Hello friends, today let’s talk about a very common problem faced by men above the age of 45 years. Prostate is one body organ which continues to grow throughout the life. In some, it grows faster than others where the prostate problems and associated urinary symptoms start appearing early on. People who have family history of prostate problems are more likely to present with such symptoms.
The picture below gives you an idea about the structure of the prostate. Its a globular organ, situated below the urinary bladder. It covers or surrounds the urine pipe (Urethra) from all sides. When prostate enlarges in size, if it enlarges in outwards direction, it does not cause much compression on the urethra. Hence, in such cases patients do not get any urinary symptoms and prostate grows silently. However, in other patients, when the prostate grows towards the inside, it starts compressing the urethra. When urethra gets compressed, there is obstruction in the normal urine flow pathway. This is how all the prostate symptoms start appearing.
We have done a video on prostate symptoms, I will link this below, please have a look.
Coming to the home remedies for prostate, let me say it out loud in the beginning itself, there is no magic concoction that will reduce the size of the prostate once it starts growing. If there was, medical science’s enormous research and development all over the globe would have already discovered it. Secondly, I have seen a lot of talk about ingredients like pumpkin seed oil, green tea etc which claim to “reduce the risk of developing prostate” which I find absurd personally as a practicing urologist.
First, you cannot “develop” prostate. Every male has it. You also cannot control growing of prostate throughout life just like you cannot control growing beard or graying of hair. It is a normal ageing process and everyone has to pass through it. Then, “reduce the risk” is a very confusing term. How can you reduce the risk of something which is ultimately going to happen as a part of normal ageing process?
So the home remedies I am going to talk about today are not going to tell you another miracle ingredient that will stop prostate enlargement. But these remedies will help you cope with the developing prostate. These remedies will make sure that along with the medical treatment, when you practice them, you will avoid any acute problems or urinary emergencies.
Here are some tips I wanted to share
1. Do not hold Urine. Go when you get the Urge.
This is probably the most important advice for my patients suffering from prostate problems. When you hold the urine, and resist the urge to pass it, the bladder starts distending (because you cannot control the formation of urine and it keeps getting collected in the bladder). As the bladder becomes big, it puts further pressure on the urethra. At one point, the urethra gets so compressed that urine cannot pass through it. That is when Acute Retention of Urine happens. In this condition, you cannot pass urine even if you want to because physically, the urine pipe or urethra is completely blocked. This becomes an emergency and the patient has to be brought into the emergency department of hospital.
Therefore, to avoid such a condition, never resist the urge to pass urine. Even if you’re in the middle of something, stop and go to the bathroom.
2. Practice Complete Voiding.
It is a common problem among men with prostate enlargement that they do not pass urine completely. Even after passing the urine, there is a feeling that some amount is left in the bladder. So, what I suggest is, stay in the bathroom for a couple of more minutes and try to pass the urine completely. Also, you may practice “Double Voiding”. Here, after passing urine one time, you wait and then go again after 5 minutes. This ensures complete emptying of the bladder and avoiding any added pressure on the urethra.
3. Reduce Fluid Intake at Night
One of the commonest urinary symptoms caused by enlarged prostate is waking up at night to pass urine. This problem can be avoided if you reduce water or any other fluid intake at night. Specially, 2 hours before sleeping, I suggest not taking any significant amount of fluid. In addition, I would also advise reducing tea or coffee intake, in fact not taking any tea or coffee after evening would be ideal. This is because tea or coffee work as diuretics which means they increase urine formation. Hence, reducing the intake of such ingredients as well as reducing fluid intake at night would help with the hassle of night wake ups. Also, in turn, this reduces pressure on urethra. In addition, alcohol consumption must be reduced to as low as possible.
4. Avoid Cough & Cold Medicine
Not a lot of people talk about this. But this is a very important piece of advise for anyone suffering from Prostate problems. Avoid Cold and Cough medicines. Specially those which contain components like Pseudoephedrine or Phenylephrine. These decongestants actually have an effect on the muscles of the urethra as well as capsule of the prostate. They cause shrinking of the capsule as well as urethra which can lead to urinary retention. In fact, in this case, patient may experience a lot of pain. We call this condition “Painful Urinary Retention”.
5. Avoid Cold Weather
Cold weather causes peripheral vasoconstriction (The blood vessels of our skin contract a little), which increases the blood flow to the internal organs. More blood flow to the kidneys results in more urine formation. This way, you begin facing urinary symptoms more than what you were experiencing before.
6. General Measures – Kegel Exercises in focus
Apart from all the above mentioned specific advises, I want to tell you about some adjuvant measures. But the most important take home message should be the fact “Never Stop Taking Your Medications, no matter how many home remedies you try”. So I am sure a lot of you have heard about Kegel’s Exercises. These are very easy exercises which take around 30 seconds and you can do them even when you’re sitting. It will help in urgent desires of urine as well as with urinary leakage. We have all the details mentioned about Kegel Exercises <<- click on the highlighted area to go that page.
Apart from Kegel’s you may continue to practise general measures like not sitting for too long, consuming a healthy balanced diet, keeping yourself physically active and always go for your prostate check up as and when advised by your urologist.
I hope this post was helpful for everyone. Please feel free to reach out to us on (0091) 8601539297 for any further help. Thank you, have a good day.
