BPH - symptoms?

It is difficult to say, but in my case I have an enlarged prostate and I believe it started some 3 years ago. The initial symptoms were increased urinal frequencies and waiting for the bladder emptying itself, it went drip, drip, drip. At times I wetted myself slightly when getting up from a sitting position. However, through all of these, I experienced no pain or sensations whatsoever.

Different individuals will have different experiences and I am sure some will write in here. My enlarged prostate turned out to be cancerous after 3 years and I am awaiting RP on 19 February. Looking back, if I had been well educated on the subject of prostate cancer, I would have taken action earlier. I hope you will not end up like me and I trust you are wise to the situation. Do seek specialist advice.

Regards

Rafael

He who lives, loves and knows what it means to die - Jiddu Krishnamurti.

Ok I'll explain more about what's going on. I'm male, 34. Last three months I've been having this occasional slight sensation of fullness with a very slight urge to pee which is more prominent at night and can disturb my sleep. I wake up around 3/4 am on and off for these 2 months with that slight sensation, at times it's worse I'll wake up at 1am and can't sleep for hours. Sometimes it makes me want to pee but most of the time the urge disappears more or less.

I have drunk alot of tea for many years now on a daily basis and never had an issue with urination for the most part. I will have instances where I will drink alot and not feel an urge to go for ages. Eventually I'll get the urge, pee a fair amount and then not drink hardly anything but I'll go pee a large amount again maybe 2/3 hours later. It's the fact that I'm peeing soon after I already peed that confuses me despite not really having much to drink. However I'm talking like 2/3/4 hours, not like 30 min intervals. So for example...

Yesterday, I slept ok and didn't even pee when I woke up in the morning. At work I reckon I drank around 700ml (tea/coffee) and I did NOT feel the urge to pee but I was curious to see how much I'd void. Hardly anything came out - maybe 150ml and this is my first void for almost 12 hours! How is that even possible!? I drank some more later in the day (about another 1.3l perhaps - tea/coffee/water) then I voided around 500ml. Then 2 hours later, I'll had this slight urge which developed into a stronger urge and l ended up voiding around 700ml despite NOT DRINKING ANYTHING in these 2 hours. So why the retention? This is what I don't get. I've always had a strong bladder and don't feel the need to pee until I'm around 700-800ml. I believe this is still the case but I seem to be experiencing some kind of strange delayed urination pattern?

Had urianalysis samples done 4 times, all normal, tested my blood glucose level several times using home testing kits before/after meals and that's normal too. Had a DRE, doctor said it was slightly enlarged however it was very smooth and normal in that regard and wasn't overly concerned about it and said it's not abnormal and this can happen and it's nothing hugely to worry about. Nevertheless it's got me really anxious now. He gave me a PSA form but I'm really scared to get that done. I realise that prostate enlargement is a benign condition and there is no link to cancer but I don't know, I'm a little worried.

He thinks that my symptoms are more likely due to a slight over-active bladder than anything else.

You’re right this is something I should just get done. The fear is just stopping me. So I’ve come up with somewhat of an alternative – a home testing kit. I’ve seen many here in the UK starting from £10 but this is just for one single test. I know they are used for other things like blood glucose testing etc. but maybe it’ll at least give me an indicator? The only thing though it does not actually provide you with a numerical result but rather a more general result with lines. Has anyone used something like this and is it worth doing?

Winglets, home testing for PSA is a waste of time. You have a test form. Get it done and stop the whinging. The results will empower you not demean you.

AC