Chinese medicine for BPH? Fructus Rubi
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hi Folks
I have significant BPH and the usual symptoms of urgency, retention .... I have had 2 urolift operations ...
A Chinese doctor in UK has prescribed me this herbal medicine, for my general health and circulation. He is aware of my BPH but I am wary of taking the powder.
The leaflet says 'Fructus Psoraleae has beneficial effects on the liver and kidneys'.
However it says it is contraindicated in 'individuals with difficulty starting urination or who have reduced urine volume'.
Does anyone have any good experience and advice as to whether I should take it?
Will it help or make things worse?
Thanks
0 likes, 11 replies
Truthmatters mikemh
Posted
You would be very unwise to take any quack "remedy". If there are no clinical trials worthy of the name with supporting evidence do not go anywhere near it. You would be entitled to question conventional medicine after two failed Urolifts but it probably says more about your Urologist than the technique, which in suitable patients is very effective. Time to confront or change the Urologist, turning to quackery is much more dangerous.
Motto Truthmatters
Posted
Before calling Chinse Herbal Medicine "quack" you should be aware that Chinese medicine has been practiced for thousands of years with good results when at times "western" medicine didn't even believe in handwashing.
And, there is a study of studies which concluded that CHM is better in terms of improving quality of life and prostate volume than western medicine.
The study is titled: Efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine for benign prostatic hyperplasia: systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
Asian J Androl. 2013 Jul; 15(4): 471–482.
Published online 2013 Jun 3. doi: 10.1038/aja.2012.173
PMCID: PMC3739225
PMID: 23728585
I can't post a link but here's the conclusion:
In conclusion, this review showed that CHM, either as monotherapy or an adjuvant therapy with WM, was similar to either placebo or WM in the treatment of BPH. Only CHM was found to be superior to WM in improving QoL and reducing PV. The frequency of adverse events of CHM was similar to that of placebo and even less than that of WM. Adjuvant use of CHM and WM was also similar to WM in the frequency of adverse events reported. Thus, CHM may be safe for use in research and clinical practice. Because the quality of the majority of the included studies was poor and the data were non-homogenous, the current evidence was not strong enough to support the definite advantage of CHM over other control groups. Therefore, this review should be treated as a pilot review to provide more reliable data for further studies. More trials of good quality and larger subject numbers should be conducted to further examine the result of this review. Finally, as CHM was analysed as a whole in this review, these results cannot be simply applied to every instance of single herbs or formulas.
Motto
Posted
So now I'm off to the URO today but looking for a Chinese Herbalist tomorrow.
rdemyan mikemh
Posted
Hi Mike:
If there's a warning regarding urination, I wouldn't take it. About 5 years ago, I took sudafed for nasal congestion and then went to a party where I drank a fair amount and sat quite a bit. That night, I couldn't get urine to pass even though my bladder was pushing incredibably hard. I was in agony for several hours. I also had pain in my kidney area (probably the bladder was pushing urine back into the kidneys). I even had internal shooting electrical shock like nerve pain (something I've never had before and I have had back pain). After several hours I finally began to pee again. I went to the doc the next day. He immediately ordered an MRI to check my kidneys. Everything was okay.
Sudafed has a warning on it regarding BPH, which I ignored. Based on my experience, I would not take it.
hank1953 rdemyan
Posted
rd, I think your incident was caused mainly by 'drank a fair amount and sit around quite a bit', not Sudafed. Many of us had that, without Sudafed, and it's called Acute Urinary Retention (AUR). Many of us ended up at ER and catherization because of this 'drank and sit' behavior. Hank
rdemyan hank1953
Posted
Hi Hank. It's true that drinking and sitting irritate the prostate and I mentioned it because I'm sure they contributed. But the active decongestant ingredient in sudafed tightens the bladder neck and I'm fairly certain that's what took this incident over the top. The warning on the Sudafed package says "ask a doctor before use if you have trouble urinating due to an enlarged prostate."
My doctor also suffers from BPH and he said I should not take any products with phenylephrine. However, since that discussion, I've found that I can occassionally use sprays with nasal decongestants but not tablets. In discussions with my doctor he agreed with me that the likely reason why this probably works is because the phenlyephrine from a spray remains largely in the nasal area and the amount showing up in the blood from the spray is much lower than if a pill is taken.
My point is disregard warning labels at your own risk.
hank1953 rdemyan
Posted
The first time I had it, I drank quite a bit of Diet Coke and sat around quite a bit. Later, my doctor ordered me not to drink any caffeinated drink. 😀 Now I can duplicate it at will, with any liquid. Hank
hank1953 mikemh
Posted
From what I've read, this not 'quack' . It's Chinese or Korean berry herbal medicine that has been around. You can even by it from Amazon. Its basic promises are: reduce urinary frequency, benefits kidneys and liver, reduce urine volume (I don't see how, maybe it means 'reduce retaining volume').
It depends on what your problems are. If you have difficulty peeing, then this isn't for you. If you have problems of going too often, I'd give it a try for few days, or even a week. You can always stop if it's making things worse.
Either way, you can post the results afterward. Hank
Motto mikemh
Posted
May fry your liver? I'd pass. Liver toxicity.
Fructus Psoraleae (FP) is used by herbalists for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, vitiligo, and psoriasis. It is used alone, or in combination with other herbs, in some countries in the form of proprietary medicine. It is recognized as one of the emerging hepatotoxins and here we report three cases of acute hepatitis after exposed to FP and its related proprietary medicine. It seems possible that psoralen and its related chemicals may be responsible for the hepatotoxicity. Decoction with other herbs may result in higher concentration of toxic constituents and in more severe liver injury. In summary, FP is associated with hepatotoxicity in some individuals. Pharmacovigilance for the potential side effects of herbal products is necessary.
hank1953 Motto
Posted
Motto, you researched the wrong herb ! Hank
mikemh
Posted
An update for anyone interested..
I took the powder eventually for a month. There were no adverse effects on my prostate.
Whether there were beneficial effects overall is of course hard to say.