Alpha-blocker medications for prostatitis
Examples
| Brand Name | Chemical Name |
| Uroxatral | alfuzosin hydrochloride |
| Cardura | doxazosin mesylate |
| Flomax | tamsulosin hydrochloride |
| Hytrin | terazosin hydrochloride |
These medications are available in pill form. A low dose is used initially, then the dosage is gradually increased until the medication has the greatest effect on reducing symptoms with minimal side effects.
How It Works
These medications relax the muscles in the prostate and at the base of the bladder. This reduces muscle tightness and spasms that may prevent normal urine flow.
Why It Is Used
These medications may be used to treat symptoms of chronic prostatitis/pelvic pain syndrome, noninflammatory, a type of prostatitis, when muscle tightness and spasms are suspected to be the cause of symptoms and pain. Muscle tightness and spasms may force urine into the prostate, causing irritation that leads to prostatitis.
These medicines are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which may be caused by muscle spasms in the bladder neck or in the prostate. Although these medicines have not been approved by the FDA for the treatment of prostatitis, your doctor may prescribe one of these medicines to treat your prostatitis.
How Well It Works
Most men who take alpha-blockers for prostatitis have fewer symptoms, but it takes awhile for the medicine to give results. Alpha-blockers work best in men who haven’t already tried many different kinds of medicines for prostatitis and who have moderate to severe symptoms.
Side Effects
Alpha-blockers can reduce blood pressure to less than normal. This can result in lightheadedness, especially when you stand up abruptly after sitting or lying down (postural hypotension).
See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)
What To Think About
Because the medication can cause lightheadedness, it may be given at night and started at a low dose that will be gradually increased.
Daniel:
These drugs work for prostatitis because, as the article mentiones, they relax the muscles around the bladder and the prostate, improving circulation. But people who are diagnosed with prostatitis should not simply accept these drugs as a cure. They are only a temporary treatment for acute symptoms. Many anecdotal reports online suggest that prostatitis (and even prostate cancer, supported by multiple research studites) is caused by suboptimal vitamin D levels. A vitamin D supplement is inexpensive (unlike these alpha blocker medications) and can be taken every day. A supplement that combines vitamin D3 with vitamin K2 is likely to have the most beneficial effect. A blood test for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D can confirm suboptimal levels (i.e. less than 40 ng/mL). If you are interested in doing more research, do some searches on Pub Med for prostate, prostatitis, vitamin D, etc. You might be surprised at what you find.
21 June 2009, 10:15 pm