Prostate Health Lecture

If you don’t have symptoms such as frequent urination, urgency and pain during urination, perineum or lower abdominal distention, and white urine at the end of the urine, there is no need to watch short videos every day to suspect that you have a prostate problem; even if you do have slight discomfort, 90% of the cases can be relieved by adjusting your living habits. You don’t need to buy thousand-yuan physical therapy devices, or eat kidney-tonifying and anti-inflammatory health care products, and you don’t need to be so anxious that you think your fertility and sexual function will be affected in the future.

Don’t laugh, I see three or four patients a week who scare themselves. Last week, a 28-year-old Internet programmer came over with a prostate physiotherapy device he bought for more than 3,000 yuan in his pocket. He said that after watching a short video, he saw that "frequent urination is a sign of prostatitis and will lead to infertility". He was so scared that he was afraid of running to the toilet to even drink water. As a result, he had a prostate fluid routine and ultrasound. There were no problems. He just worked on a project for half a month, sat for 12 hours a day, and held his urine for two or three hours when he was busy. He went back to correct his habit of sitting for a long time, and within a week, all symptoms disappeared.

Why is this problem so frightening to people now? To put it bluntly, the position of this organ is too "oppressive" - ​​like an upside-down chestnut growing at the outlet of the bladder, with the urethra passing right through the middle. A slight congestion and edema will cause the urethra to get stuck. If it is pressed for a long time, the blood circulation will be poor. A slight disturbance will be directly reflected in urination, giving a strong sense of presence.

Having mentioned this, I have to bring up the most controversial question: Should I abstain from sex if I have prostate discomfort? There is no unified clinical answer at present: the mainstream view of Western medicine is that regular ejaculation (1-2 times a week) can help clear the accumulated secretions in the prostate ducts and avoid blocking inflammation. However, there is also a school of Chinese medicine research that suggests that if you are in the acute stage of inflammation and the perineum is severely swollen and painful, it is best to reduce sexual stimulation, otherwise repeated congestion of the gland will aggravate the symptoms. Both views are supported by clinical cases. The specific choice depends on your own physical feelings, and rigid standards may cause problems.

Oh, by the way, there is another question that people ask every day: Can eating lycopene protect the prostate? A few years ago, there were follow-up studies saying that long-term supplementation of lycopene can reduce the risk of prostate cancer in middle-aged and elderly people. Last year, clinical data from a larger sample showed that there was no statistical correlation between the two, and there is no conclusion yet. I usually tell patients that if you like to eat tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and tomato beef brisket, you don’t need to spend hundreds of extra dollars to buy health products. The amount of dietary supplements is enough; if you really want to eat them, just buy regular OTC cheap ones. Those who boast of "imported high activity" are basically IQ taxes.

To tell you something interesting, I met a patient a while ago. He changed to a height-adjustable desk and stood at work every day. He was afraid that sitting for a long time would damage the prostate. As a result, the pelvic floor muscles were chronically tense after standing for two months, and the perineum still swelled. Who do you think you can talk to to reason with this? There is a limit to everything. Just sit for an hour and stand up and walk for two minutes. It is not overkill. There are also those who like to sit on outdoor benches in the winter and drink five or six bottles of cold beer at parties. The dual stimulation of alcohol and low temperature will cause frequent urination the next day if the glands are swollen. Isn’t this all caused by themselves?

There is another pitfall that I must shout out: don’t believe those “prostate lavage”, “nano ablation” and “detoxification physiotherapy” promoted by private institutions. They are of no use and may cause problems. Last month, I picked up a 26-year-old young man and went to a health center to do the so-called "prostate detoxification". He directly punctured the urethra and subsequently dilated the urethra three times, which made him suffer from old age. If you really need prostate massage, you must go to a regular hospital to find a urologist to perform it. Don't just go to an unqualified person to do it.

Don’t think that only young people have to worry about it. Male friends over 50 should also be more careful. Not long ago, there was a 62-year-old man who had been urinating three or four times at night for almost a year. He secretly took a kidney-tonifying folk remedy at home for half a year, but it was of no use at all. When he came over and found out that it was benign prostatic hyperplasia, he was prescribed the commonly used α-receptor blocker tamsulosin. After taking it for two weeks, the number of night urination dropped to once, and he no longer had to wake up at night in the winter. As a reminder, it is best to add PSA (prostate specific antigen) screening to your annual physical examination over the age of 50, which can detect prostate cancer early and spend dozens of dollars to buy a reliable one.

In fact, after so many years of attending outpatient clinics, my biggest feeling is that prostate problems are essentially a "male cold" with not so many scary consequences. Most of the time, problems arise because you pay too much attention to it and mess with it. Don't sit still for half a day, don't hold your pee until you almost pee your pants before going to the toilet, don't eat spicy food and drink ice wine too often, and go to a regular hospital to get a urological appointment if you feel really uncomfortable. A routine urine test plus a prostate fluid test that costs more than ten dollars can help you figure it out, which is a hundred times better than scaring yourself by searching online all night.