What is benign prostate hyperplasia?

Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common reason for prostatic difficulties usually starting in a man's 50s - 60s and continuing throughout his life. Not only does the prostate start to enlarge in an outward direction, but also starts to press inward, creating more pressure on the urethra. This results in more pressure needed to start urination and the feeling that a man has to push to get the flow of urine started. Because urinating becomes more difficult as the pressure continues to increase, there comes a point where a man cannot completely empty his bladder each time he urinates. Since he already has some urine in there, it takes much less time to fill up his bladder again and then he has to urinate soon after. This also contributes to a man having to get up at night to urinate frequently as well. A couple of drops of urine can also remain in the urethra which then dribble out after he has stopped. This increased pressure on the urethra can also interfere with ejaculation, making it uncomfortable, painful, or even make it detour into the bladder.

Men also have a type of menopause as their testosterone wanes, but the process is much more subtle and gradual. Though men don't go through the turbulence of menopause as women do, they have their own issues. Men often gradually start to notice a slowing of the urinary stream as their prostate enlarges. Slow, gradual enlargement of the prostate gland is called benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Fifty percent of men have BPH by age 60, and 90 percent have it by age 85. Because the prostate gland wraps right around the urethra, its enlargement can interfere with urinating, so much that sleep becomes disrupted because it becomes necessary to urinate every two hours since the bladder never empties entirely. There are, of course, medications and procedures to fix this if it becomes a real nuisance; some men try herbs such as saw palmetto, though there isn't solid evidence that it helps significantly.