Prostate Health Management Program

There is no universal "god-level maintenance formula" for prostate health. The most practical solution is to "set priorities by age, differentiate between physiological discomfort and pathological problems, combine traditional Chinese and Western medicine as needed, and conduct annual follow-up visits." 90% of prostate discomfort is actually caused by bad habits. Don't be overly anxious or take it seriously.

When my clinic was about to get off work last Wednesday, a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses, a 32-year-old game developer, rushed in. As soon as he sat down, he clutched his mobile phone and showed me what he had searched for "Is frequent urination a sign of prostate cancer?" He said that in the past half month, he had been feeling a drop in his lower abdomen, had to run to the toilet three times an hour, and couldn't sleep well. When I asked, he was working on a project recently and had to sit at his workstation for 12 hours a day. He even had to hold back his urine until the bugs were corrected before going back to work. He also had two heavy drinks with friends on the weekend. Isn't this a typical prostatitis-causing factor? I checked his prostate fluid and found that his white blood cells were slightly high, but there were no other problems. I prescribed some symptomatic medicine and asked him to stand up and walk for three minutes every hour after sitting. Don't hold back his urine and ejaculate regularly. He came back for a follow-up examination two weeks later. When he came last week, he had no symptoms.

In fact, many people's understanding of the prostate goes to extremes. They either think that it is a "senile disease" and young people should not take care of it, or they feel that they have an incurable disease if there is any slight trouble. Even the maintenance methods and different schools have different opinions, and there is no need to compete with each other. Judging from the evidence-based evidence of modern urology, 90% of the causes of prostate problems are two: persistent congestion and pathogenic infection. The Men's Prostate Health Guidelines released by the American Urological Association in 2023 clearly mention that the risk of acute and chronic prostatitis for men who sit for more than 10 hours a day is 2.3 times higher than that of those who sit for less than 4 hours a day. Behaviors such as holding in urine, frequent sex in a short period of time, and alcohol abuse will keep the prostate in a state of congestion and edema. Just like how your hands will blister if they are rubbed repeatedly, it will naturally hurt and become uncomfortable over time. Traditional Chinese medicine's understanding of prostate problems falls into the categories of "lead syndrome" and "jing turbidity". The core judgment is dampness and heat, and kidney qi deficiency. Therefore, it advocates adjusting the diet and life rhythm, eating less spicy and cold food, and staying up less late. Moxibustion on Guanyuan and Huiyin points can also be used to improve local circulation. I have clinically observed that many patients with chronic prostatitis who have ruled out pathogenic infection do not need to take medicine, but follow the traditional Chinese medicine method for 1-2 months, and the symptom improvement rate can reach more than 60%. If combined with Western medicine lifestyle adjustments, the improvement rate can be increased by about 15%. There is no need to say which method is more correct, just what suits you.

After all, a 20-year-old boy and a 70-year-old man may have completely different prostate problems, so the key points of maintenance cannot be generalized. Young adults aged 20 to 40 should not always think about "tonifying the kidneys and nourishing the prostate". The most important thing to guard against is acute and chronic prostatitis. I have met many patients of this age group who either listened to the so-called "abstinence regimen" on the Internet and did not ejaculate for several months, resulting in prostate fluid accumulation and inflammation, causing them to frown in pain. ； Either he indulges too much, his prostate becomes congested for several days, and he suffers from frequent and urgent urination. At this age, as long as you don't do it, stand up and move after sitting for a long time, don't hold in your urine, have a regular sex life, and don't eat spicy food and drink ice every day, there will basically be no major problems. Oh, by the way, if you have symptoms of frequent urination or lower abdominal pain, adjust your habits for a week first. If it doesn't improve, go to the hospital. Don't buy "prostate maintenance supplements" blindly, most of them are useless and expensive.

Middle-aged men aged 40 to 60 must put the prevention of prostate hyperplasia on their agenda. I met a 54-year-old university teacher a while ago. He didn't take it seriously when he woke up once at night at first, but later it increased to 4 or 5 times a night. He couldn't even attend class well. It was found that his prostate hyperplasia had reached 2 degrees, and he had to take medicine to control it. There is also a controversial point here: many people rush to have surgery as soon as hyperplasia is detected, and some people think that the medicine is poisonous and they refuse to take it. In fact, the current clinical consensus is to do the IPSS International Prostate Symptom Score first. If the score is below 7, you can adjust your habits first. For example, don’t drink water, don’t drink strong tea and alcohol 2 hours before going to bed, and do levator exercises twice a day. Many people can reduce the frequency of waking up at night after adjusting ； If the score exceeds 7 points, then consider taking drugs such as α-blockers. Only those with severe obstruction need to consider surgery. There is no need to go to extremes.

When you are over 60 years old, the most important thing is prostate cancer screening and prevention. There are quite big differences in the guidelines of different countries: European and American countries recommend PSA prostate-specific antigen screening once a year for people over 50 years old because of the high incidence of prostate cancer. However, routine screening is not recommended for people over 75 years old without high-risk factors, for fear of over-treatment. ； Domestic guidelines currently recommend that people over the age of 50 have their PSA checked once a year. After all, although the incidence of prostate cancer in China is lower than that in Europe and the United States, it has increased rapidly in recent years. To be honest, prostate cancer is actually a "lazy cancer". The 10-year survival rate of low-risk prostate cancer can reach 99%. As long as it is screened regularly, even if it is detected, there will basically be no major problems. What is more worrying is that if it is never checked, it will be late and it will be troublesome.

Finally, I would like to share some tips that I have accumulated in clinical practice for almost ten years. They are much more useful than those flashy maintenance tips on the Internet. For example, many people like to use warm water sitz baths to improve prostate discomfort. This method is indeed effective, but the temperature should not exceed 40 degrees and should not exceed 15 minutes each time. Men who want to prepare for pregnancy must not take a bath. High-temperature spermicide is not a joke. ； There are also levator exercises. Don’t do them blindly. The more you do, the better. The correct way is to contract the anus for 3 seconds and relax for 3 seconds. Do it for 15 minutes at a time. Two times a day is enough. I have met someone who did it hundreds of times a day. Instead, the pelvic floor muscles were tense and painful for several days. ； Also, don’t believe in the “prostate massage and detoxification” health center program. If you have acute prostatitis, pressing it will spread the infection. If you really want a massage, you have to go to a regular hospital to find a doctor.

In fact, the prostate is really not as delicate as everyone thinks, and there is no need to talk about "prostate maintenance" every day. Don't make mistakes in daily life. If you feel uncomfortable, go to the urology department of a regular hospital. Don't believe the "radical cure of the prostate" advertisements on the telephone poles, and don't frighten yourself by blindly searching on the Internet as soon as you have symptoms. By doing these things, you can basically take good care of your prostate.