When Bob developed symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) about 10 years ago, he had a feeling he knew what he was dealing with. “My father and uncle both suffered from BPH, so it runs in the family,” he said. His symptoms were urinary frequency (the need to urinate more often than usual), urinary urgency (a sudden, strong need to urinate) and a weak stream.
He called it his nervous bladder. “You have this nervous feeling about you, you can't sleep, you have to get up several times at night,” said Bob, who’s now 66. His symptoms got worse over the course of four years. He was always aware of how far he was from a bathroom. “If you have to take a long car ride or an airplane ride, you tend to avoid it. You can't go out to dinner because you're jumping up from the table.”
The lack of sleep was the worst part. Eventually he was waking up every 40 minutes at night. “I was running on absolutely no sleep, which was torturous,” he said.
Six years ago, Bob had a surgical procedure done to help improve his symptoms. He described the procedure as “pretty easy,” with little pain.
He noticed a difference in his bladder right away, and called it life-changing. “It was like I was 21 again,” he said. “I actually slept for seven hours solid, didn't get up, didn't need to get up because I could fully empty my bladder. “ Two days after his procedure, he went to an event, arriving at 4 pm. He ate and drank, and didn’t go to the men’s room until he got home at midnight. “I didn’t have that nervous bladder feeling,” he said.
Men’s prostates usually continue to gradually grow even after having a procedure for BPH. Now, six years after his procedure, Bob does have to get up once a night to go to the bathroom, after sleeping four to five hours. “That's pretty good for six years. I'll take that any day,” he said.
“Men typically, overall, don't seek medical care, they wait too long for any issue they have,” Bob said. “My advice is don't be embarrassed to go in, don't be embarrassed to ask for help early. The remedies are there for you, the treatment is there for you, the medical professionals are there for you. Use it, don't ignore it, don't delay it.”
To hear more about Bob’s story, listen to the full podcast episode below: