Prostate health issues

More than 90% of prostate-related problems can be prevented and cured. There is no need to be ashamed to talk about it and push it into a chronic problem, nor to be overly anxious and treat minor problems as incurable diseases.

I just received a diagnosis from a 28-year-old game company programmer a while ago. He had frequent and urgent urination for half a year and did not dare to come to the hospital. After searching on the Internet, I almost thought that he would lose his fertility, and he did not even dare to talk to his girlfriend. As a result, I did a B-ultrasound and a routine urine test. It was mild aseptic prostatitis. I was prescribed some medicine to relieve the symptoms. He was asked to get up and walk for five minutes after sitting for two hours a day. He should not always drink ice cola. After two weeks, he had basically no symptoms after a follow-up visit.

To be honest, the first words spoken by more than half of the patients who come for prostate examination in the outpatient clinic are "Doctor, do I have a big problem?" In fact, it is really not that exaggerated. In the Western medicine system, common prostate problems are generally divided into three categories: prostatitis in young people is mostly divided into bacterial and sterile, and is mostly related to sitting for a long time, holding back urine, dietary stimulation, and irregular work and rest; benign prostatic hyperplasia is more common in people over 50 years old, which means that the aging and enlarged glands squeeze the urethra, making it easy to Frequent urination, excessive nocturia, and strenuous urination are prone to occur. As for prostate cancer, there is indeed a trend of getting younger, but as long as early screening has a very high cure rate, a tube of blood and a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test can basically diagnose it. For a few dozen dollars, it is much more reliable than three days of online popular science.

There are also many patients who prefer to seek treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. I have also communicated with colleagues in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine in this regard. They generally believe that prostate problems are mostly related to dampness and heat in the lower Jiao and insufficient kidney qi. According to different physical constitutions, prescriptions for clearing away heat and diluting dampness or tonifying the kidneys and strengthening the essence are prescribed. Many people have given good feedback after treatment. No one is right or wrong here. For acute bacterial inflammation, western medicine is preferred to control the infection quickly. For chronic symptoms, the combination of traditional Chinese and western medicine is more effective. There is no need to insist on one kind of therapy and exclude the other.

The most outrageous patient I have ever seen bought a so-called "prostate detoxification massager" online. After using it for three days, he couldn't urinate, so he came to the emergency room to have a urinary catheter inserted. There are also many people who believe in the "penetration physical therapy" and "gland purification" offered by private institutions, spending tens of thousands of dollars, and ultimately burn the urethral mucosa, which in turn leads to chronic inflammation. I really advise everyone not to believe these fancy concepts. There is no "poison" to be discharged from the prostate, and treatment in regular hospitals does not cost much.

Oh, by the way, there is no unified opinion in the industry about whether to avoid taboos. Some doctors require patients to completely abstain from spicy food and alcohol, but I have observed over the years in clinical practice that some patients in Hunan and Sichuan have no uncomfortable symptoms at all after eating a small amount of spicy food, and there is no need to completely stop eating and drinking. The core thing is to look at your own body's reaction. If the frequency of urination becomes significantly worse the next day after eating spicy food and drinking alcohol, then you really need to keep your mouth shut. If you don't feel anything, eating once in a while is not a big problem.

There is no need to make any strict health plan, saying that you must sit for one hour and stand for ten minutes, and you must drink eight glasses of water every day. It is really unnecessary. There are surgeons around me who stand all day long, and their prostates are fine. There are also drivers who travel long distances. I drive four hours at a time and stop at the service area to smoke a cigarette and walk a few steps without any problems. The key is not to put pressure on the perineum for a long time, don't sit on cold stone stools in winter, and don't drink less water on purpose when urinating frequently. Too high urine concentration will stimulate the prostate and aggravate symptoms. Just drink 1500-2000ml of plain water every day, and avoid strong irritating things such as strong tea, ice drinks, and alcohol.

If you really experience pain during urination, blood in your urine, inability to urinate for half a day, or nocturia more than three times in a row for more than a week, go directly to a regular hospital for urology surgery. Don’t be embarrassed. To put it bluntly, prostate problems are just like men's "little colds". Once cured this time, they may relapse next time if you don't pay attention. There is no "radical cure" that can be done once and for all. Just calm down and there is no need to secretly worry about it for months.