So, prostates enlarge with time for just about all men. Eventually, urine flow is impeded and then outright blocked. Back in my grandfather’s day, men often faced a TURP procedure, basically a rotor router surgery, that often came right along with your getting on to Medicare. Both my grandfathers had it done in their early 60s, so no surprise at 64 I need an intervention of some type.
Physicians realized in the mid 80s that Alpha Blockers (a class of BP meds) helped men urinate, and eventually tamsulosin was released not for HTN but just for BPH. Unfortunately, it doesn’t prevent the prostate from continuing to enlarge, so the guy who might have had his surgery at 65 or 70 needs is at 75 or 80.
Proscar and then Avodart came out later and these antagonize the form of testosterone that cause the prostate grow (and that ALSO cause hair loss in men with male pattern baldness), thus addressing the cause for eventual surgery. It is unfortunately, the slow boat to China. If you need tamsulosin now, it’ll be several years before either drug will eliminate that need.
Statistics are also the incidence of prostate cancer is lower in men on either of these two drug, although when a cancer does occur, it’s more likely to be a more invasive one. According to my urologist, the American College of Urology has determined this isn’t due to more invasive cancers, but a decrease in the less invasive ones. My Urologist said you can make a very strong case that all older men should be taking one of these.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: GoodRx
Date: 2020-01-04 07:10 pm (UTC)So, prostates enlarge with time for just about all men. Eventually, urine flow is impeded and then outright blocked. Back in my grandfather’s day, men often faced a TURP procedure, basically a rotor router surgery, that often came right along with your getting on to Medicare. Both my grandfathers had it done in their early 60s, so no surprise at 64 I need an intervention of some type.
Physicians realized in the mid 80s that Alpha Blockers (a class of BP meds) helped men urinate, and eventually tamsulosin was released not for HTN but just for BPH. Unfortunately, it doesn’t prevent the prostate from continuing to enlarge, so the guy who might have had his surgery at 65 or 70 needs is at 75 or 80.
Proscar and then Avodart came out later and these antagonize the form of testosterone that cause the prostate grow (and that ALSO cause hair loss in men with male pattern baldness), thus addressing the cause for eventual surgery. It is unfortunately, the slow boat to China. If you need tamsulosin now, it’ll be several years before either drug will eliminate that need.
Statistics are also the incidence of prostate cancer is lower in men on either of these two drug, although when a cancer does occur, it’s more likely to be a more invasive one. According to my urologist, the American College of Urology has determined this isn’t due to more invasive cancers, but a decrease in the less invasive ones. My Urologist said you can make a very strong case that all older men should be taking one of these.
*/lecture *
Both drugs are now generic.