I liked reading your post. The need for a major lifestyle change is
the first thing that is to be acknowledged. I have come pretty close
to opting for surgery, then I realised that doing this may merely
postpone the inevitable necessity of a change. The earlier I admit
this, the better. BPH is just the first sign, the body may have more
to tell me if I don't listen now. Who knows what - hypertension,
kidney failure, cancer? I have just started to go thru the available
books etc. and may not see big improvement in the short term. At the
back of my mind - a voice asks - what if all this doesn't really work
and I find out only after damaging my kidneys and bladder. That is
where it helps to hear from people who've been down that path and have
gained without losing or mutilating an organ. Books can often contain
exaggerations by individuals with commercial interests. This has been
my one whinge going thru this newsgroup - why do we not hear more
about non-surgical course of correction ?

Perhaps because too many want the magic bullet and then get on with
the life like before, everything back to normal. I wish it could be
like that. Hospitals are full of people who tackle one major illness
after another. The docs simply fail to point to a need for change in
the lifestyle. Going for the apparent magic bullet in fact says - I
don't want to change the way I live, I want a solution now. I wonder
how many have to go for a re-surgery afterwards ? At this stage, I
really don't know that herbal/natural supplements with diet and
lifestyle change will work for me in the long term, but I see enough
written about it to hope it will. I am looking to be "healthy" again,
and may not piss like a horse again. I can live with a stream that
empties the bladder leaving it clean.

Going thru books is confusing at the moment. After reading Dr. Stoff's
"Prostate Miracle", I then read Roger Mason. One appears to expose the
other as a complete hoax. I don't have cancer, but read the first one
just to get all possible inputs on prostate. I have to admit that the
tone of the "Miracle" seemed a bit too commercial, and too much
emphasis on the PSA level by itself as proof of the cure working. I
can understand why many do not wish to go down this path, with so much
contradictory advice in the publicly available material on the
subject. Surgery is more direct and appears to promise a relief by
removing "excess" tissue. Only what is removed is not necessarily
excess, but is sick tissue, reacting to what's not right about how I
am living. As far as I am concerned, the herbal stuff with supplements
seems to be doing the job. Changing the way I think and react is going
to be a much harder exercise, but still the surgical option does not
feel right.