Treating BPH with Alpha Blockers
If you are a man over 55 you have a 25% chance of suffering the effects of BPH. This acronym stands for benign prostatic hyperplasia (or benign prostatic hypertrophy). The male prostate gland is a male organ located below the bladder and surrounding the urethra. One purpose it has is to control the flow or urine. A man with BPH is likely experiencing urinary problems because either the prostate has enlarged, or the muscles of the urethra and bladder neck have tightened, or both. Though not prostate cancer, BPH could cause serious health problems.
Symptoms of BPH may include one or more of the following: feeling that the bladder has not fully emptied, trouble starting a urine stream or making more than a dribble, passing urine often especially at night, a weak or slow urine stream, a strong or sudden urge to urinate, pushing or straining to begin passing urine, and stopping and starting again several times while passing urine. Severe BPH Symptoms may include kidney failure, a weak bladder, complete block in the flow of urine, or backflow of urine causing bladder or kidney infections.
There are basically four ways to treat BPH. First, it can be treated with herbs such as Pygeum, saw palmetto, and stinging nettles. Second, it can be treated with medication. These include alpha blockers (the subject of this article), and enzyme inhibitors. Third, it could be treated with heat or microwaves that are designed to enlarge the area of the prostate through which the urethra passes. Fourth, it could be treated with surgery.
Alpha blocker medications do not deal with the prostate enlargement but with the muscle tightening problem. Muscle cells tighten because of signals from nerves. The alpha adrenergic or alpha-1 nerves cause the muscle cells to tighten by releasing a chemical that is related to epinephrine (adrenalin). If these alpha-1 nerves are blocked, then muscles signaled by them will relax. This is true of the muscles of the prostate and the bladder neck.
Approved alpha blocker medications are: Doxazosin (Cardura), Terazosin (Hytrin), Alfuzosin (Uroxatral), and Tamsulosin (Flomax). Though all work equally well, some are slightly more expensive. Flomax is the best known of these four.
Flomax, or tamsulosin hydrochloride, is manufactured by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. It was actually developed to treat hypertension and is still used in this way. Alpha blockers do not shrink the prostate the way enzyme inhibitors do. But as they relax the muscles of the prostate and bladder, the restrictive problems disappear. Often they work quickly, in a day or two. If it is going to help, the effects will be noticed at least in a week.
Alpha blockers will be most effective for men with only moderate prostate enlargement problems. Severe BPH problems may not be aided by simply relaxing these muscles. Side effects of taking alpha blockers include stomach or intestinal irritation, low blood pressure, reduced semen released during ejaculation, dizziness, headache, and stuffy or runny nose.
Doctors usually prescribe 0.4 mg of Flomax (one pill) daily. At times this is doubled when the lesser amount isn’t bringing the needed relief. Actually, some have found that taking Flomax every other day helps just as much but brings fewer side effects.
If you already have low blood pressure, tell your doctor. He will probably avoid giving you alpha blockers. Again, if your problem is severe, then alpha blockers will probably not solve it. You might try taking both alpha blockers and enzyme inhibitors at the same time. See your urologist for expert counsel on these matters.
