Prostate :: Alternative To Tamsulosin To Treat Nocturia?


May 18, 2015

I'm a 53 year old male in good health except for the fairly recent onset of Nocturia. My need to urinate pretty much every hour during the night began suddenly around 3 months ago. At the time of writing this, the resulting fatigue/frustration due to sleep deprivation is having a massive impact on every aspect of my life and I'm at the point of giving up any hope of a restful nights sleep in spite of being totally exhausted.

After several visits to see my GP for  blood and urine tests plus a DRE (after which the Dr told me my prostate felt okay) I was referred to a urologist 2 weeks ago. After a second DRE (again told my prostate felt okay) and a urine flow test, the urologist explained my PSA level was slightly high for my age at 4.5. He offered me two options, either have an immediate prostate biopsy or wait 3 months and retest my PSA level... I elected to wait. Unbeknown to me, the urologist also instructed my GP to prescribe Tamsulosin 400micrograms (Diffundox). I only found out 10 days later having made yet another appointment to beg for help with getting some sleep.

My annoyance with the GP was cancelled out by the immense relief at finally being prescribed something that might help, but any relief was very short lived... After taking the Tamsulosin for the past 3 days, I can't face taking them again today due to the side effects!... I know it may sound trivial to some, but the side effects are compounded by the fact the medication is having zero effect on the nocturia and my being exhausted. I was still waking almost every hour by the urge to urinate, but thanks to the Tamsulosin my throat and mouth were so dry I didn't even have any saliva to swallow, a persistent dry cough, pounding headaches and disturbing nightmares impaired what little sleep I had been getting, chronic diarrhoea began the morning after taking the first capsule, while the headache and hoarse voice persisted throughout each of the 3 torturous days... On the only positive note, I did notice a slight increase in my urine flow rate, but as I'd never considered the pre-tamsulosin flow a problem it was nothing to be excited about.

My dilemma is... I feel as though I'm back at square one. Where do I go from here? Do I make yet another  appointment with a GP and ask for referral back to the urologist?... Will the urologist simply offer me option number 1 again and point at a biopsy needle?... Or is there an alternative medication to Tamsulosin?... Hopefully one that works for frequent night time urination and without the side effects, but with that said, I'd suffer the side effects and hopefully medicate to lessen them if it meant getting even a few hours quality sleep.

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