hi all. Just a recap on my recent posts. Been to docs today. Explained the nightmare I was having on a year of Finesteride. Told him I had stopped a couple go days ago. Lack of libido, sensitivity, man boobs etc. I have noticed, as I have now retired, hence not as physically active, I feel this has not helped my condition or health in general. He has said to try Avodart to go with my Doxozasin. I will give them a try over the next couple of months to see if they suite me better. My last PSA was - 1.1 but I presume the finesteride impacts on the reading. I realise this is the same type of drug as Finesteride but will give it a try and if run into the same problem. I'll have a word with the doc. They don't seem very keen to prescribe cialis in the UK. Cost I presume. Any input opinions would be greatly appreciated. Any one on Avodart/ Dutasteride?
They both have the same side effects and its unlikely that Avodart's impact on you will be any different. Drugs have a poor track record for treating BPH - only a small percentage get significant relief without unacceptable side effects.
Depending on your prostate size and shape, there are several noninvasive procedures approved in the UK that will probably solve your problem indefinitely. Rezum, Urolift and PAE can all work - if you have an enlarged median lobe only Rezum will.
Both of the drugs you've taken can leave you with permanent side effects and the longer you're on them the better the chance of that. If you can't function without them, consider self cathing until you can decide on and get a procedure - you don't want those side effects to be permanent.
Hi G,
like you I became physically inactive; I am a writer (books and screenplays) so I'm thumping away on my keyboard for several hours a day. But, this year I joined my local county gym - free with my GP's reference for the 1st 3 months. Check it out. I've lost 2 stone (28 lb for the Yanks) and I go 3 times a week. Admittedly, the sauna, steam room and the swimming pool are a treat after an hour on the weights and I'm sure this has improved my situation re prostate.
I've been using Flomax for several years now and didn't suffer serious side effects until my A-hole Uro put me on finasteride, which I stopped using and things improved fairly quickly. As I've said already, my sex life returned and freedom of movement re cinema, restaurants etc., is a thing of the past: that embarrassment has gone mate.
I was also given repeat prescription 100mg Sildenafil (Viagra) tablets, which I don't use but keep them in case things go down hill or there's a war or something and meds dry up. May seem a bit over the top but there's a lot of people in Venezuela wish they'd got the meds I've got boxed up.
Ask your GP for repeat Sildenafil 100mg and crush a few up and experiment for your self with a small dose every other day or something like that. You never know things until you try them and our NHS is not rushing anywhere to help us.
I hope that helps.
Yes, Cialis is expensive. Insurance usually doesn't pay for it. You can however get them or it's generic from Canadian online pharmacies for as low as US$1 a pill. Hank
Hi Hank. Our docs seem to have a directive not to dish cialis out. Cost?
hi Chris. Don't think our docs are too keen on giving out viagra on free scrips!
you can buy them private at the chemists, yer at about £35 for 8 tablets!!
Hi. I get your point completely but reading a lot of blogs on these forums indicates that even some of these new procedures, although revolutionary,do not guarantee absolute success. I think I'll sit tight until more concrete evidence is made available. Maybe some of the procedures are not as radical as TURP but they seems to be a certain amount of invasive surgery to make me think,if the surgery is undertaken competently.
Ask him to give you a Cialis script to try it out. Specify that you'll will pay for it out of pocket. I remember that Cialis used to give out 30-day supply for first time user, with prescription. Maybe that will help. Hank
Yes - I have had experience with these drugs. I started with Proscar for 5 years and had the same side effects as you - totally devastated side effects. True it did reduce my PSA by half and my prostate size but that wore off after a few years and both went back to their original levels and continued to climb.
So my urologist put me on Avodart (dutasteride) . That drug made the side effects much worse and now 5 years later I cannot get off of it since when I try my prostate grows like crazy due to DHT production. So I am having the worse of all worlds. Currently I do self-cathing every day (CIC) and am ok with that but Proscar/Avodart ruined my life at age 69. My advice to you: destroy those drugs before they destroy you!!
I tried to replace Doxazosin with Cialis before. Cialis helped my erection, but did not do much for my urinary problems, so I went back to Doxazosin. You should try it out anyway since everyone is different. Hank
Howard - have you been evaluated to see if a procedure might reduce the size of your prostate enough to get you off the drugs and the cath? Even if your prostate grows back relatively quickly, I would think that having something like Rezum done every few years would be better than the drugs with all of their side effects and being chained to self cathing.
I think that Cialis is going generic soon, maybe the price will go down in the USA then, I hope so.
Many GP's will not prescribe Avodart as it is much more expensive than Finasteride or its other generics.
I wonder if Big Pharma is preventing the advance of this answer to our prayers: From: Yigal Gat, BSc, MSc, MD, PhD, Andrology and Interventional Radiology Unit, Maayanei HaYeshua Medical Center, Bnei Brak, Israel; and Braun Center for Sub Micron Research, Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Who says:
Benign prostate hyperplasia develops due to an impairment of the testicular venous drainage system in the erect posture of the human. Based on our fluid‐mechanics analysis of the venous drainage in the reproductive system, and the results of the developed treatment, the following statements can be made:
1
Benign prostate hypertrophy is caused by increased hydrostatic pressure in the prostate drainage system, while benign prostate hyperplasia is caused by an excessively high concentration of free testosterone; both arriving from the testes to the prostate by pathological back‐pressure and back‐flow through the testicular and the prostate drainage systems.
2
Eliminating the pathological hydrostatic pressure in the testicular venous drainage system by occlusion of the impaired ISVs, including all the associated venous bypasses and retroperitoneal collaterals by super‐selective transvenous sclerotherapy or by microsurgery, eliminates the venous back‐pressure and the back‐flow of blood to the prostate. This reduces its exposure to elevated free testosterone. This initially reduces benign prostate hypertrophy, and subsequently, at least partially, reverses benign prostate hyperplasia.
3
We recommend that patients with BPH be examined for bilateral varicocele and be treated according to the suggested treatment.
Read all about it here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1439-0272.2008.00883.x
Sadly you have to distinguish between the majority of US posters and UK ones on the Forum. British results always seem better for laser procedures as NHS Uro's are not money driven and try to do bladder neck sparing procedures. .No point in having a great flow if you have RE.
They have never given out free samples in the UK,
Hi - yes but at 240gm I only qualify for a simple prostatectomy (either open or robotic) or FLA by Dr. Karamanian in Houston. For now I don't mind doing CIC and hope that one of the new experimental procedures being developed where they just inject a new drug into the prostate to shrink it will get approval soon. Thanks. Howard
240g. How about HoLep ? Hank
Any ideas why this is Derek ?
Hi Hank- yes I forgot to mention HoLep - that is an option for me too. I just worry about incontinence as it destroys the inner sphincter so it necessary to do Kiegel exercises to keep from dripping. Then there is the RE issue too. I don't mind CIC at all thanks to all my friends here who taught me how to do it 2 years ago. I am hoping one of these new injection procedures will get accelerated approval and then I would just need a simple once a year injection to restore my prostate. Probably my prostate itself is acting like a middle sphincter muscle at this time. Howard