The Everything Guide to Herbal Remedies (9 page)

Although it’s often involved in urinary problems in men, the prostate is technically part of the reproductive system (it makes semen, the fluid that carries sperm). The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that sits on top of the urethra, which is the tube that carries urine from the bladder. It naturally gets larger as a man ages, but if it gets too big it can cause urinary complications and other problems.

There are three types of problems that can occur in the prostate. The first is inflammation or infection, also known as prostatitis, which is usually indicated by a burning sensation while urinating. The second is prostate enlargement, or
benign prostatic hyperplasia
(BPH), which is a noncancerous enlargement of the gland generally accompanied by the urge to urinate frequently, a weak urine stream, and dribbling of urine. Nocturia, or increased urination at night, is another symptom. BPH is the most common prostate problem for men over fifty. By the time they’re sixty, over half of men have some prostate enlargement (that number goes to 90 percent by age seventy).

The third type of prostate problem is cancer. Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in American men, with 186,000 new cases and 29,000 deaths each year.

Conventional medicine treats BPH symptoms with drugs like finasteride (Proscar) and dutasteride (Avodart), which shrink the prostate gland by blocking the actions of testosterone. Other BPH drugs include alpha-adrenergic receptor blockers, which help relax the muscle of the prostate and bladder to relieve pressure and improve urine flow; they include doxazosin mesylate (Cardura) and tamsulosin hydrochloride (Flomax). Common side effects include dizziness, headache, and fatigue. Herbal alternatives include:

Many men have problems with sleep: getting enough sleep, getting good quality sleep, and fighting sleepiness throughout the day.

Insomnia in men is most often tied to lifestyle factors like obesity, alcohol consumption, or physical inactivity, but it can also be the result of a psychiatric or medical problem such as joint or lower back pain, asthma, or acid reflux.

Conventional treatments for insomnia include sedating or sleep-inducing drugs—over-the-counter drugs like diphenhydramine HCI (Nytol, Sominex) and prescription meds like zolpidem tartrate (Ambien) and eszopiclone (Lunesta)—all of which carry the risk of side effects like dependence and “rebound insomnia” (when you stop taking the drug, your insomnia is worse than before).

Men—especially men who are overweight—often snore at night, which can be infuriating for their partners and can also cause health problems. Snoring reduces the quality of your sleep and can leave you feeling chronically tired, cranky, or mentally fuzzy.

Some snorers develop a condition called
obstructive sleep apnea,
or OSA, which is caused by a blockage in an upper airway. OSA involves loud, irregular snoring, which is broken up by repeated episodes of interrupted breathing—from ten to thirty seconds each. These episodes cause the body to release hormones that interrupt sleep, usually not so much that you regain consciousness but enough to leave you exhausted in the morning.

In many cases, OSA is tied to allergies, which can be treated with herbs such as flax
(Linum usitatissimum)
and evening primrose
(Oenothera biennis)
oils (see
Chapter 9
). Apnea that’s tied to obesity can also be treated herbally (see
Chapter 16
).

Conventional medicine generally treats OSA with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which is administered via a mask and machine that blows air into your mouth and nose at night to keep your airways open.

Some doctors also prescribe stimulant drugs like modafinil (Provigil) and armodafinil (Nuvigil), which can combat the daytime sleepiness associated with OSA but can also produce side effects such as anxiety, dizziness, headache, loss of muscle strength, and tingly or prickly sensations.

Herbal remedies for sleep problems include:

In the United States today, the number of seniors—and their percentage of the entire population—is at a record high and getting higher. According to the latest government statistics, there are now more than 35 million people over the age of sixty-five in the United States (that’s 12 percent of the population). By 2030, a full 20 percent—more than 71 million people—will be sixty-five or older.

Life expectancy in the U.S. continues to increase—men can expect to live to seventy-five years, and women to eighty. At the same time, mortality from diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease are declining, meaning more and more Americans are surviving—and thriving—in their Golden Years.

Studies show that it’s never too late to improve your health. Seniors can see big benefits from fairly small changes, reducing obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease by as much as 50 percent simply by improving their diet and exercise habits. In some cases, seniors reap more health benefits from these lifestyle changes than any other age group.

But despite the drop in rates of deadly diseases, chronic conditions like high blood pressure (hypertension) and osteoarthritis continue to plague seniors. Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death in older Americans and are also responsible for roughly two-thirds of all health care costs (and 95 percent of seniors’ health care expenditures). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 80 percent of American seniors are living with at least one chronic condition, and 50 percent have at least two.

The most common chronic conditions—including hypertension, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke—cause pain, disability, and loss of functioning (and independence) for millions of people, and many produce cumulative and potentially fatal damage if left untreated.

Herbal medicine is uniquely suited to treating and preventing many of the chronic conditions that affect seniors. That’s because herbs work gently—and synergistically—within the body instead of attacking a single problem or masking symptoms. They work with your body’s own processes, not against them, meaning they support your body’s efforts to maintain health and help your body defend itself against a disease instead of attacking the disease itself.

Seniors have a unique set of health concerns. Their bodies are different from anyone else’s, they’re prone to different diseases and conditions, and in many cases their attitudes toward health care are different, too.

Aging produces changes in body weight and composition—both men and women typically get heavier as they enter the senior ranks, then tend to lose weight as they move into their seventies. As you get older, your body also becomes less efficient at regulating blood pressure, body temperature, and the balance of fluids.

Some diseases that are common in older people can disrupt cell production. For example, Alzheimer’s disease can cause the premature death of brain cells, and Parkinson’s disease can kill off too many nerve cells. In contrast, cancer slows normal cell death and allows cancer cells to multiply and spread instead of dying off like they’re supposed to. All of these changes affect how you live—how much and what kind of exercise you do, for example—as well as your health care needs.

Like any other segment of the population, seniors have a specific set of concerns regarding health care. But not all seniors are the same. No two people age at the same rate, and even within one person, not all body systems change in perfect harmony.

Seniors typically metabolize medicines, whether herbal or pharmaceutical, differently than younger people.

For example, because seniors typically weigh less and have a greater percentage of body fat, they have less lean muscle. As the ratio of body fat increases, the body reacts differently to drugs and other substances that are metabolized in fatty tissue, meaning that these substances typically remain in the body longer and thus may have stronger effects. Other substances accumulate because kidney function declines as people age. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, are more likely to cause gastrointestinal bleeding and kidney problems in seniors.

All of this means that seniors should follow herbal dosing directions carefully. Most experts recommend people over seventy should take about 80 percent of the recommended adult dose of any herbal remedy; seniors who are very frail (or sensitive to other medications) should start at half the recommended dose. For more information on safety and possible interactions, see
Chapter 17
.

As you age, your heart muscle becomes less efficient and has to work harder to keep the blood circulating throughout your body. Blood vessels also suffer with age, becoming less elastic. As a result, cardiovascular disease, or CVD—a group of conditions that includes heart disease, hypertension, and stroke—becomes increasingly common in older people. For more information on CVD, see
Chapter 7
.

High blood pressure, a.k.a. hypertension, is a chronic condition involving elevated pressure of blood against the artery walls. It affects more than 65 million Americans, or one in three adults, and is most common in seniors (nearly 71 percent of adults over sixty-five have been diagnosed).

Chronic hypertension can leave your heart enlarged, which can cause heart failure. And it can create aneurysms, or bulges, in your arteries and other blood vessels, which can cause sudden death. Hypertension also can lead to atherosclerosis (see below), kidney failure, and blindness, and is the single biggest risk factor for stroke.

Many seniors have
hyperlipidemia,
or elevated blood lipids (including cholesterol), which is one of the biggest risk factors for heart attack and stroke. Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance that occurs throughout the body. Some is produced by the liver, some comes from food (especially eggs and meat). Cholesterol comprises a few different lipids: low-density lipoprotein (LDL), known as “bad cholesterol” because it tends to remain in the body, where it oxidizes and accumulates in your arteries as plaque, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the “good” cholesterol that’s generally eliminated from the body. Triglycerides are another type of lipid that’s measured along with LDL and HDL and included in your total cholesterol. Ideally, you’ll keep your total cholesterol (and LDL and triglycerides) low and your HDL high.

Arteriosclerosis
is a general term for the thickening and hardening of arteries that occurs naturally as you get older.
Atherosclerosis,
which is a type of arteriosclerosis, involves the buildup of plaque, which is made up of cholesterol, cellular waste products, and other things that can accumulate in your arteries, narrowing and stiffening the passages.

Conventional medicine treats CVD with drugs called ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, and beta blockers, which can cause headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea. Hyperlipidemia is generally treated with statin drugs, which decrease production of cholesterol by the liver and include atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor); other drugs inhibit the absorption of dietary cholesterol, and include ezetimibe (Zetia), which recently was proven ineffective in preventing heart disease. These medicines can cause abdominal, back, and joint pain, among other things.

But there are alternatives, including: