What is the content of prostate health education?

We have been doing clinical prostate health education for so many years. The core is to cover men of all ages from adolescence to old age, and explain prostate-related cognitive misunderstandings, abnormal signal identification, standardized medical treatment guidelines, and daily maintenance methods. It is not as simple as "only teaching the elderly about prostate hyperplasia" as everyone thinks.

Last week, a 21-year-old college student was so frightened that he cried because of the popular science he searched for on his mobile phone. He said that his frequent urination for two days meant that "the prostatitis is going away and he will not be able to have children in the future." When he asked, he found out that he stayed up late playing games for three days in a row and sat for more than ten hours without moving while holding in his urine. This kind of aseptic prostatitis is common among young people. In fact, if you move around more, don't hold your urine, and eat less spicy food for two days, most of it can be relieved in a week. There is no need to take medicine at all, let alone the "ablation perfusion" promoted by private hospitals. I would like to mention here that there are indeed different views on the treatment of mild prostatitis in the academic community. Some scholars believe that there is no need for medication at all and it can heal itself by adjusting lifestyle. Others believe that mild anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to shorten the course of the disease. The specific choice depends entirely on the severity of individual symptoms, and there is no unified standard answer.

Don’t think that prostate problems are “inflammation exclusive” for young people. On the contrary, middle-aged men in their thirties and forties are the group most likely to miss diagnosis. A while ago, a 37-year-old product manager came to see a doctor. He said he got up two or three times a night. He thought it was because he had been drinking too much milk tea recently while working overtime. When he checked, his prostate showed a tendency of mild hyperplasia. Many people mistakenly believe that prostate hyperplasia is a disease that only occurs in the 60s and 70s. In fact, after the age of 40, men’s prostate will develop. It starts to increase slowly. At this time, the focus of education is to remind everyone not to miss the digital prostate examination and PSA (prostate specific antigen) screening during the annual physical examination. Don't take so-called "gland-protecting health products" if you don't have symptoms. If you have urination waiting or nocturia, come to a specialist as soon as possible. Don't wait until you have difficulty urinating.

Among the elderly over 60 years old, the most common misunderstanding is to regard difficulty in urination and thinning of the urinary line as "normal phenomena of old age." Last year, a 72-year-old man came to the emergency department for urinary catheter insertion because he had urinary retention. He said that he had had difficulty urinating for five or six years. He thought that people were like this when they were old, and it would be over if they tolerated it, which almost caused kidney problems. In addition to clarifying the timing of intervention for prostate hyperplasia, this part of the education should also focus on early screening of prostate cancer. Different guidelines currently have different recommendations regarding the starting age of PSA screening. In China, it is generally recommended that men over 50 years old should be screened once a year. Those with a family history of prostate cancer can be screened as early as 45 years old. There is no need to over-screen, but do not take it completely seriously.

The most frequently asked questions about daily maintenance are, in fact, there is no "secret recipe". You don't need to spend a lot of money to buy imported gland-protecting supplements. You usually sit for an hour and walk for two or three minutes. Don't sit still for four or five hours. Drink less high-alcohol alcohol, don't eat spicy hot pot every meal, and eat more foods containing lycopene, such as ripe tomatoes. Don't deliberately hold back semen regularly or too frequently. These little habits are more effective than any health care products. Oh, and there is another question that everyone is too shy to ask. I always feel that riding a bicycle will press on the prostate and hurt the body. In fact, as long as you don’t ride for two or three hours in a row and don’t use a too hard saddle, you can commute for ten or twenty minutes on a daily basis. There is no need to be overly anxious.