The Simple Term is Enlarged Prostate

In medical terms you might hear enlarged prostate described as any of the following:

Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH if you’re into abbreviations,
Benign prostate hypertrophy (technically incorrect), or even,
Adenofibromyomatous hyperplasia, if you really want to end the conversation right there!

They all mean the same. Even then we would tend to say 'bigger than usual'.

This is what might be happening if you have symptoms of an enlarged prostate gland

Not good, if the urinary symptoms it causes are driving you nuts!

There is better news. A diagnosis of bph:

does not mean cancer,
is much more common than the latter and
having BPH does not increase the chances of ever having prostate cancer.

However, both conditions might exist at the same time.

On the one hand, it might be a blessing that you have symptoms at all, as investigation just might reveal a cancer at an early stage. On the other hand, some would rather not know, if it means living the rest of life in anxiety and constant monitoring of those symptoms.

Here, the subject is not cancer, but benign prostatic hyperplasia. Benign means ‘not cancer’.

But what does it mean?

Now you have a name for this wretched condition that’s making you feel either like a toddler in the bathroom or a grizzly bear with no sleep - a roller coaster that’s really getting in the way of your day and night life.

Symptoms of benign prostate hyperplasia show up when the tissue cells have increased in number. Your prostate has grown bigger than usual perhaps as part of normal aging, but some men never have any problems. Hypertrophy is a term used when each individual cell has grown bigger than normal but this is not the case as there is no hypertrophy in bph, only hyperplasia.

One way or another, the prostate might grow outward, but the more common urinary complaints result from the inward squeezing of the urethra running through the middle of your enlarged prostate gland. Your urethra is the tube through which urine and sperm or semen travels.

Actually, it would be better news if the problem were inflammation of the urethra itself. This is called prostatitis and may be related to a urinary tract infection. At this stage, your mind has gone crazy worried about the worst, so an infection would be good news as it should be simple to treat and soon gone with no further effect on your life style or your sex life - only a temporary halt.

You would hope for the same ‘gone’ result from treatment of your enlarged prostate gland too, right? Even with severe urinary symptoms like weak urine flow or overactive bladder.

So here are your choices if you have signs of enlarged prostate:

Medication
Minimally invasive treatment
Partial prostatectomy
Alternative treatments
Supplements
Dietary and lifestyle changes.

These are all real treatment options, separately or combined.

You’ve probably had the biggest shock of your ego life. This is going to be your priority thinking for a short while but nothing is going to change in the next week. You have likely had this condition for more time than you have known about it, as the symptoms show up as a sign the condition is progressing, not beginning.

Clearly, you are desperate to reduce the symptom that has brought you to this site for more information. Do that, in whatever way seems to fit your circumstances. Then, my request is that you consider all other options for future treatment.