Enlarged Prostrate Gland Hormone Treatment

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is the enlargement of the prostate, usually with age. Symptoms of BPH are frequent urination and inability to sleep through without urinating, weak urinary flow, inability to hold urine in and a feeling of being unable to empty the bladder.

Hormone Treatment

• See your doctor if you notice any symptoms of an enlarged prostate. Hormone treatment is determined by the severity of the symptoms and how they affect day-to-day life. Treatment is usually considered when the symptoms are so severe that they interfere with sleep patterns. It is almost always given if the patient cannot hold in or control his urine during the day.

Moderate Symptoms

• Ask what hormone treatment would be best for you. Moderate symptoms--"moderate" being determined by the doctor--are treated with one of two different hormone treatments: 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors or alpha-adrenergic blockers. The most common 5-alpha-reductase is a synthetic hormone called finasteride. It helps shrink the prostate and increase urine flow. Alpha-adrenergic blockers also increase urinary flow, and they reduce the need to urinate at night.

Side Effects

• Be aware of the side effects of hormone treatment. Finasteride can have several severe ones including loss of sexual drive, erectile dysfunction and a decreased amount of ejaculate. Breast enlargement is another possible side effect, although this appears in only 2 percent of men who take this medication.

Severe Conditions

• Severe prostate enlargement is usually solved by surgery, but recent advances in hormone therapy have made it possible to live with an enlarged prostate without surgery. A mix of the hormone drug AVODART, or dutasteride, and tamsulosin has been shown to greatly improve severe sufferers' quality of life without surgery. Dutasteride is a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor, and tamsulosin helps relieve the need to urinate.