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Enlarged prostate (BPH): the signs, when to get care, and the treatment choices
For anyone with a prostate who has trouble starting to pee, a weak or stop-and-start stream, dribbling at the end, or gets up at night to go. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a prostate that has grown larger than normal, but not because of cancer, and that it is the most common prostate problem in men older than 50. This page passes on, by name, what NIDDK says: the symptoms and when to tell a provider right away, what causes it and what it can lead to, the medicines that can make it worse, the exam and the tests, the treatment choices, and what to expect after surgery. It builds the words to say to a provider, and prints a card for the visit.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- You cannot pee at all: go to the emergency room now (ours). NIDDK says to tell a health care professional right away if you cannot urinate at all.
- The person is confused, very hard to wake, fainting, or seems very sick: call 911 (ours). See also our page on sepsis.
- Fever and chills with painful, frequent, urgent peeing; blood in your urine; or great pain low in your belly: NIDDK says to tell a provider right away. Call one today (ours), and see our page on bladder infection.
More help
- Related: Bladder leaks (urinary incontinence) · Bladder infection (UTI) in adults · Kidney stones · Kidney disease · When it is cancer · Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page.
- Care and costs: When you need a doctor and can’t pay · When medicine costs too much · My medicines list · Get ready for your appointment · Symptom diary.
- In a crisis: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 15, 2026 on NIDDK’s Enlarged Prostate (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia) page (NIH, last reviewed June 2024). Ours: going to the emergency room now when you cannot pee at all; calling a provider the same day for fever and chills with painful, frequent, urgent peeing; calling 911 when the person is confused, very hard to wake, fainting or seems very sick; calling or texting 988 for thoughts of suicide; not stopping a prescribed medicine on your own; asking a pharmacist whether a cold medicine has a decongestant or an antihistamine; that only a provider and tests can say whether it is cancer; asking before going home after surgery which signs mean call back; asking about the cost; and the order of the steps. What we left out: the names of the medicine groups NIDDK gives, any single medicine, doses, NIDDK’s figures on how many people have BPH, and clinical pages for providers. This page saves nothing and loads no trackers.