[worriedfear]

I'm 34, male and for more than 2 months now I've been experiencing some strange, vague symptoms which are actually hard to describe as there is no pain or anything severe physically.

It's like a very slight urge to pee which is more prominent at night and can disturb my sleep. I wake up around 3/4 am on and off for these 2 months with that slight sensation. But also during showering I'll sort of pee a few drops, a few times. After showering I can feel this strange, slight TIGHT like sensation at the end of my penis, as if there's still some urine in there waiting to come out...really confusing. Now this is the SAME sensation that wakes me up at night.

My actual urination frequency is largely normal, that's volumes (about 2-2.5l a day) and number of times I'm going (4-5 times/day). My bladder has always been very strong and large as I can hold up to 700ml and this is the only time I'll get a really strong urge to go. It's just that at night time I keep waking up without having a full bladder at these odd times even though I didn't drink anything before bed.
I've had urianalysis samples done 4 times, all normal, tested my blood glucose level several times using home testing kits before/after meals and that's normal too (for diabetes). I then finally had a DRE and to my surprise, the doctor said my prostate was enlarged however it was very smooth and normal in that regard. I didn't expect someone my age to have this but the doctor wasn't overly concerned about it and said it's not abnormal and this can happen. Doctor thinks that my symptoms are more likely due to an over-active bladder than anything else but said I can do a PSA if I wanted. I'm really scared to do this though.

I suppose the overactive bladder would explain the intermittent symptoms.
Also I've never had pain or burning or straining when peeing and there's no pain whatsoever anywhere else. I thought if an enlarged prostate or prostate infection was causing me issues I would have more noticeable symptoms, like pain during urination, weak flow etc. but that's all normal. I'm just worried and frustrated as I've never had urinary symptoms or anything like this before in my life. Always been in very good health.

[Skeezyks]

I can't really tell you anything about this in particular. I'm an older man. And around the age of 50 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I ended up having my prostate removed. The only symptoms I had were that, prior to having the PSA test & a subsequent biopsy, I had noticed a sensation sort-of like some area within my lower abdomen (the prostate?) being poked by a small needle. (It's difficult to describe & I don't even know if the two things were related.) I pretty-much just ignored this. But what finally drove me in to the doctor was that there was blood in my semen. At first. the doctor told me this wasn't necessarily unusual. But when the tests were done it was found that I had cancer. I never had any pain during urination or weak flow or anything such as that.

Of course, you're quite a bit younger than I was at the time... young enough that one wouldn't ordinarily think in terms of prostate cancer. I've read different opinions regarding the reliability of PSA tests. Some things I've read have suggested they're not all that reliable. Others have said they're still worth having. Actually, when I had my PSA test, the results were within the normal range. It was the biopsy that told the tale, so to speak.

Anyway... this is all what I know on the subject of prostate-related issues. I do have the impression that prostate-related treatments have come quite a ways since I was diagnosed. I think it may be likely that, had my situation occurred today, it would perhaps be less likely the doctors would have been quite so quick to just cut the thing out. However, at the time & being that I was still fairly young, they felt it was the best option. I never had to undergo any kind of radiation or chemotherapy though. So that was a blessing.