As men age, they may experience an enlarged prostate, known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). While there’s no cure for BPH, there are treatments available that can help lessen the symptoms. One such treatment is a medicine called finasteride. Read on to learn more about finasteride, alpha-blockers, and others to help you manage your BPH symptoms.
What is BPH?
BPH (Benign prostatic hyperplasia) is a condition that affects men. An enlarged prostate causes it. The prostate is a small gland right in-between the bladder and the penis.
The urethra is a tube that runs through the center of the prostate from the bladder to the penis, and its job is to release urine from your body. However, if a man’s prostate grows too big, it can get in his urethra’s ability to empty his bladder.
BPH can cause symptoms that are hard to deal with, like not being able to empty your bladder, trouble urinating, urinating more often than usual, an urgent need to go pee, or needing to go but having difficulty starting. You might also have dribbles after you finish peeing.
Most of the time, BPH can be cured with medication. These drugs do not cure BPH, but they may slow down the growth of your prostate. All BPH drugs are taken by mouth, which means you eat them. You can take these drugs every day to help relieve your symptoms.
Much like all drugs, BPH medications may cause side effects. Each drug has benefits and risks. It is recommended to speak with your doctor about these options since they depend on your symptoms and the size of your prostate. Your doctor can find a medication that will work for you. Here is a list of possible options:
5-alpha reductase inhibitors
When men have problems with their prostate, they often take these drugs. They stop the hormones that make the prostate grow. This slows down how quickly it grows and can help with BPH symptoms.
You will take these drugs for a long time to manage your BPH symptoms. However, these medications can take a while before they work well. They are 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, such as finasteride (Proscar), dutasteride (Avodart), and dutasteride/tamsulosin (Jalyn).
These medications may not work for you if your prostate is small. Also, if the size of your prostate does not match how bad your symptoms are, these drugs might not help you.
Most men tolerate these drugs well and only have a few side effects. Some common side effects are nausea, a headache, and retrograde ejaculation.
This is when semen goes back to the bladder instead of coming out of the penis. As a result, other sexual side effects can happen, including decreased sex drive or trouble getting or keeping an erection.