Exactly What Is The Prostate And What Are The Signs Of Prostate Problems?
It may seem strange but for many years most men knew little if anything about their prostate and it is only in recent years as prostate cancer has become such a prominent issue that men are starting to ask just what the prostate is and what it does.
The prostate gland is a very important part of the male reproductive system which manufactures the clear liquid that makes up a significant proportion of male seminal fluid. Sperm is taken from the testicles to the prostate gland where it is mixed with prostatic fluid and proteins to form semen.
A healthy prostate gland is approximately the size of a walnut, weighs in at roughly one ounce and is situated just in front of the rectum and under the bladder. It is also often described as being donut shaped and is partially wrapped around the urethra, which carrying urine out of the body from the bladder.
Throughout a man’s life the prostate gland continues to grow, although from the age of about twenty until the mid-forties this growth is very slow and is more or less undetectable. When a man reaches about forty-five however it is very common for the growth of the prostate to speed up and the vast majority of men will start to experience the symptoms of an enlarged gland in their forties or fifties.
In many cases an enlarged prostate leads to little more than some mild discomfort which many men choose to learn to live with. In some cases however the prostate may become sufficiently enlarged so that it squeezes the urethra enough to cause a number of symptoms which need treatment or persuade a man to seek treatment to ease his discomfort. Growth of the prostate at this stage of a man’s life is simply a normal part of aging and is referred to as benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BHP.
In all cases however the biggest problem with an enlarged prostate gland is that this could be something more than a simple case of enlargement and might be masking an underlying cancer.
When the prostate gland begins to grow it also begins to put pressure on the urethra and to narrow it so that the first prostate symptoms are usually seen when it comes to urinating. In particular you might experience difficulty in urinating and need to ‘push’ in order to start the process. You may also suffer a weak flow of urine and a flow that has a tendency to stop and start. As time goes on you will also notice that you have to visit the bathroom more often, particularly at night, and that you feel as if you need to visit the bathroom even just after you have just done so.
Not surprisingly this could become more than a little bit of an annoyance but, nonetheless, many men are happy to merely see it as one of the inevitable problems of aging and learn to live with it. Now this is fine but the mistake which all too many men make is not to turn to their doctor at this stage to establish that their problem is simply BPH and that it is not likely to cause other problems in their particular case.
Apart from the risk of there being an underlying cancer present, BPH can also cause other difficulties like bladder infections and kidney disease.
When you begin to suffer from symptoms that are suggestive of developing prostate problems then visit your doctor so that the problem can be diagnosed.