Best BPH med

Finasteride (generic Proscar) is frequently prescribed for BPH. While not approved for PCa prevention, it does reduce the risk of low-grade PCa by roughly 25%. I took it for BPH along with tamsulosin (generic Flowmax), which helps relax smooth muscle, making urination easier for many men.

Regarding your eyes, I believe tamsulosin is OK, but talk with your eye doc about finasteride, which can affect the eye. Dutasteride, another 5-alpha-reductase, may be safer in this regard.

Djin

You can take Jalyn, which combines Avodart and Flomax. I was on it when I did radiation and ADT. COMBINE trial demonstrated that Jalyn was superior to taking each drug separately. And more convenient.

JNF said...
You can take Jalyn, which combines Avodart and Flomax. I was on it when I did radiation and ADT. COMBINE trial demonstrated that Jalyn was superior to taking each drug separately. And more convenient.

To clarify, the Jalyn trial showed the combination was superior to taking either of the medications taken alone, not taking both, which would, of course, be the same thing.

"The subjects were randomized to receive dutasteride 0.5 mg/day plus tamsulosin 0.4 mg/day, dutasteride 0.5 mg/day or tamsulosin 0.4 mg/day." (From a description of the CombAT trial)

There are advantages to having separate prescriptions of each drug as a generic. (1) At some point you may need to increase the tamsulosin with your doc's approval: I upped the dosage from one capsule (0.4 mg) to the maximum dosage, two capsules (0.8 mg) daily, and found an even greater benefit -- something you can't do with Jalyn. On the other hand, there is no point in continuing on tamsulosin if it has no effect on your symptoms. (2) Since you are concerned with adverse vision effects, you can start with either the dutasteride or tamsulosin first to check for adverse effects before adding the other.

I don't think Jalyn is available as a generic, so the price of the two generics may be lower.

Djin

Post Edited (DjinTonic) : 4/13/2021 11:25:57 AM (GMT-6)

Shortly after my SBRT treatment, I mentioned to my eye doc that I had been taking tamsulosin for urinary hesitancy. He thanked me profusely for mentioning this and adding it to my medical records in his system, as he said that taking either FloMax or Rapaflo could lead to "Floppy Iris Syndrome" or FIS. This is not normally an issue, but it does become a cautionary issue if you ever need to have any sort of eye surgery (cataracts, laser correction, etc.) as there were special precautions that the ocular surgeon would need to take. When I told him that I was ending my course of this medication within a couple of weeks, he said that if the patient had EVER taken these meds, the eye surgeon needed to be alerted, no matter how long ago the meds were used.

Just food for thought. . .

I understand
I’d rather not take the meds but I do prefer like a 80 yr old
I only get up once a night usually 3 am