Prostate Health Questions and Answers

90% of common prostate problems (prostatitis, hyperplasia, early cancer risk) can be avoided by "not holding in urine, getting up and moving for 2 minutes every 40 minutes of sitting, limiting alcohol and espresso, and checking PSA (prostate specific antigen) once a year if you are over 45 years old."

I say this a dozen times a day when I'm in the outpatient clinic, but I still can't stand the troubled patients who come to check in every week. Last week, I met a 28-year-old programmer from an Internet company. He sat there for 12 hours without moving while working on version iterations. He had to hold his urine until he finished changing the last requirement before going to the toilet. When he came, he was in pain so much that he couldn't straighten his waist. He was diagnosed with acute bacterial prostatitis. It took him three days to recover. He even said that he would have stopped holding it in if he had known better.

The first question many people have is: I am only in my twenties, can I still suffer from prostate problems?

In the past, everyone always thought that prostate problems were exclusive to middle-aged and elderly people. Now, 30% of prostatitis patients in outpatient clinics are under 30 years old. Most of them are caused by sitting for long periods of time, holding back urine, and frequently staying up late at night. There are two different views in the academic circles on this matter. One group believes that young people have a fast metabolism and even if they have mild symptoms, they can heal themselves by adjusting their work and rest schedules without taking medicine. ； The other group believes that early intervention can prevent prostatitis from becoming chronic and tormenting people over and over again. In fact, you don’t have to stand in any particular team at all. If you just have an occasional bellyache or two, drink water for two days and sit less for two days and it will go away. Of course, you don’t need to go to the hospital. ； But if you have been urinating frequently and urgently for three or four days in a row, and you still feel a tingling sensation when urinating, don’t hold it back and go get a urinary routine check quickly. It doesn’t cost tens of dollars, and it’s better than having the problem once a month if it becomes chronic.

There are also many people whose legs felt weak when they saw the words "prostate calcification" in the physical examination report. They turned around and searched online, and directly diagnosed themselves as "precancerous lesions", and came to the clinic to see me in tears.

In fact, simple prostate calcification is nothing. It is equivalent to you having a small inflammation of the prostate before, and it just healed and left a scar. If you don’t have any uncomfortable symptoms, you don’t need to worry about it, and you don’t even need to take medicine. I met an older brother last month, and I was anxious for half a month with the physical examination report. I bought more than 3,000 "tonal gland oral liquid" and drank it. Finally, I checked that the PSA indicators were all normal. It was purely to give money to the e-commerce anchor.

Uncles who are over 50 years old are most concerned about prostate hyperplasia and cancer. People often ask me with B-ultrasound sheets: "Doctor, will I need an operation sooner or later for this hyperplasia?" ”

There is no unified standard answer for this matter. The previous guideline recommended cutting off the urinary circle when it reaches a certain size. Now it is more individualized: if you only urinate more than 1-2 times at night and it does not affect your sleep, you can control it well by taking some oral medicine and there is no need for surgery.； But if you have experienced urinary retention, have been unable to urinate after standing for a long time, or have even affected your kidney function, don't hesitate, just do it if you need to, and don't do it forcefully. Last year, there was a 68-year-old man who had been afraid of surgery for two years. When he finally came, his kidneys were filled with water, and he suffered a lot more than if he had had surgery earlier.

There is another question that everyone is too embarrassed to ask face to face and is the most frequently searched question on the Internet: Will prostatitis affect sexual function?

This controversy is too big. Some people say that half a dime does not matter, and some people say that it will be useless. In fact, objectively speaking, there may be lower abdominal distension and ejaculation pain during an acute attack, which temporarily affects the experience. However, as long as timely and standardized treatment is given, there will be no sequelae. Many people feel that their functions are affected simply because they are frightened - they wonder every day whether something is wrong with them. Of course, it is easy for problems to occur when they are under great psychological pressure. Instead, they can relax and do whatever they need to do, and nothing will happen to them.

Finally, let me clear up some widely spread rumors: Prostate health massage and fumigation in health care centers can protect the gland. Don’t believe it. Prostate massage in regular hospitals is used to collect prostate fluid for examination, and is not a health care project. Technicians outside do not know anatomy and do random massages. On the contrary, they can easily spread inflammation and treat you without any disease. It is also said that eating pumpkin seeds and lycopene can prevent prostate cancer. The current research results are that "it may have a slight auxiliary effect", but it definitely cannot replace work and rest adjustments and annual PSA screening. Don't expect to eat two handfuls of pumpkin seeds every day to make it casually. That is impossible.

In fact, the prostate is a small gland that grows under the bladder, about the size of a walnut. It is very delicate and is afraid of holding back, pressure, and stimulation. If you treat it politely, it will not cause trouble for you. If you really feel uncomfortable, don't go searching online and scare yourself with the symptoms. Go to a regular hospital and get a urological appointment. For a dozen dollars, it's more reliable than anything else.