Myth #1

You should only go see your urologist if you want a vasectomy or a vasectomy reversal.

Well, this one clearly isn’t true, but you can come to see me if you need a vasectomy or a vasectomy reversal. Other reasons you may come to see me or your urologist in their clinic is for men, specifically, if they have issues urinating if they had cancer of the urinary tract if they had kidney stones. There are many things that we can do in the urology clinic to help men’s health issues.

Myth #2

If I have OAB, that means I need to drink less water.

I would say, as a general rule, most doctors don’t tell their patients to drink less water. Now, there are exceptions. Maybe a dialysis patient, or a patient who’s volume overloaded, who has congestive heart failure. But as a general rule for urology, drinking less water is not something that we prescribe. One exception to this is a man who may drink a lot of water at nighttime and then he goes to the bathroom throughout the night. We call that nocturia. Maybe we would say to drink less water at night. But as a general rule for overactive bladder, there are more effective ways of treating patients than telling them to not drink water.

Myth #3

Frequent trips to the bathroom is a part of life as men age.

I’m not sure that this one is true. What I would say is that as men get older their prostate begins to grow. And as their prostate grows they may experience what we call lower urinary tract symptoms, meaning burning, urgency, frequency, decreased force of the stream. Often this can result in going back to the bathroom frequently. It’s important to talk to your urologist about your symptoms and there may be medication to help, as well as surgical options. If you think that you may have burning, urgency, frequency, you have a long time before your stream gets started, where your stream starts and stops when you pee, you may be a candidate for intervention. What I would say is that if you’re evaluated by a urologist and they think that you need care, go ahead and try that. And you may find yourself going to the bathroom less frequently.

Myth #4

You must drink eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy.

Well, I’m not sure where that myth originates, but it is important to drink water and fluids. In urology specifically, it relates to potentially kidney stones or general health. When it comes to kidney stones, what I usually tell people is that they need to drink enough water to make two and a half liters of urine a day. That’s quite a bit of water. And what I usually have people do is, after they’ve been treated for kidney stones, and they’ve had their metabolic workup, I’ll let them record how much urine that they urinate on a daily basis. And they record it by peeing into a little bit of a collection container that allows you to measure the urine. And so, I’m not sure about the eight classes a day, but if you do make a lot of urine a day that it has been shown to decrease kidney stones.

If you’re dealing with any of these or other urology symptoms and would like to make an appointment, please call our office.