What Men Must Know About Prostate Health

There are many reasons why men should be motivated to gain a fair amount of knowledge about prostate health. Severe conditions of the prostate may be avoided totally if adequate care is taken. The areas that one needs to study are the changes that can occur in the gland, the effect that it can have on overall health and the type of prostate medications that are available for use at various stages. There are many reasons why men should have adequate understanding of the prostate:

A significant percentage of men over fifty years of age suffer from some sort of problem with their prostate.
Some non-cancerous prostate disorders have symptoms that are similar to prostate cancer.
Even benign conditions like an inflammation or an infection can worsen and lead to serious conditions like cessation of urine, bladder and kidney infections and sometimes kidney failure.
The age factor makes it difficult for an individual to undergo surgery at a later stage. It also leads to doubts and raises the risk of cancer.
The prostate gland is a male gland. When healthy, it is about the size of a walnut and is situated at the base of the urinary bladder. It surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis. Tubes from the testicles channel sperm to the prostate. Seminal vesicles affiliated to the prostate gland produce a substance that is mixed to the sperm to form semen.

There are three major types of prostate disorders:

Prostatitis – An inflammation of the prostate caused by a bacterial or non-bacterial infection.
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) – This is the medical term for the enlargement of the prostate.
Prostate cancer – This is an abnormal and uncontrolled cell division causing formation of a tumor in the prostate.
Prostatitis normally manifests in the form of chills and fever, pain in the lower back and burning or painful urination.

BPH causes the prostate to enlarge. Since there is no compensating increase in the area around it, the enlarged prostate applies strong in pressure on the urethra. Urinary problems like the urge to urinate frequently, weak and intermittent flow, and dribbling are some of the typical symptoms of BPH. These can significantly affect the quality of life of the patient. Continued BPH can cause concerns about prostate cancer especially since the patients tend to be older, but prostate cancer is much less common than BPH and does not affect every individual who has BPH.

Both the above mentioned conditions are manageable conditions. Awareness of the symptoms and methods of treatment for each type of disorder can help in controlling the condition. BPH cannot be totally cured, but symptomatic treatment is effective and ensures a normal quality of life. Treatment options for prostate disorders include invasive and non-invasive treatments. Alternative treatments include herbs for reducing prostate enlargement and yogic exercises. In the unfortunate event of prostate cancer, surgery often proves successful, provided it has not metastasized to unmanageable proportions.