BPH treatment

On a topic not to be missed for middle aged men, I recently was treated for BPH or benign prostate enlargement. No one really knows why the old prostate grows, but mine did to the point that I was going all the time and I got a UTI, which had never happened before.

Went to the doctor and got on some meds which helped, but the meds made me feel bad, so I did not want to keep taking them. My doc recommended this in office procedure: http://www.urologix.com/clinicians/cooled-thermotherapy.php . I had it done a couple of weeks ago.

It is done in the office after a battery of tests to check flow, volume and a viewing of your bladder. It takes 30 minutes and you wear a catheter for 3 days (in my case).

I must say that I hope the results will be good from this. I can already tell a difference, although it will be 60-90 days before I come off all the meds. The full effects of the treatment are not obvious until 90 days and it is supposed to last around 7 years.Anywhere else in the world you would have this done, it would be done in a clinic and you would stay in the hospital for a few days, but I guess this more cost effective.

Some comments on the process-

They run you in and out of there in a factory-like manner. The equipment is brought to the Doc's office by the Urologix people; they have a technician in there with the Doc. You take some happy pills, they numb you up, stick a temp probe up your rear-end and the microwave up your urethra and nuke your gland for 30 minutes.  Yahoo.

It is not a horrible experience, but it surely is not comfortable and the recovery is not either. But when one thinks about it, how could the microwaving of ones insides be pain free and comfortable? However, on a scale of 1-10, this is less than a 5 on the pain scale. I imagine the other more invasive procedures are worse, since you must go to the hospital and wear the catheter longer. There is blood and other nasty looking stuff in the catheter bag for a few days and you don't get much sleep with all that plumbing down there, so its no fun and tiresome, but not horrible.

Please be aware however, that you should give yourself a week to 10 days to get over this. You really can't do much when the catheter is in, and after they take it out you are feeling better, but it still feels like your rear end is about to fall out and you need some pain control. I used Tylenol and it helped a lot.

So two weeks out, its going OK. BTW- the Doc I used here in town was very good about answering the questions and very business like in his treatment and conversations. His staff was helpful.  I will let you know the costs and how I am doing after the first of the year.