Ninety Percent Of Men Will Suffer From An Enlarged Prostate
October 19th, 2008 | by Clare |
Health problems inevitably start to occur as we get older and one problem that you are just about sure to run into if you live long enough is an enlarged prostate gland.
Generally the problem is first seen in men once they pass 45, though it can occasionally be seen at younger ages, and you have something like a 50 percent chance of developing an enlarged prostate gland by the time you reach 60 years of age.
Once passed the age of 60 the odds of developing the condition increase considerably and, by the time you get to 80, your chances of having an enlarged prostate gland will be as high as 90 percent.
The prostate gland, which sits just below the bladder and is a part of the reproductive system, grows quickly during puberty and by the time a man reaches maturity it weighs roughly one ounce and is about the same size as a walnut. However, what is often not appreciated is that this is not the end of its growth and that the prostate gland will then continue to grow very slowly for the rest of a man’s life.
In middle age however cell growth naturally starts to speed up in one particular section of the prostate that partially surrounds the urethra, which carries urine from the bladder out of the body.
Initially this accelerated growth of cells, which are non-cancerous, is reasonably slow and a lot of men will not experience any symptoms at all from it, or any symptoms are so slight that they are dismissed as nothing more than of ‘getting older’.
In time however, as the prostate continues to enlarge, it will start to squeeze the urethra interrupting the urine flow from the bladder and symptoms will begin to become clear. To start these will not be painful, or even particularly discomforting, but they will become increasingly irritating as you start to experience problems in passing water, the need to get up in the night to visit the bathroom and possibly the upsetting tendency to continue to dribble urine even after you have been to the bathroom.
At this point you ought to talk to your doctor not only to get treatment for an enlarged prostate but also so that you can undergo screening for the possibility of any underlying signs of prostate cancer.