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Increased Need to Urinate
Why It's Happening:
Frequent need to urinate, in large amounts, could be a symptom of diabetes, so see your doctor. Same with painful urination: See your doctor, since it could be a sign of a sexually transmitted disease. If you have to get up several times during the night to urinate in small amounts, this could be an indication of a mild prostate condition (benign prostatic hyperplasia), notes Drogo Montague, M.D., director of the Center for Sexual Function at the Cleveland Clinic Urological Institute.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, is a very common male health issue. For most men, the prostate grows with age. While physicians don't know why this happens, they do know that not every enlarged prostate needs treatment. BPH needs treatment only when it causes symptoms that could potentially produce significant medical complications. Here's a sample of symptoms:
- A feeling that the bladder has not been fully emptied after urination
- An urgent need to urinate
- The need to urinate frequently
- Slower and weaker urine flow
- Having to get up at night to urinate more than once
What You Can Do:
Believe it or not, many men find that avoiding alcohol, coffee and caffeinated soda before bedtime is enough to solve this problem. In addition, the American Urological Association says that it's fairly common for midlife men to need to urinate more often than they did in their 20s or 30s. In many cases, this is simply due to sleep disturbances such as insomnia or apnea, and nothing to be concerned about (though you may want to go to a sleep clinic for help with your sleeping problems).
If symptoms persist, get yourself to a urologist to learn more about what your symptoms may mean, and to rule out prostate cancer (benign prostate enlargement and prostate cancer share some symptoms). Potential treatments for BPH include the prescription drug finasteride (Propecia, Proscar), which helps slow the growth of the prostate. (It is also an accepted treatment for slowing male pattern baldness.) Finasteride's side effects may include decreased libido and impotence.
An alternative, over-the-counter option for prostate enlargement that's gaining popularity is saw palmetto oil, concentrated from the berries of the saw palmetto tree. Saw palmetto often reduces urinary symptoms, and can even reduce prostate size. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for treatment to develop and continue for at least 3 years.
For advanced BPH, there are various surgical alternatives, all of which are highly controversial. If you've got advanced BPH, it's a good idea to get several opinions on your case.
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