Symptoms and Complications
At first, you may find you have to strain harder when you are urinating.
Over time, this straining can affect the bladder muscles, causing them to become
oversensitive. Often, no matter how much you strain, the bladder still contains
urine. The urge to urinate comes with increasing frequency. This can be a particular
nuisance at night.
Other symptoms you can have include:
- feeling that you must urinate right away (urgency)
- a delay when you start urinating
- weak or interrupted stream of urine
- tendency to dribble after urination
- feeling your bladder isn't empty after urination
- pain in the lower back, pelvis or upper thighs
A bladder that won't empty properly encourages infection of the urinary tract.
A few men get urinary stones or repeated infections. Sometimes BPH causes urinary
retention, a condition where you cannot empty your bladder completely when
urinating. Rarely it produces complete blockage of the urethra, which is a medical
emergency.