Going more often
Six or seven times a day instead of four, in small amounts each time. Usually the first thing a man notices.
Enlarged prostate: signs, causes and what to do about them
Half of men have it by fifty and four in five have it by eighty. It is not cancer, it is not caused by anything you did, and in most cases it is managed rather than cured. Below: the signs, what causes the enlargement, and the seven-question score your urologist will run.
- Men affected by 50
- ~50%
- Score that needs treating
- 8 and above
- Questions in the check
- 7
- NixMen
- Rs 10,900 30 days
The prostate is a gland about the size of a walnut that sits under the bladder and wraps around the urethra — the tube urine travels down. Its job is to make most of the fluid in semen. From about forty it begins a second period of growth that does not stop, and because of where it sits, growth means pressure on the tube.
It happens in one small part of the gland — the transition zone, the collar of tissue wrapped directly around the urethra, which is why where the prostate gland sits explains most of this. The medical name is benign prostatic hyperplasia. Benign is the important word: this is not cancer, it does not turn into cancer, and having it does not raise your risk of it. The two conditions simply happen to live in the same gland and produce some of the same symptoms, which is why a PSA test is worth doing once rather than worrying for a decade.
The seven questions a urologist will ask you
This is the International Prostate Symptom Score — the standard instrument used worldwide to decide whether symptoms need treatment and whether treatment is working. It takes a minute, nothing is stored, and nothing is sent anywhere. Think about the past month as you answer.
What causes enlargement of the prostate gland
Two things drive it, and neither is under your control. The first is dihydrotestosterone, a more potent form of testosterone made inside the prostate itself by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. DHT keeps prostate cells dividing, and it keeps doing so for life. The second is the ratio between testosterone and oestrogen, which shifts with age in a direction that makes the tissue more sensitive to DHT.
That is the whole mechanism. Age and family history are the only established risk factors. Not sex, not abstinence, not cycling, not spicy food, not cold floors — none of the explanations that get passed around.
Obesity, diabetes and inactivity make the symptoms worse rather than causing the growth, and those three you can do something about.
Signs of an enlarged prostate
Seven of them, and they arrive in roughly this order. Two or three together after 45 is the usual pattern.
Getting up at night
Once, then twice, then three times. The symptom men actually come to us about, because it costs them sleep rather than time.
A weak stream
Less force than there used to be, and it takes longer than it should.
Stop-start flow
The stream begins, stops, begins again. Peshab ruk ruk ke aana, as it gets described on the phone.
Straining to start
A wait of several seconds before anything happens, and having to push.
Not feeling empty
You finish and it still feels as though there is more. Often there is — which is why the next trip comes so soon.
Dribbling afterwards
A few drops after you have finished and stepped away. The one that matters most to a man who prays five times a day.
What treatment costs, in one line
Tamsulosin runs about Rs 1,400 a month and works in days. Duodart is Rs 6,609 a month. Unani powders are Rs 450 to 650. Saw palmetto supplements are Rs 850 to 1,650. Our own jar is Rs 10,900. The full comparison — what each one does, how fast, and the catch attached to it — is on prostate medicine in Pakistan, and there is no point repeating it here.
What we make, and where it fits
We make a supplement, so read this section knowing who wrote it. If your score came out in the moderate band, that is the band NixMen was built for: the muscle tone at the bladder neck and the stress load that keeps it tight, which is the part of this picture that herbs can reach. Every dose is printed on the ingredients page next to the dose used in the research, including where ours is lower.
Where it fits: a score in the moderate band, a man who does not want the DHT blockers, and an expectation set at weeks rather than days. Where it does not fit: a score above twenty, or a man expecting his prostate to get smaller. It will not, and neither will anything else you can buy without a surgeon.
If your score came out between 8 and 19
That is the band this formula was built for. Thirty capsules, Rs 10,900, free delivery, and you pay the rider at your gate.
Rs 10,900 Rs 21,800
Order at Rs 10,900 Order NixMen
One month, 30 capsules. Cash on delivery all over Pakistan.
- 30 capsules · One month course
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- Rs 10,900 · In stock
Questions we get on the phone
What is the best treatment for enlarged prostate without surgery?
For a score of 8 to 19, an alpha blocker like tamsulosin is what a urologist will reach for and it works within days. Alongside it, a multi-herb supplement is reasonable. Above 20, the honest answer is that non-surgical options are holding measures and the conversation changes — go and have it.
Is an enlarged prostate the same as cancer?
No. Different disease, different cells, different part of the gland. Benign growth does not become cancer and does not raise your risk of it. A PSA test at Rs 1,050 to 3,300 settles the question properly, and if you are over fifty it is worth doing once.
Can the prostate go back to normal size?
Not with anything you can buy. Finasteride and dutasteride do reduce volume over a year, but PREDICT — 1,095 men over 52 weeks — found finasteride alone beat placebo on neither symptom score nor flow rate. Surgery removes tissue. Nothing else does.
Will it get worse?
Usually, slowly. The useful thing is that you can measure it: score yourself on the seven questions above today, write the number down, and do it again in three months. A rising number means act. A stable one means you have time.
Do I need a PSA test before taking a supplement?
Not strictly, but if you are over fifty and have never had one, do it anyway — not because of the supplement, but because the result changes what the symptoms mean.
Does sex make it better or worse?
Neither. It has no effect on prostate growth in either direction, whatever you have been told.