Do you suspect of suffering from an enlarged prostate? Well the symptoms of this health condition are irregularity in urine flow, always in an urge to urinate, leaking after urination, blood traces in the urine and other problems related to urination.
If you have any of the above symptoms that means you have an enlarged prostate gland. Most men after discovering that they suffer from an enlarged prostate do not know what they should do next and are generally ignorant about the topic. But there is nothing to worry as there are many men who suffer from this problem and there are a lot of medical advances too that can help you overcome the problem. According to National Institute of Health, more than 50% of men who are 60 years or older, are affected by this detrimental condition.
Consult Your Doctor Immediately
The first and foremost action to be taken as soon as you discover an enlarged prostate is to inform you doctor. The doctor will verify your doubt with the help of a digital-rectal examination (DRE) and detect if you suffer from an enlarged prostate or not. This is an uncomplicated physical exam that takes not even a minute to complete the diagnosis. The doctor performs the test by inserting his gloved finger that is usually lubricated into the patient’s rectum.
The examiner feels for the prostate gland that is located in the front side of the rectum and examines the size and texture of the organ. A normal prostate gland is generally supple and spongy just like the fleshy skin on our thumb. If the prostate tissue gives a tough, coarse or a not so smooth texture then the doctor will immediately recommend a few more tests to come to a concrete decision. But there are chances that an enlarged prostate still have healthy tissues. For such cases, the doctor will simply prescribe a few medications or a mild incision procedure to effectively deal with the problem.
Diagnosing The Gravity Of The Problem
But when the doctor identifies unhealthy tissues you will be given more tests to get all doubts cleared and to find the gravity of the condition. Firstly the analysis is done on the blood that will prove helpful to identify the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level and the prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) count in the patients body.
Every man who has completed 50 years of age should go through the PSA test that is generally covered in the annual medical screening. The prostate-specific antigens are created by the membrane cells that surround the prostate and are found in high levels in those men who are diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or in other words enlarged prostate. PSA level can also help the doctor detect premature cancer developments. However, a high PSA level does not always result in cancer but simply indicate the severity of the health condition.