subject: With Living A Longer Life Comes The Added Responsibility Of Practicing Good Health Habits [print this page] Men in the United States are living longer lives unlike any
other time in American history. Due to the many scientific
breakthroughs and the technological advances in medical care,
the life span of men are continuing to increase with each
passing year. But with it comes some disturbing news that can
stop you dead in your tracks.
Men between the ages of seventy and eighty-five suffer
disproportionally with their prostate gland---more so than
any other age group, and ninety per cent of them suffer from
some form or type of urinary incontinence as well. Along
with an extended life span comes some shocking news; nine out
of ten men in this age group have, or will have some trouble
with an enlarged prostate gland. Often times the prostate can
become cancerous and require surgical removal, and even with
the removal of the prostate, post surgical complications can
present some very difficult challenges and hurdles that leave
many men bewildered and perplexed.
Prior to having the prostate removed most men have difficulty
trying to urinate, and of course this condition can be traced
directly back to the enlargement of the prostate. The
prostate is a gland about the size of a walnut and it
encloses the urethra. As long as the prostate is normal size
or slightly larger than normal it doesn't create a problem
when it comes to allowing urine to pass through the urethra.
The urethra is a duct or tube that runs from the bladder
through the prostate and down through the penis. Once the
kidneys have cleansed the blood of all waste, excess water
and other impurities it sends the refuse which is now urine
down through two tubes called the ureter tubes into the
bladder. There the urine is allowed to remain until the
nerves signal the bladder to empty itself of all content or
urine. Unless there is some problem with the bladder
receiving these nerve signals to release its content, it will
do as it was instructed to do by the nerve signal that it
received.
However, as the urine travel from the bladder through the
urethra it must pass through the prostate gland much like a
locomotive passes through a tunnel. If for some reason the
tunnel is not wide enough; high enough to allow the
locomotive to continue through, the locomotive will become
stuck or completely derailed; it would depend on the impact
at which the locomotive hit the tunnel as it tried to pass
through it.
The urethra travels through the prostate and through the
penis, and the urine travels through the urethra, that
travels through the prostate, and out the penis. But when the
prostate has become enlarged it practically squeezes the
urethra shut, preventing the urine from flowing smoothly
through the urethra and out the penis. It is not uncommon at
all for men with an enlarge prostate to have an overwhelming
urge to urinate, but once he tries to void or pass urine only
a trickle slowly comes out. This very uncomfortable situation
is due solely to an enlarge prostate. Unless this situation
is quickly corrected consequences could prove to be very
serious, and that's assuming that the prostate is not
cancerous.
Once the prostate is removed, or a prostatectomy is done it
can leave the patient incontinent temporarily, however, it
can also leave some patients permanently incontinent.
Sometimes a prostatectomy is followed up with additional
surgeries to help alleviate incontinence, or urinary
incontinence in particular. There are several procedures that
are readily available and have proven to be relatively
effective in the management and control of urine voiding or
urine passing. The time will not permit me to go into great
details but I would like to mention that during a
prostatectomy the sphincter muscle that's located at the
pelvis floor can be severely damaged. The sphincter muscle
plays a very important role in restricting the urine from
escaping or voiding when it is not suppose to. It encloses
the neck of the bladder tight enough to prevent any kind of
urine leakage, but if it has become damaged it will no longer
enclose the bottle neck of the bladder tight enough to
prevent urine from escaping. When this happen an artificial
sphincter can be installed through surgery, and it will
resume the role of the sphincter muscle.
In closing, there are a number of conditions that can lead to
urinary incontinence in men, from an over active bladder
(AOB); urinary tract infection; enlarge prostate gland, to
the break down of the sphincter muscle and so on. But one
point is clear, with aging comes the added responsibility of
working closely with your physician to head off would be
complications that can lead to or further promote favorable
