Medications for BPH

Alpha Blockers

These work by relaxing muscles in your bladder and prostate, which makes it easier to pee. They don’t change the size of your prostate, but they do help with urine flow, waking at night to pee, and other symptoms. And you won’t have to wait long to see results; they usually work right away.

5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitors

These stop your body from creating one of the hormones that makes your prostate larger. They prevent growth and in some cases even shrink it. This can improve your urine flow and ease other BPH symptoms as well. They seem to be most helpful to men with very large prostates.

These drugs have two other benefits as well. They may:

• Lower the odds that BPH will lead to other problems, such bladder damage
• Make you less likely to need surgery

It can take up to 6 months to see the full effects of 5-ARIs, and you have to keep taking them to get results.

Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitors

These are the same medicines used to treat erectile dysfunction. They smooth muscles in the bladder and prostate, which can help ease BPH symptoms.

There are several kinds of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, but the Food and Drug Administration has approved only Tadalafil (Cialis)  to treat BPH.

It’s not used as often as other drugs, but if you have ED and BPH, it’s another option.