Prostate problems and Flomax

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If you have an enlarged prostate, you may have come across the drug Flomax (generic name: Tamsulosin). Your Doctor might have prescribed it, having told you that it will relieve your symptoms of BPH.  However, a note of warning. While It may seem like the perfect drug if you have an enlarged prostate, a staggering amount of research has highlighted worrying side effects.

This following info will take a closer look at Flomax (Tamsulosin) and to what extent does its harm, rather than improve your prostate health.

In the late 1970s, an α-blocker named phenoxybenzamine demonstrated beneficial effects in treating the symptoms of BPH. However, although it showed benefits, around 30% of users experienced serious side effects. Furthermore, the drug has been identified as a potentially strong carcinoge(Ramirez 2014).

Flomax (also known as Tamsulosin), became available to the market in 1996 and was showcased as a breakthrough drug.

It was revealed to have fewer side effects than phenoxybenzamine, the popular alpha blocker that was originally prescribed for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).
Flomax is now the most commonly prescribed drug for men with symptoms of BPH, but how does it actually work?

Alpha blockers work by binding to alpha-adrenergic receptors which prevent the receptor from being stimulated. This prevents the transmission of nerve impulses and causes smooth muscles in the prostate, bladder and arterioles to relax, enabling urine to flow more freely.

If you think Flomax is safe, check out the side effects: dizziness, nasal congestion, rhinitis, rhinorrhoea, sinus congestion, runny nose, headaches, chills, fever, low blood pressure respiratory tract infections, painful urinations, seasonal allergic rhinitis and even drowsiness.

It is highly likely that current research underestimates both the number of these side effects, as well as their seriousness. The research conducted around this drug is kept from the public, providing very little information about the dangerous effects of Flomax. This is just the tip of the iceberg. After this about enlarged prostates there will be alternatives to Flomax.

A pharmacologist revealed in 2014 that over 75% of registered trials for Flomax were hidden, which is a very worrying statistic. Therefore, the true effects that this drug could have on your body remain unknown to the public

A big cause for concern is severe hypotension, which has rarely been reported in clinical trials. Alpha blockers, especially untargeted ones such as tamsulosin, relax the smooth muscles in the heart which leads to low blood pressure.

A cohort study involving 14,784 men that used an alpha blocker from 2003 to 2013, were compared to an equal number of men who decided against the use of alpha blockers, in order to examine whether alpha blockers increased the risk of falling. This is because it has been suggested that hypotension can result in serious falls, fractures or head injuries. The use of alpha blockers increased fall risk by 14% compared to men that did not use alpha-blockers.

If you are going to have cataract surgery, then it is important that you avoid the use of Flomax.

Flomax has been shown to cause complications during cataract surgery and result in floppy eye syndrome (Pärssinen, 2006).

Further studies have also outlined other potential risk of taking the drug.  A Cochrane systematic review looked at the effects of Flomax for BPH in 2003. The review involved 14 studies that ranged from 1 to 6 months long. The study participants did report improvements in symptoms. However, they also found 37 adverse side effects and 63% reported some form of side effect.

Side effects that were reported included erectile dysfunction, retrograde ejaculation and reduced libido. In another 4-year study, 27% of participants dropped out due to inadequate improvement in symptoms, while 17% dropped out due to side effects. The most common side effects were dizziness abnormal ejaculation, asthenia, hypotension, erectile dysfunction and headaches.

Evidence suggests that Flomax is moderately effective at best. Patients taking Flomax or considering taking Flomax should be made aware that taking this medication means that symptoms are unlikely to completely go.

The size of the prostate is a determinant on the effectiveness of Flomax. The drug is notably less effective when the prostate is larger. Finally, it should be noted that a clear majority of the research around this drug remains unpublished. As a result, it is likely that available evidence overestimates its overall effectiveness.

Alpha blockers do not improve clinical outcomes of BPH or slow down growth of the prostate, and Flomax is no exception. A 2008 study found that prostate size did not change, and PSA levels increased by 12.1% over two years of Flomax use.

Prostate cancer was reported in 26 men that were receiving Flomax. This is not surprising, with research indicating that BPH may increase prostate cancer risk.

When it comes to treating prostate problems, natural is the way to go. Mike Adams’ Liquid Curcumin and Ben Ong’s Natural Health For The Prostate are excellent.

Prostate cancer rates are higher than ever before and sadly many men are unknowingly relying on dangerous prostate drugs with life-wrecking side effects.

With natural, herbal remedies you can treat your prostate naturally, safely and with no nasty side effects.

Based on the research (or lack of it), and the fact that there are other more effective alpha blockers available with fewer side effects, patients may wish to consider avoiding Flomax altogether.

It has also been identified as a carcinogen, as well as linked to macular degeneration in the form of Floppy Iris Syndrome.  Overall, the vast majority of industry funded studies on Flomax remain unpublished. Independent studies raise questions about the efficacy and safety of this medication. Its high rate of side effects and low efficacy means patients may wish to consider alternative treatments.

1) A clean plant-based diet with no processed foods, anything that had a face or a mother, eggs, dairy, alcohol or tobacco.

2) Saw palmetto berry herb
French researchers say this well-known herb is a suitable replacement for Flomax plus it decreases 65% of the biomarkers for chronic prostate inflammation. That’s a good amount since the drug only decreased the biomarkers 46%.

Saw palmetto berry also decreased 80% of the genes most frequently expressed for prostate enlargement while the drug came in with a pale 33% reduction.

Patients who had the MIF protein overexpressed because of the disorder showed a higher response to the International Prostate Symptom Score when they took the hexane extract of the herb as well. The scientists stated that their study showed for the first time that saw palmetto has distinct clinical level anti-inflammatory properties for men with prostate enlargement.

3) Nettles

This is one of three herbs/foods shown in studies to be just as effective as Flomax in cases of mild to moderate prostate enlargement.
That’s what Italian scientists report in their medical journals.

4) Pygeum africanum

Pygeum herb is just as effective as Flomax, say the experts of various medical reports. Men using the herb were more than twice as likely to report an improvement in overall symptoms.

Getting up to go to urinate in the middle of the night was reduced by 19%. Residual urine volume was decreased by 24% and peak urine flow was increased by 23%.

5) Curcubita pepo

This food is the third food/herb shown in human studies to be as effective as tamsulosin. In one German study, 12 months of treatment of pumpkin seed led to a clinically reduction in symptoms in men with prostate enlargement compared to placebo.
The researchers made the statement that in order to fully justify a recommendation to use the pumpkin seeds in other men, they needed to see similar findings in a larger group of men.

However, the study size that was analyzed was 1431 men. How many more do you need in order to try something natural without side effects?

6) Poncirus trifoliata fruit

This fruit is used in traditional Oriental medicine for different conditions such as swelling, constipation, allergies, and too much acid after eating. The fruit contains flavonoids and coumarins that have already proven to work against allergies, viruses and tumors.

In prostate enlargement, testosterone is often linked with the development and progression of the disorder. The body makes its own 5-alpha-reductase to block the production of testosterone but drugs other than Flomax used for prostate enlargement try to mimic the same thing.

When Korean researchers tested an alcoholic extract of the fruit against the prescription medication, they found that the fruit extract markedly reduced the testosterone levels compared to the other groups. It prevented the progression of enlarged prostate caused by testosterone.

These are only a fraction of the medical journal articles that report that herbs work well for prostate enlargement. They give us all hope that we can be not only free from symptoms of prostate enlargement but also side effect free from medications prescribed from the condition.

Aloha!

Sources:
www.wafflesatnoon.com
www.healthline.com
[email protected]
www.drugs.com
www.everydayhealth.com

Hesh Goldstein
When I was a kid, if I were told that I'd be writing a book about diet and nutrition when I was older, let alone having been doing a health related radio show for over 36 years, I would've thought that whoever told me that was out of their mind. Living in Newark, New Jersey, my parents and I consumed anything and everything that had a face or a mother except for dead, rotting, pig bodies, although we did eat bacon (as if all the other decomposing flesh bodies were somehow miraculously clean). Going through high school and college it was no different. In fact, my dietary change did not come until I was in my 30's.

Just to put things in perspective, after I graduated from Weequahic High School and before going to Seton Hall University, I had a part-time job working for a butcher. I was the delivery guy and occasionally had to go to the slaughterhouse to pick up products for the store. Needless to say, I had no consciousness nor awareness, as change never came then despite the horrors I witnessed on an almost daily basis.

After graduating with a degree in accounting from Seton Hall, I eventually got married and moved to a town called Livingston. Livingston was basically a yuppie community where everyone was judged by the neighborhood they lived in and their income. To say it was a "plastic" community would be an understatement.

Livingston and the shallowness finally got to me. I told my wife I was fed up and wanted to move. She made it clear she had to be near her friends and New York City. I finally got my act together and split for Colorado.

I was living with a lady in Aspen at the end of 1974, when one day she said, " let's become vegetarians". I have no idea what possessed me to say it, but I said, "okay"! At that point I went to the freezer and took out about $100 worth of frozen, dead body parts and gave them to a welfare mother who lived behind us. Well, everything was great for about a week or so, and then the chick split with another guy.

So here I was, a vegetarian for a couple weeks, not really knowing what to do, how to cook, or basically how to prepare anything. For about a month, I was getting by on carrot sticks, celery sticks, and yogurt. Fortunately, when I went vegan in 1990, it was a simple and natural progression. Anyway, as I walked around Aspen town, I noticed a little vegetarian restaurant called, "The Little Kitchen".

Let me back up just a little bit. It was April of 1975, the snow was melting and the runoff of Ajax Mountain filled the streets full of knee-deep mud. Now, Aspen was great to ski in, but was a bummer to walk in when the snow was melting.

I was ready to call it quits and I needed a warmer place. I'll elaborate on that in a minute.

But right now, back to "The Little Kitchen". Knowing that I was going to leave Aspen and basically a new vegetarian, I needed help. So, I cruised into the restaurant and told them my plight and asked them if they would teach me how to cook. I told them in return I would wash dishes and empty their trash. They then asked me what I did for a living and I told them I was an accountant.

The owner said to me, "Let's make a deal. You do our tax return and we'll feed you as well". So for the next couple of weeks I was doing their tax return, washing their dishes, emptying the trash, and learning as much as I could.

But, like I said, the mud was getting to me. So I picked up a travel book written by a guy named Foder. The name of the book was, "Hawaii". Looking through the book I noticed that in Lahaina, on Maui, there was a little vegetarian restaurant called," Mr. Natural's". I decided right then and there that I would go to Lahaina and work at "Mr. Natural's." To make a long story short, that's exactly what happened.

So, I'm working at "Mr. Natural's" and learning everything I can about my new dietary lifestyle - it was great. Every afternoon we would close for lunch at about 1 PM and go to the Sheraton Hotel in Ka'anapali and play volleyball, while somebody stayed behind to prepare dinner.

Since I was the new guy, and didn't really know how to cook, I never thought that I would be asked to stay behind to cook dinner. Well, one afternoon, that's exactly what happened; it was my turn. That posed a problem for me because I was at the point where I finally knew how to boil water.

I was desperate, clueless and basically up the creek without a paddle. Fortunately, there was a friend of mine sitting in the gazebo at the restaurant and I asked him if he knew how to cook. He said the only thing he knew how to cook was enchiladas. He said that his enchiladas were bean-less and dairy-less. I told him that I had no idea what an enchilada was or what he was talking about, but I needed him to show me because it was my turn to do the evening meal.

Well, the guys came back from playing volleyball and I'm asked what was for dinner. I told them enchiladas; the owner wasn't thrilled. I told him that mine were bean-less and dairy-less. When he tried the enchilada he said it was incredible. Being the humble guy that I was, I smiled and said, "You expected anything less"? It apparently was so good that it was the only item on the menu that we served twice a week. In fact, after about a week, we were selling five dozen every night we had them on the menu and people would walk around Lahaina broadcasting, 'enchilada's at "Natural's" tonight'. I never had to cook anything else.

A year later the restaurant closed, and somehow I gravitated to a little health food store in Wailuku. I never told anyone I was an accountant and basically relegated myself to being the truck driver. The guys who were running the health food store had friends in similar businesses and farms on many of the islands. I told them that if they could organize and form one company they could probably lock in the State. That's when they found out I was an accountant and "Down to Earth" was born. "Down to Earth" became the largest natural food store chain in the islands, and I was their Chief Financial Officer and co-manager of their biggest store for 13 years.

In 1981, I started to do a weekly radio show to try and expose people to a vegetarian diet and get them away from killing innocent creatures. I still do that show today. I pay for my own airtime and have no sponsors to not compromise my honesty. One bit of a hassle was the fact that I was forced to get a Masters Degree in Nutrition to shut up all the MD's that would call in asking for my credentials.

My doing this radio show enabled me, through endless research, to see the corruption that existed within the big food industries, the big pharmaceutical companies, the biotech industries and the government agencies. This information, unconscionable as it is, enabled me to realize how broken our health system is. This will be covered more in depth in the Introduction and throughout the book and when you finish the book you will see this clearly and it will hopefully inspire you to make changes.

I left Down to Earth in 1989, got nationally certified as a sports injury massage therapist and started traveling the world with a bunch of guys that were making a martial arts movie. After doing that for about four years I finally made it back to Honolulu and got a job as a massage therapist at the Honolulu Club, one of Hawaii's premier fitness clubs. It was there I met the love of my life who I have been with since 1998. She made me an offer I couldn't refuse. She said," If you want to be with me you've got to stop working on naked women". So, I went back into accounting and was the Chief Financial Officer of a large construction company for many years.

Going back to my Newark days when I was an infant, I had no idea what a "chicken" or "egg" or "fish" or "pig" or "cow" was. My dietary blueprint was thrust upon me by my parents as theirs was thrust upon them by their parents. It was by the grace of God that I was able to put things in their proper perspective and improve my health and elevate my consciousness.

The road that I started walking down in 1975 has finally led me to the point of writing my book, “A Sane Diet For An Insane World”. Hopefully, the information contained herein will be enlightening, motivating, and inspiring to encourage you to make different choices. Doing what we do out of conditioning is not always the best course to follow. I am hoping that by the grace of the many friends and personalities I have encountered along my path, you will have a better perspective of what road is the best road for you to travel on, not only for your health but your consciousness as well.

Last but not least: after being vaccinated as a kid I developed asthma, which plagued me all of my life. In 2007 I got exposed to the organic sulfur crystals, which got rid of my asthma in 3 days and has not come back in over 10 years. That, being the tip of the iceberg, has helped people reverse stage 4 cancers, autism, joint pain, blood pressure problems, migraine headaches, erectile dysfunction, gingivitis, and more. Also, because of the detoxification effects by the release of oxygen that permeates and heals all the cells in the body, it removes parasites, radiation, fluoride, free radicals, and all the other crap that is thrust upon us in the environment by Big Business.

For more, please view www.healthtalkhawaii.com and www.asanediet.com.

Namaste!