Articles · Prostate
What medicines treat an enlarged prostate?
Alpha blockers, like tamsulosin, relax the prostate and bladder neck, often within days.
Alpha blockers
Alpha blockers, like tamsulosin, relax the prostate and bladder neck, often within days.
Finasteride and dutasteride
Five-alpha reductase inhibitors, like finasteride or dutasteride, slowly shrink the prostate over months. Some men take both.
Tadalafil
Tadalafil can also help urinary symptoms.
Side effects
Side effects can include dizziness, ejaculation changes, or lower sex drive.
Beyond pills
If medicine isn't enough, procedures are an option.
Get evaluated
Get evaluated if urinary symptoms affect your sleep or day.
Request a visit at Advanced Urology to go over your options.
Questions to bring to your visit
- Which BPH medicine am I on, and for how long?
- Have I noticed dizziness, ejaculation changes or lower sex drive?
What happens at your visit with us?
Bring the names and doses of your prostate medicines and how long you have taken them. We may check your urine flow and how much urine stays behind, which shows whether the medicine is doing its job.
When should I call us?
Call us if you are still up at night or straining while on medicine, or if dizziness or sexual side effects make you want to stop. Please talk with us before stopping a prostate medicine.
How do our urologists approach this?
Our urologists match the medicine to your symptoms and prostate, and they raise procedures early if pills are not helping. Advanced Urology offers UroLift, Aquablation, PAE, HoLEP and TURP, among others.
Our urologists, physician assistants and nurse practitioners see adults from Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton, Crabapple and Mountain Park at our Alpharetta / Roswell office.
Related video
Dr. Herman Bagga of our Roswell team explains three options when prostate medicine isn’t working:
Related reading from our team
Related care: enlarged prostate questions, answered by our Alpharetta urologists.
Read more from Advanced Urology: Initial treatment for BPH: diet, lifestyle and medications · Enlarged prostate (BPH)
For education, not medical advice. Every treatment has risks and benefits. Emergency? Call 911 or go to an emergency room.
Whenever you’re ready, our Alpharetta / Roswell team would be glad to hear from you.