Ladies, you can sit this one out if you like.
Like many men my age, I occasionally suffer from a bought of prostatitis, an inflamed prostate.
I don’t mind getting up throughout the night to relieve myself, but I hate having to interrupt a ride to take a pee, particularly when I’m cycling with others. Not only is it embarrassing, but it ruins the ride for everyone.
So, today I visited with my doctor, and Googled “Foods that cause Prostatitis” beforehand. This what I discovered.
Common foods that have been found to exacerbate prostatitis symptoms include:
- Spicy foods
- Hot peppers
- Alcoholic beverages
- Acidic foods
- Wheat
- Gluten
- Caffeine
S*** … 😟
I don’t like spicy foods, hot peppers, or alcohol BUT do enjoy coffee (a lot of coffee), bread, lemons, limes, and tomatoes. My homemade energy gels include lemon and lime juice. I drink 2 cups of coffee every morning before workouts, and then several more later in the day. And, I often carbo-load the day before lengthy rides, or cycling events with spaghetti, and homemade tomato sauce.
What? Am I causing this myself?
So, what does my doctor think about this?
S*** … 😟
He agreed!
Coffee is a diuretic, and acidic foods (orange juice, limes, lemons, and tomatoes) may be the culprits. He suggested I eliminate all highly acidic foods from my diet for a month to see if it makes a difference 🤔
Otherwise, he suggested they are drug therapies that may help.
S*** … 😟
This will be interesting … 😒
I’ll wean myself off coffee over the next week, substitute water and herbal teas, revise my energy gel recipe to exclude lemon and lime juice, and find a replacement for my post workout sandwiches which generally include sliced tomato.
I’ll give this a try for a month as suggested, and report back. I know there may be other causes, and actually wrote about this 4 years ago. I may not have the most prostate-friendly saddles but they are comfortable in every other way, and have been for a long time. I don’t think they are the problem. I also understand that excessive exercise, particularly squats, can trigger this inflammation.
S*** … 😟
If you have experience with this problem, please comment.
Oh yeah … 🤔 The above photo was taken while in a coffee shop waiting to see my doctor. You can see my coffee cup reflected in the sunglasses. I will also have to stop visiting my favourite, local coffee shops I enjoy so much.
S*** … 😟
PedalWORKS 
I’m not a man. I don’t have a prostate. But needing to pee often at night and while cycling seems to be my thing. I’m completely 100% off caffeine now and have been since the start of January. Before then, all I drank was one cup of tea in the morning. The peeing hasn’t stopped. Recently, I started peeing more often at night. I’m thinking it’s because I’ve started drinking electrolyte drinks more often while I’m training. I didn’t have an electrolyte drink yesterday during my swim session. I peed only three times instead of the five I’ve been doing the last few nights. I’m starting to think it’s just an age thing. I’ve sort of made piece with it. The other thing I’m trying to do is cut down the amount of salt I put in my food. We’ll see.
Oh my, you pee more than me.
Have you considered you may have a urinary infection? I’m sure you have. They are not uncommon, particularly with women, and can be treated.
I have an electrolyte drink everyday when I workout, and never considered it might be a problem.
I studied medicine. I have regular checkups. It’s not an infection. I’ve had that before and it’s horrible.
As soon as I wrote that, I remembered you were way more qualified than I am in this matter. Well, at least we have something else in common.
Yes. We’d both appreciate the pee stops 🙂
😂
My wife who’s in her 60’s suffers the same problem,she doesn’t cycle,but does drink 4-6 cups of coffee a day,
Urinary infections are apparentely more common than people think especially as we get older..
Drinking plenty of plain old water is supposedly very helpful at flushing away some urinary infections.
Paul, I think you are right about the water. I drink too little just plain water, and plan to change that.
If it’s anything, it will be too much salt n my diet, a bladder that’s getting smaller, or anxiety.
My doctor asked me if I was unusually anxious. I told him I didn’t think so, but I wonder.
Change happens as we age – I regret and speak from some considerable experience. 🙂 I think it’s the caffeine in coffee that causes the problems with bladders. On advice I went caffeine ‘free’ (well mostly) six years ago. But I still have decaf coffee and tea when I care to. You can get really decent decaf in lots of places now. Take care if you stop caffeine completely and at a stroke – I suffered two days of the worst ever headaches when I first did and I believe this is quite common. As to stopping caffeine and spicy foods all at once, I’d suggest removing one of them at a time, to try and see which causes the problem/gives the greatest advantage. All the best with finding your new regime.
Did the caffeine reduction help, Norman?
Yes Paul, less caffeine does calm the old bladder in my case. At least more caffeine when I sneak in a coffee or coke too many makes it more flighty.
Could be salt: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39382339
Coffee reduction will help.
Age. Everything begins to weaken. Bah.
Bummer eh.
Strange you posted this topic,as I’ve been suffering from what I think is an enlarged prostrate,causing me to need to need to pee every few hours especially after a 2-3 hrs on the bike.
My PSA readings are average for a 67 yr old bloke,but as most folks know the PSA test is renowned for being at best very innacurate.
I’ve read that there is now available an MRI scan which is far more accurate and avoids the risky procedure of a prostrate biopsy.
I must admit to being slightly worried that my cycling might be worsening my enlarged prostrate..I would find it hard to give it up.
Would be glad to hear folks opinions on this 👍
Have you taken a look at the more prostate-friendly saddles? That may help you.
Funnily enough I’ve been looking at some today.
I currently have the Fizik arione wing flex saddle on my 3 bikes.
It’s only recently that I’ve had any issues,but I did recently get a longer stem to get more aero..
I’m wondering if a professional bike fit might be worth trying before swapping saddles?
The problem with saddles is you can’t try before you buy,so it can be an expensive experiment.
A friend of mine tried 6 saddles before he found the right one.
That’s interesting. I ride with the same saddle on my road bikes and have 2 length of stems that I switch in and out – a 110 mm to get me lower, and a 90 mm that is more relaxed. The 90 mm stems I think put more pressure on the prostate, and they are the ones I used this time of year. This may be part of my problem.
Hmm interesting.
My usual 30 mile road rides include three 15-20 minute climbs (3-6% grade) and these are when my sit bones start to ache,the flat sections don’t cause much discomfort for some reason.
Now the drier weather has arrived at last I’ll be doing more mountain biking meaning more time out of the saddle and with the suspension more comfort. With no traffic to worry about I always feel safer.
The amount of traffic on our UK roads is unbelievable..With the ever increasing icar ownership our roads just can’t take it.
Scotland and Wales with a population similar to the city of London don’t share this problem.
Maybe I should move😏