Prostate Health Books

If you only want to pick 3 books that can help ordinary people avoid 90% of the misunderstandings about prostate care and take into account both professionalism and readability, I would first recommend the Popular Science Edition of the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostatic Hyperplasia in China, 100 Questions and Answers on Prostate Diseases compiled by the Andrology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, and the Men's Prostate Care Manual compiled by the Urological Surgery Team of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The rest of the books with the gimmicks of "secret cure" and "removing inflammation in one hour" can basically be passed directly.

Last month, I met a 32-year-old Internet programmer at the outpatient clinic. He came over with a crumpled health care booklet. He said he had been doing perineal moxibustion for half a month according to the method in the book, and he also drank the so-called "Qinggang Decoction". It was originally a mild aseptic prostatitis caused by sitting for a long time. Now, not only has the frequent urination not improved, but he has also had two blisters on his perineum. He took a blood test and the PSA was twice as high as the normal value. He was so scared that he thought he had prostate cancer. It took him half a week to rule out the risk. I flipped through the rough-printed pamphlet in his hand. The author's signature was something like "ancestral andrology veteran Chinese medicine practitioner." I couldn't even find a practicing doctor's number. It was a typical product of cutting leeks.

In fact, choosing a prostate health book is the same as choosing antipyretics. The more flashy the packaging and the more attractive the promises, the more effective they will be. You must first look at whether the "originality" is correct. When I help patients screen books, my first habit is to turn to the copyright page to check the author's background. If it is compiled by a practicing physician in the urology department or andrology department of a regular tertiary hospital, or by an official organization such as the Andrology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, there will basically be no big mistakes in the content. At most, the expression style may be serious and popular. Like the guides mentioned above, all conclusions are supported by large-scale clinical data, and they will not make blind promises. For example, they will tell you clearly that "there is no 'radical cure' for chronic prostatitis, and the frequency of recurrence can only be reduced through lifestyle adjustments and standardized medication." They will not tell you that you will never relapse after taking a few pills.

Of course, this does not mean that only books with a Western medicine background can be read. Many books on prostate care compiled by regular Chinese medicine doctors are also of great reference value. For example, a colleague who studies Chinese medicine around me wrote "Experience Collection of Diagnosis and Treatment of Prostate Disease in Traditional Chinese Medicine", which will explain the care directions for people with different physiques. They are completely different: for those with damp-heat syndrome, boiling more adzuki bean and barley water is more effective than taking health supplements. For those with qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome, sitting less and taking warm baths more often has a more obvious relief effect than taking anti-inflammatory drugs. These experiences and the clinical suggestions of Western medicine are actually complementary and can be combined. But be careful to distinguish between formal Chinese medicine content and pseudo-health regimen. If any book says that moxibustion and acupuncture can eliminate prostate tissue that has proliferated to the point of compressing the urethra, don't think it must be made up.

Many people also like to buy men's health books translated from abroad. I have read a few books before, such as the prostate chapter in "The Complete Book of Men's Health" recommended by the "New York Times". It talks about many very detailed life skills, such as using a hollow cushion when sitting for a long time, drinking 200ml of water every two hours during the day and at night. Drink less water after eight o'clock. These practical tips are indeed useful, but be careful not to copy them completely. For example, the low-temperature sitz bath of more than ten degrees Celsius recommended by Europeans and Americans is too exciting for our Chinese physiques, and it is easy to aggravate prostate congestion. Soaking in warm water of 38 to 40 degrees for 10 minutes is enough.

At this point, I just want to mention one of the most controversial questions in many prostate health books: Should I abstain from sex if I have prostatitis? Some books say that you must completely abstain from sex to avoid congestion, and some books say that you need to ejaculate regularly to get rid of inflammatory secretions. In fact, there is no need to go to extremes. The current clinical consensus is that if it is an acute bacterial prostatitis attack, sexual life must be suspended to avoid congestion and aggravation of inflammation. ； But if it is chronic aseptic prostatitis, which accounts for more than 90% of cases, maintaining a frequency of ejaculation once or twice a week can help the accumulated prostatic fluid to be discharged, which is much more comfortable than holding it in. The views in the book all correspond to different situations, so you can't just stick to one sentence.

To be honest, if you really want to pay attention to your prostate health, you don’t need to buy a lot of books and pile them up at home to gather dust. Reading through a formal popular science guide is enough. After all, prostate problems are said to be 30% dependent on treatment and 70% dependent on maintenance. No matter how clear it is in the book, if you sit still for 12 hours a day, eat hot pot with cold beer, and stay up until two or three o'clock, all maintenance methods will be useless. Do you think so?