One of the many indignities of aging is the development of urinary incontinence. Even if you once prided yourself on being able to “hold it” for hours at a time, those days seem like a distant dream. You head for the head multiple times a day. And night.
You have other symptoms, too. But the one that bothers you most is the one that’s curtailed your social life and interfered with your sleep quality: urinary incontinence.
Even worse, you might not have age to blame. Suddenly, you have no control over your bladder.
What could cause urinary incontinence in men? Do you have to accept this increased urge and need to pee as the price of longevity?
At Enrich Family Practice, our expert nurse practitioners offer men’s health services at our clinic in Odessa, Texas. If you experience urinary incontinence, you deserve to know why. You also deserve relief.
Why has your pee schedule accelerated so drastically? Following are a few of the most common reasons.
One of the most common reasons for increased urination in men is a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Around 14 million men in the United States have urinary symptoms associated with BPH, including increased frequency.
Your prostate — a little walnut-shaped gland between your bladder and your rectum — is one of the few (or only) organs in the body that grows longer as you age, likely due to a drop in testosterone (T) and an uptick in estrogen that occurs as men age.
Almost all men who live long enough will develop an enlarged prostate. If it grows large enough, it creates pressure on the bladder to create an increased sense of urgency and decrease its potential holding capacity.
You may be able to reverse or halt BPH with lifestyle adjustments or medications. If your prostate is extremely large, however, you might benefit from shockwave therapy or surgery.
When your testosterone (T) is low, you may develop BPH, but you may also have other anatomical changes that influence your ability to hold your urine. Low T can cause insomnia. You may be peeing during the night not because of an increased urge but because your frequent awakenings make you aware of urine in your bladder.
If you have low T, your pelvic floor muscles weaken, which can lead to a lack of support in your bladder and rectum, which could increase incontinence. We may recommend hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to normalize your T levels.
Prostate cancer is much rarer than BPH but can cause many of the same symptoms, including incontinence. In 2024, the American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer and 35,250 deaths from the disease.
Although one in eight men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, six in 10 of those occur in men who are 65 or older. Regular screenings with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test help catch prostate cancer at earlier, more curable stages.
One reason that screening can be so effective for prostate cancer is that it’s a very slow-growing malignancy. When it’s caught early due to screening, you can treat the cancer before it spreads throughout the body. Contact us today to find out if you’re due for a PSA test or other cancer screening.
Your body contains many interconnected systems, all of which influence one another. Other conditions can also affect your ability to hold urine, including:
You may also be on a medication that increases urinary frequency. When you see us for urinary incontinence, we conduct a thorough examination, including a urine test and possible imaging studies, to identify all the factors involved in your incontinence.
We then design a treatment plan customized to your needs, which may include lifestyle changes, bladder training, medications, therapy, or (rarely) surgery.
Take charge of your bladder by calling us today at 432-200-9052 for an incontinence consultation or using our convenient online appointment form.
