Griff,
I will give you one reason why to have a PVP sooner than later: to avoid
silent and possibly irreversible bladder damage.

Here are facts to consider.
Although your BPH symptoms are kept manageable by medications like Flomax,
the medication does nothing to stop the slow growth of the prostate nor does
nothing to actually remove the cause of your BPH symptoms.

With BPH your bladder is forced to strain. Over many years the bladder
muscles thicken.  Slowly over time the amount of urine left in the bladder
(residual) slowly grows.  The bladder slowly develops pockets and distorts
in shape as the prostate beneath it grows and pushs upwards against it.

Over time you will need ever increasing amount of medication to get the same
level of symptom relief.  Eventually the medications will fail to adequately
relieve your symptoms.  At that time, surgury is a necessity to remove the
blockage.

But if you have a PVP done sooner rather than later even before the bladder
walls have thicken, you will recover quicker, be less likely to have any
premanent damage and you will actually be removing the cause of your
symptoms.

If PVP was available 10 years ago and I knew then what I know now, I would
have had a PVP done at the time I started to take medications.

It is my belief that the availabiltiy of PVP has completely changed the way
BPH should be managed.  Instead of the traditional path: symptoms treated
first with medications, then increasing dosage of medications until
meidcation fail to provide relief,  then followed by a  TURP,  the new path
should be symptoms, short course of medications, then PVP.

Patrick

In my case I had the additional side effect that Flomax sapped all my
energy.

My problem with FLOMAX was rapid pulse. Had to discontinue use.