting pregnant . Most prostatitis clears up quickly with the proper medication 3v lithium fishing battery .
Jul
13
PROSCAR IN PROSTATITIS TREATMENT
July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment
PROSCAR
One of the drugs of the future for controlling BPH may be a product now in final testing by Merck & Co. called Proscar. This drug blocks an enzyme that stimulates prostate growth. The Merck researchers say that the male hormone testosterone undergoes changes in the prostate gland and this is believed to be the primary factor in unwanted prostate growth when a man gets into his 40’s and 50’s and later.
By blocking this enzyme and refusing to let it change the testosterone, it would also stop the growth of the prostate.
Researchers say they are still in testing on the drug but it is in human clinical trials, one of the last of the procedures.
Using 350 patients in one clinical test, the drug reduced the size of enlarged prostates an average of twenty-eight percent. One third of the test patients also had a “dramatic improvement” in their urine flow.
Dr. John McConnell, assistant professor of urology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said: “The drug is highly effective from a biochemical point of view. It does shrink the prostate.”
He went on to say since only about one-third of the patients had an improvement in urine flow, the drug is not applicable to all men or all BPH cases.
One advantage of the Proscar treatment is that it has resulted in no side effects, at least so far in the testing. Side effects have been the killer of most prostate drugs so far.
Proscar is in final testing and with success should win the Food and Drug Administration approval for sale in the “early 1990’s”. That could still mean that it’s three or four years away.
One drawback to Proscar has been determined so far. It takes “about three months” before the prostate shrinks enough to help in urinary flow problems.
Merck is excited about the new product from a breakthrough standpoint, but also because it could have a great financial future. The market for such a medication that works, is said to be in the hundreds of million of dollars a year. The quickly expanding male population in the “prostate years” adds to this sales potential. This is one product to watch closely.
Some drug industry spokesmen say Proscar and Merck may be facing a problem: getting urologists to prescribe a medication that could cut their income by reducing the 400,000 prostate surgeries a year. Most urologists discount this saying they welcome another tool to fight prostatic disease.
Jul
9
YOUR PROSTATE
PLAN IT OUT AHEAD
There are other ways to live more comfortably with your BPH.
• A long car trip. Plan where you’re going to stop. Most car rides tend to stimulate the urinary tract. This may be partly due to nervous tension if you’re the driver. Figure out where you can stop at least every two hours.
This will allow you to gas up, have a snack and use the bathroom. Some patients with BPH say sometimes on car trips they have been stuck in big cities where there were no filling stations, and by the time they found one they nearly tore the door off the men’s room to get inside.
• Going to a scary or suspenseful movie? Again nervous tension can increase the need to urinate. Performers get this problem before they go on. A really wild movie can do the same thing to most men. Try to use the bathroom before the movie starts. As a precaution, don’t buy a large cola drink to go along with your popcorn.
Remember “a pint in, a pint out,” and often the “pint out” part won’t wait until the movie is over.
• Let’s say you waited too long, your whole crotch is burning and throbbing and you have to urinate so bad you’re almost upset to your stomach. When you at last get to a bathroom, try for the toilet stall. Simply close the door, drop your pants and sit down.
No one seems to know why, but sitting down to urinate relaxes some muscles or the sphincter muscle, or something, and it makes urination at these difficult times much easier. At stress times like this, many BPH patients say it’s taken them five minutes of standing at a urinal or at the bathroom at home before they can get even a drop of urine out.
Spasming of muscles seems to be relaxed, and the whole system simply works easier and much faster in these stress situations, if you can sit down and bend forward toward your knees.
At this point who cares why it works, it does and will work any time you have trouble getting a urine flow started as well. Don’t fight it, just try it!
COPING WITH YOUR BPH
You’ve known that you’ve been living with your BPH for what - a year, three years? You’re a short timer. Most urologists have had literally thousands of years of experience with BPH through their patients. Your doctor may have a dozen little hints and helps like those above that have worked for hundreds of his BPH patients. No, these are not big dramatic findings that can be reported in the New England Journal of Medicine or the Journal of the American Medical Association.
However, your own doctor or urologist may have a small gold mine of tips and hints that he’s picked up over the years to make a big difference in how you can live easier and more comfortably with early and more advanced stages of BPH.
The next time you’re in his office, ask him if he has any of these little gems of BPH trivia advice that might just fit some problem that you’ve been having. The best advice is: Always go to the expert: talk to your urologist.
Jul
7
PROSTATE PROBLEMS AND ALCOHOL, BEER AND COFFEINE.
July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment
ALCOHOL AND BEER
You knew this was coming. Alcohol is not good for the human body. Alcohol is especially not good for men with BPH.
“Hell, give up beer and a few shots of bourbon and maybe a highball or two? Damn, I’d rather die!” Such typical comments by moderate and heavy drinkers is often answered with the assurance of: “You will die and probably sooner than you expected to.”
For years some urologists have said that alcohol irritates the prostate. It also can cause serious problems with the liver. Some of the flavorings in alcohol can affect the prostate to such a degree that it can cause a kind of chronic prostatitis
For a man with even early BPH, the sudden or overuse of alcohol can bring on a surprise attack of acute retention of urine. This condition results in a desperate need to urinate but it is impossible. A quick trip to a doctor’s office or the emergency room of a hospital for catheterization and draining the bladder follows.
Good old common sense dictates that a man with even early BPH should seriously consider his consumption of alcohol and its relation to his prostatic condition. At this point many men simply don’t want to take the risk or stand the pain and problems associated with alcohol and BPH and stop drinking.
Beer drinkers will be furious, but the pint-in, pint-out and the much used bathrooms at bars and taverns, indicate that it is well known that beer drinking is immediately followed by voluminous urination.
Here common sense leaps up again. Beer drinking in the afternoon may be easily tolerated by some men, but not by others. Late night beer drinking will almost surely trigger two or three additional night time trips to the bathroom that otherwise could have been avoided.
If you insist on drinking beer, use a little common sense so it doesn’t trigger more unpleasant BPH reactions.
COFFEE, COLAS AND CAFFEINE
Yes, caffeine is the big tiger on your back here. Caffeine is a stimulant to the urinary tract: it makes you urinate more and more frequently. For most well people this is no problem, not even a minor inconvenience. Over the years your body will adapt to the added caffeine.
But when you have BPH, it’s different. You don’t need any more stimulation in your urinary tract. Neither do you need any more volume.
The BPH coffee drinker who normally goes through twelve, eight ounce cups of coffee a day is going to have a much harder time living with his urinary tract, than the non-coffee drinker, or even the man who drinks twelve, eight ounces of non-caffeine fluids a day.
Ounce for ounce, coffee and tea contain twice the amount of caffeine that regular cola drinks do. Of course now most of the colas come in caffeine free types as well. This is one place where you can have your cola and not your caffeine.
In the same manner, there are many caffeine free coffee brands now on the market.
If you want to manage your body with a little more “smarts” give the caffeine free drinks a test in your own bathroom. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised when you make the test.
Oh, the “Principle of the single differential”. When you make any of these intake tests, try to do everything else the same, except for the item you’re testing. If you have two differentials (variables) in your life style, you won’t be able to tell which one made the difference, if there is a difference. It’s an old principle from the physical sciences but it works.
If you drink caffeine fluids, take the test. Try the caffeine free types for a week, doing nothing else different. One BPH patient said it cut his nocturia risings down from two a night to one. After a few weeks you’ll even forget what the caffeine laced drink tasted like.
Don’t forget that many of the current pain pills for headaches, colds and hay fever also contain caffeine. While these aren’t taken often, you might look for some that don’t have caffeine in them, such as the ibuprofen medications.
Jul
7
HOW TO COPE WITH EARLY BPH. LIVING WITH BPH. Early Stages of an Enlarged Prostate.
July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment
HOW TO COPE
WITH EARLY BPH
Living with the early stages of an enlarged prostate isn’t all that hard:
This is true. Remember, you had BPH for eight to ten years before it caused you any problems at all. You might have had some mild symptoms for another two or three years before you realized it and found out what was causing them. Now you know.
Now is no time to panic. So these problems caused by BPH area small inconvenience, they are something you can learn to live with. The alternative is not a happy thought.
Let’s go back to our typical case history. This gentleman is the one who is sixty years old and has the three most minor of BPH symptoms: a brief hesitancy when urinating, a slower, less forceful stream, and he usually gets up once a night to urinate.
The secret here is that you know what the cause is of these minor problems, which means you can learn to manage them. You have managed a lot of things in your life, right? First the other kids in your family, then a wife, then your own kids, then that business and all the people you had under you. Compared to that, managing early BPH is a breeze.
First the worry. The experts say again and again that BPH is not cancer, has no connection with prostate cancer, does not lead to cancer and is an entirely separate ailment. So get that out of your mind.
You don’t have prostate cancer, it’s only BPH.
Urologists fight this misconception all the time and gradually they’re winning. They point out that cancer of the prostate is almost always on the outside of the prostate lobes. The enlarged prostate grows inward and outward. There is absolutely no casual relationship between the two.
Now, one more concern with prostate cancer. When surgery is needed for BPH, usually at a much later time than in a man’s fifties or early sixties, there is a finding that about ten percent of the BPH prostates will be found to have a cancer.
Remember, cancer can strike any part of the body at any time in life. It has no connection to BPH. When these cancers are found they are not in the usual places where they could be easily diagnosed during your regular BPH exams. So in reality the BPH surgery is a stroke of luck since most of these cancers are just beginning and are caught quickly so they can be eradicated more easily.
So, from here on we don’t worry about BPH causing or being tied in with prostate cancer in any way. Clear?
LIVING WITH BPH
Urologists point out that the minor symptoms of BPH, often the initial ones, may be the only troubles a man suffers with BPH for as much as ten to fifteen years. That means you shouldn’t even be thinking about or concerned with any worry about prostate surgery or other treatment now. Dump it right out of your computer memory hard disc. Why worry about something that isn’t going to happen for ten to fifteen years? You’ll have plenty of time to fret and stew about it and discuss it with your urologist when the time comes. By then some even better treatments undoubtedly will be developed.
Concentrate on today, and how to make your life pleasant and interesting and fulfilling, right now! in spite of BPH.
We know that there is no “cure” for BPH. You can’t take a pill and like a headache your BPH will just go away. It isn’t that kind of a problem. Even with our miracle modern medical cures, there is nothing even on the drawing boards that will magically cure BPH. So we practice positive thinking and forget about that and move on to areas of behavior that we can and should do something about.
Plain old fashioned horse-sense. With the decline of the horse as the basic transportation unit of Americans, not much is heard anymore about horse-sense. Too bad. Horse sense has shaken down to “common sense”, which is almost as good.
For example, it makes no sense to drink two gallons of water a day when you know you’re going to have to urinate most of that water the same day. Don’t overload your urinary system. The less you drink the less you’ll have to urinate.
Don’t carry this to extremes. The body is at least 1,259 percent water. You need water, fluids, to survive. But there is a happy medium. Some doctors say a man should drink eight, eight ounce glasses of water a day. That’s half a gallon. Actually what they mean is that the body should intake that much fluid a day: coffee, water, milk, soup, colas, juice, any fluid should count.
Many other doctors say this is much more fluid than the average man needs. Your body will tell you when it wants a drink. As a common sense living-with-BPH, start cutting down on your fluids a little at a time. You’ll be urinating less, but still enough. Talk to your urologist or doctor about this and find out what the minimum daily need is for intake fluids for a man of your size and activity. It may be much less than you suspect.
If you do manual labor in the hot sun all day, you’ll need more water than if you’re in an air-conditioned office where you work on a computer. Your doctor will be able to help you here.
TIME YOUR FLUID INTAKE
If nocturia bothers you, and you’re getting up three times a night to urinate, try limiting your fluid intake in the evening. One doctor suggested not to drink any fluids for four hours before retiring. That way your body will have processed your fluids, and passed them well before your sleeping time.
Using a modified system such as this (some men have one small drink at dinner and nothing after that) many BPH patients can cut to once their nocturnal urination. Now that is a real blessing if you can go from three risings to only one a night. This is a prime example of how you can manage your own life to reduce the interference of BPH with your normal activities.
Jul
7
ACUTE URINE RETENTION. BHP.
July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment
ACUTE URINE RETENTION
In this busy, busy world of ours, many men are working so hard and going so fast that they don’t take time for regular physical checkups. Some never think about prostate problems until it’s almost too late.
Again the symptoms of BPH can slip up on a busy man. He simply figures that by sixty-three he should be urinating more often and he’s heard other men talk about needing to get up at night once or twice. He thinks nothing of it.
Then one day he needs to urinate but can’t. He stands there waiting and then straining but he can’t pass even a few drops and he’s hurting like crazy. Soon the pain is so agonizing that he calls his doctor or rushes down to a hospital emergency room to find out what’s the matter.
A catheter drains the urine from the distended bladder and relieves the problem. Some patients with acute urine retention might be holding as much as a quart of urine. Most patients will look much better within minutes and feel fine in an hour or so.
A sudden attack of acute urine retention can happen to almost any man who has some obstruction already in his urethra. There are also conditions that can bring on such attacks.
Prolonged exposure to the cold, especially if you are not used to it can sometimes bring on such an attack. Drinking alcohol by someone not used to it. The sudden use of antihistamines is also a culprit in this case.
Such an attack is usually enough for the patient to have his prostate checked critically by an urologist who will advise him if any treatment or surgery is needed — as well as suggestions about how to prevent such an attack in the future.
So, there is your primer on BPH, its symptoms and some details about the problems it brings up. Now, is there a way to live with these problems during that time when the doctor recommends no major treatment is needed. We’ll look at that in the next chapter.
Jul
7
WHAT PROBLEMS CAN EXTREME PROSTATE
ENLARGEMENT CAUSE?
Silent Prostatism. Sometimes the prostate will enlarge and there are none of the usual symptoms. The urethra continues to close but somehow the man simply doesn’t realize the problem or decides that he’s just getting old and the “water works” sometimes doesn’t work right for him.
If this condition builds and builds, more and more urine can be left in the bladder that can’t be expelled in urination. This can result in a serious problem. The patient will become excessively tired and feel weak, he will be irritable and could suddenly collapse or even lapse into a coma.
When large amounts of urine are left in the bladder and it isn’t strong enough to expel the liquid through a narrowing urethra, serious damage can occur. This can lead to a serious backflow pressure of the urine on the kidneys. At the most serious, such a problem can cause kidney failure and a quick death.
In cases like this the patient needs to get to a hospital quickly so a catheter can be used to drain the bladder. With the emptying of the bladder, the patient will feel much better almost at once. Then the doctors will watch to see if any permanent damage was done to the kidneys and if so what additional treatment might be needed.
Depending on the seriousness of the situation, the patient’s normal kidney function should come back after a week to three months. At that time the prostate should be checked for size to see if prostate surgery or some other treatment is required.
CONGESTION OF THE PROSTATE
Sometimes after normal BPH symptoms in a patient, an urologist will find only a moderately enlarged prostate but one that is mildly congested. There often is no sign of infection. Typically there might be a minor amount of urine that can’t be drained from the bladder during urination.
Often there will be some form of obstruction at the bladder outlet which also restricts bladder emptying.
At this point there is no major problem for the patient and he would be put on a maintenance program to have his prostate checked regularly.
As the prostate grows and the bladder muscles are forced to work harder and harder to push the urine through the narrowing urethra, the bladder can become fatigued. In some cases the bladder will simply quit functioning and urine buildup occurs in the bladder.
This can form a place where bacteria can grow and multiply rapidly. When this happens the patient feels a burning pain when he urinates. Sometimes the urine will have a bad odor and traces of blood can show in the urine.
A danger here is urinary infection, which is usually signalled in the patient by a burning sensation when urinating, chills or fever and the intensification of his regular BPH symptoms.
Here, as in other early symptoms of BPH, the patient may go for several years without any more serious problems than his minor BPH problems.
On the other hand the congestion may increase, and if this happens the patient’s urologist may suggest a prostate massage. Here the prostate is massaged digitally through the rectum and the congested fluid is expelled. This makes the heaviness vanish and a more normal life returns.
The urologist may suggest that a patient have regular prostate massages to relieve the congestion. Or it may be relieved by regular ejaculations through intercourse or masturbation.
Some urologists never recommend repeated prostatic massages. But all suggest in situations like this that the patient should avoid long periods of exposure to intense cold weather, should avoid most spicy foods, should sharply reduce the use of alcoholic beverages, should avoid antihistamines, and they recommend the patient to take warm baths often.
Any shift or intensifying or change in symptoms of the BPH should be reported to the patient’s physician or urologist at once.