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BPH Drug Side Effects: What You Need To Know

Before you gamble away your sex life, know the BPH drug side effects before consenting to their use! If you think these medications are harmless, think again. They can easily affect your sex life: reduced libido and erectile difficulties are the price you pay. 

Finasteride side effects and Avodart side effects, and the many others in the long list of pills, affect your hormones. As such, they can contribute to prostate cancer. Over time, you go from reducing your enlarged prostate to the end of sex as you knew it to the increased risk of prostate cancer! 

No doubt your physician will let you know that pharmaceutical treatments are available, but will likely downplay the BPH drug side effects. It's up to you to know your choices and, if you so choose, opt right out of the medication circus!

Here’s a bit about these treatments: 

Finasteride (brand name: Proscar) and dutasteride (brand name: Avodart) block and/or lower a natural hormone that makes the prostate enlarge, but these drugs do not help all patients. Known dutasteride and finasteride side effects include decreased sex drive and impotence. Any improvement in increased urine flow and decreased BPH symptoms could take 3 to 6 months. 

Another kind of medicine, called alpha blockers, also can help relieve the symptoms of BPH. They shrink or relax the prostate to keep it from blocking the bladder opening. Some of these drugs are terazosin (brand name: Hytrin), doxazosin (brand name: Cardura), tamsulosin (brand name: Flomax) and alfuzosin (brand name: Uroxatral). 

Alpha blockers have been used for a long time to treat high blood pressure, but they can also help the symptoms of BPH, even in men who have normal blood pressure.

What are the BPH Drug Side Effects?

Let's look at the following BPH drug side effects. This is a partial list, from standard medical literature: 

• breast enlargement or tenderness (great for women!)
• abnormal reduced ejaculation or none (no fun if you can't come!)
  
• decreased sex drive (bye bye libido!)
  
• dizziness
  
• headache
  
• fatigue
  
• impotence (can't keep it up :(
  
• no erections (can't even get one!)
  
• diarrhea (this on top of all that!)
  
• back pain (might as well stay in bed but remember – no sex!) 
  
• sore throat
• decreased libido (lost that already)
  
• itching
  
• hives
  
• difficulty breathing or swallowing, wheezing
  
• unexplained skin rash
  
• erectile dysfunction
  

Enough!  

Both pharmaceuticals and physicians promote these pills because they are profitable, not because they will heal your prostate condition. They turn a blind eye to the BPH side effects, and should another issue arise as a result of these meds, there will be another "Band-Aid" to add to this one. This is the way the Western medical approach works. Why investigate the causes, when they could develop ways to hide the side effects? 

Doctors will advise you to take the pills, saying that they work. (The heck with risks, as they are minor in their opinion.) 

What about surgeries? Removing or zapping your prostate with surgeries or even with laser or infrared techniques does not work in the long run and has big risks of incontinence (no control of peeing) and hence the need to wear adult diapers. The commercials on TV make that appear like a normal easy thing, like for babies. These may be good in some situations — but they are not a first choice solution for most men! 

How could it not affect your sex life? I don't know about you, but I want that part of my life to continue until I am much older. Surgeries often result in impotence or incontinence. Or both! (Yikes!) 

Avodart Side Effects 

Right on the Avodart website, you will find a list of possible Avodart side effects. True, not every man who takes it will experience these, but it's a gamble! 

The more rare risks include swelling of your face, tongue or throat and/or skin reactions such as peeling. It even lists a higher chance of developing a more serious form of prostate cancer! 

The more common Avodart side effects are: difficulties in getting and maintaining erections, a decrease in sex drive, ejaculation problems, and enlarged or painful breasts. 

That's not all! The effect of Avodart on male fertility isn't known, but it has been shown to reduce sperm count, semen volume and the mobility of our sperm.

Finasteride Side Effects and Proscar Side Effects

Finasteride is sold under the brand name Proscar when prescribed for BPH and sold under the brand name Propecia when prescribed for hair loss. That's right. Hair growth is one of the finasteride side effects. But that is a relatively harmless side effect among several more severe, possible Proscar side effects. 

Again, serious side effects are not common, but they do occur. Will you be one of them? That's a question to ask before filling this prescription. Here's what could happen: 

• lump in the breast
• nipple discharge
  
• breast tenderness, pain, swelling and/or growth
  
• testicle pain
  
• inability to urinate (isn't that why we take it, to help improve this problem caused by a swollen prostate?)
  
• allergic reactions like rash, swelling of the face, throat or tongue, dizziness and/or respiratory issues
  
• over years, depression, lack of motivation and energy have also been reported
  

Rarely, cases of male breast cancer have also been reported as one of the finasteride side effects! 

If I went through all the BPH drug side effects, as I've only touched on a couple, the list would grow ever longer despite the fact that many of the risks are similar. 

Prazosin Side Effects, Alfuzosin Side Effects, Terazosin Side Effects

These three enlarged prostate drugs all have serious side effects... 

allergic reactions causing breathing difficulties and wheezing 

• chest pain 
• jaundice 
• nausea, stomach pain 
• dizziness 
• fever and loss of appetite 
• feel like passing out 
• swelling of the hands, ankles or feet 
• sudden loss of consciousness 
• penis erections that hurt and last for hours and hours (yikes at other times a dream come true) 
• fast or irregular heartbeat 
• depression 

In short, these meds all have serious BPH drug side effects. 

Doctors know all these BPH drug side effects, yet they pedal their meds shamelessly! They figure men are desperate to mitigate symptoms to take it, or aren't educated enough to make a decision. The biggest factor here is knowing you have a choice! Manage an enlarged prostate with healthy food, prostate supplements and herbs rather than drugs. No side effects other than great health!

That's the focus of my book, Healthy Prostate and of this website. I outline your options in terms of diet and supplements, and much more. I know to some of you, that may sound like change. But I've been doing it for years, I've still got my sex drive intact and I'm healthier than before. All because I chose research and change over the long list of BPH drug side effects you've just read about.

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