Herbs or supplements for BPH

Hi Bill, I'm using saw palmetto and flower pollen extract, which is also also referred to sometimes as rye flower pollen extract. Is that what you used or was it something else? I too have tried a lot of supplements/ herbs, maybe as many as 20. Quite a few of them made things worse. At the moment, I'm having moderate results, but still self-cathing 3 or 4 times per day. Have been looking into ITind. Anyone know where you can obtain this without participatig in a clinical trial? 

Good morning Light1,

I am in the same boat as you,  self cath 3-4 times a day, taking tamsulosin sometimes 1 sometimes 2 sometimes none,  doesnt really help to pee but does seem to allow the cath to pass through the prostate a little easier and smoother.    Just kinda in the 'wait and watch" mode.   However I am interested in where you have heard of the trial run on Itend?

Yes, but you're not guaranteed to get the device. About 1/3 of participants do not get the implant. They are anesthetized, get a cystoscopy, but it is a "dry run". So they go through all of that with no possibility of improvement. Also, I had a diagnosis of pc back in 2007, so would be ineligible for some, if not all, of the studies.

Bill

Yes, I'm taking the Graminex. Also saw palmetto and pygeum. Just started the Graminex. How long does it take to kick in?

I noticed some improvement in a few days. It wasn't drastic but I peed better. Maybe the nee pollen wasn't doing it or maybe placebo effect

I had the iTind procedure done in the USA at the end of November as part of a clinical trial. Implant experience was very, very tolerable. Much less of an ordeal than I imagined it would be. No pain, just discomfort. More fear and anxiety than I needed to expend but everyone was fantastic. The actual procedure took 5 minutes and another 3 to wake up. No breathing tube down my throat. More like a colonoscopy. I was released about 3 hours afterwards. If I had to do it again in a few years I would do it in a heartbeat. Much easier than wisdom teeth removal or a root canal by comparison.

Implant was annoying to have in but not painful. Just some burning at the tip when urinating because of the irritation, but that lasted 30 seconds at most. Just breathe deeply and I got through it fine. I stayed home and goofed off and rested. Needed to be near a toilet due to urgency and some leakage. Just messy, but really easy to clean up. Very little bleeding. Just passed some very small blood clots.

Results were excellent upon removal on the 6th day. Removal was a bit painful for maybe 15 seconds. A little bleeding which stopped after 5 minutes and then i was able to void my bladder completely. No more urgency. No more discomfort. No leakage. EVERYTHING CALMED DOWN! Instead of going up to 18 times a day I was going 8 times a day. Instead of being up 5-6 times at night I now only get up 1 time at night. I can take long car rides without fear of being stuck in traffic. When I do begin to get the urge to go I can "clamp down" to make the urge go away and wait anouther 20-30 minutes before getting ot a toilet. I no longer worry about where the nearest toilet is, though I do know where every fast food restaurant and public library are. Life is so much better.

Sex is fine. No ED. No retrograde ejaculation. No loss of any sensation.

For me the hardest part has been getting back into a normal sleep cycle. For the past 5 years or so I was not sleeping more than an hour or two at a time so I had become a bit of an insomniac. No deep REM sleep. The most I can usually sleep now without waking is 4 hours though once I did sleep 5 hours. That was sheer bliss.  It is not that I have to use the toilet. It is just that I wake up and can't fall back to sleep.

But everything is so much better.

As for being in the trial I had to deal with the feeling that I mignt be in the control group and would be "fooled" At first it was a huge negative but then I thought more on it and came to the realization that I was not doing this just for myself but for all of the other men, my son and son-in-law included, who will follow me and benefit from this procedure. Also, it will save taxpeyer dollars as most men who need this are over 65 and are ion Medicare. So either I believed that the project was worthy of my time and risk or it was not. And I began to look at it from the perspective of the clinical trial coordiantor, the FDA and saw the benefits that could be achieved.  Also the standard of care in a clinical trial is very, very good.

The iTind is a very elegant solution to dealing with BHP symptoms. There still is no "cure". They still do not know why some men have worse LUTS than others or why the prostate grows faster in some men. They have theories but have not found the actual trigger. The first "i" in iTind stands for ischemic which is how the incisions are made. Instead of cutting tissue as they do in TURP or HoLEP or TUNA, etc. the wires of the iTind contact the tissue and it dies off naturally from being compressed. The cells slough off pretty quickly, not unlike a scab falling off your skin. That leaves the remaining tissue intact with little or no trauma. That is why there is very little bleeding, swelling, pain, etc. Also, the device is placed very precisely so as to avoid damaging nerves, seminal vessicles, and ejaculatory ducts. That is why there is little risk of negative side effets.

I am still going back for followup visits to test bladder capacity, output flow and post void residual. Not a big hassle. And there was no cost to me except for the post op meds which were cheap, something like $20 total for anti-biotics and some pain meds to help with the burning.

Like I said,m I would do this in a heartbeat if I had to in the future to avoid all of the problems of TURP, or other more traumatic procedures.

ramblin - Can't believe it, with one exception I take the same supplements.  Instead of pumpkin seed oil, I toast raw pumpkin seeds, and I've noticed an improvement.  Some men swear by Saw Palmetto.  Guys, if you're one of them, take my opinion for what it's worth.  The best Saw Palmetto out there ... comes from Walmart.  You read that right.  I pay for this data from a ... Lab ... dedicated to ... Consumers ... if you get my drift.