'I woke up seven times a night to go the loo and feared going out. I had a prostate condition most men don’t know about.'

What he didn’t realise was that his quality of life was being dramatically affected by a common but little known condition - Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH).

BHP, which is an enlarged prostate, is the most common prostate condition in the UK which affects around 50 per cent of men over 50.

Former marketing manager Mark, 61, says that he “put off seeing a doctor as I thought it was just part of getting older”.

He is not alone, with research showing that 85 per cent of men have never heard of BPH.

Mark, from Bramley in Hampshire, experienced severe disruption from BPH, waking up more than seven times a night to urinate, never getting a good night’s sleep and planning his day and social events around the nearest toilets.

Retired and married with two grown-up children and two grandchildren, he put off a GP visit as he thought the constant urination was just part of getting older.

“Before my diagnosis I was needing to go to the loo to pass water a lot during the day and night,” he says.

“The night was particularly a problem, and I would be up numerous times a night. This was impacting my sleep as well as wellbeing.

“Every night I would go to be worrying about it and watching the clock when I woke to check the time and duration of my sleep. I would refrain from drinking fluids later in the day to try and help.

“My prostate problems had a big impact on my quality of life, especially around sleep, which caused a lot of anxiety.”

Mark always needed to be close to a toilet at night, ideally with en-suite facilities or at least a clear, easy walk from the bed, which made staying away from home stressful.

“Whether I was at my parents’ house or staying overnight with friends, I’d worry about whether there was an en-suite, because the thought of creeping through someone else’s house in the middle of the night looking for a toilet made me feel really uncomfortable and on edge,” he explains.

But it wasn’t just Mark’s nights that were affected: his days were impacted too. Whenever he left the house, he’d constantly be thinking about where the nearest toilet was, whether in shops or shopping centres.

Going to the cinema was a hassle because he knew he’d probably need to get up in the middle of the film to find the toilet in the dark, disturbing the people in his row.

In restaurants and pubs, he was always quietly assessing where the loos were and whether they’d be decent enough to use.

Long car journeys also became a problem: he had to plan in toilet stops, which made the trips longer. There were occasions when he just had to pull over in a layby and go in the hedge: far from ideal, but sometimes there wasn’t another option.

“My prostate issues also affected my relationship,” Mark says. "I’d often wake my wife at night because I was so restless. I knew she sometimes found it embarrassing too, especially when I kept needing the toilet when we were out during the day.

“Thankfully, my condition didn’t affect my sexual function, which I know isn’t always the case, so I do feel lucky in that respect.”

Work was another challenge for Mark. His job involved sitting in long meetings, which could be difficult when he needed the toilet.

Presentations were even worse: the pressure of speaking in front of people combined with the fear of needing to dash off to the loo made it much more stressful for him than it should have been.

“Even things I love, like going on UK holidays in my camper van or volunteering as an Oxfam music festival steward, were affected,” he says.

“My VW van doesn’t have a toilet, so walking across a field to the toilet block two or three times a night wasn’t easy.

“I ended up having to use a bottle in the van, which was awkward in such a small space, and not exactly conducive to a good night’s sleep. Sometimes I’d fill a one-litre bottle and have to empty it before the night was over, which occasionally led to spills when the bottle overflowed.”

But Mark believed that his prostate issues were a normal age-related problem that most men got that you just had to live with, so he put up with it.

A rare conversation with a friend after years of putting up with it made him realise that there were drugs that could help and that he should go and talk to his GP.

He mentioned he was on Tamsulosin: a medication specifically for BPH that helps by relaxing the muscles around the bladder and prostate, making it easier to pass urine.

“That conversation made me realise there might actually be something that could help, so I finally decided to make an appointment with my GP,” Mark says.

“I waited three to four years before going to see my GP because I just assumed what I was experiencing was part of getting older, something that happened to most middle-aged or older men. It seemed like one of those things you just had to put up with.

“I’d had plenty of conversations with friends and colleagues about these kinds of symptoms over the years, but even so, it took me a while to actually do something about it and book an appointment.”

Once Mark got the diagnosis, he felt relieved that he had BPH and not something more serious.

However, the medication his friend had spoken about was causing unwanted side effects: postural hypotension, a drop in blood pressure when you stand up after lying or sitting down

After the medication left him feeling unwell, Mark underwent a procedure using iTind – a temporary implant made from a ‘smart metal’ called nitinol (a nickel-titanium alloy).

The device is inserted folded via a tube, where it expands into a cage-like structure (similar to the one on a champagne cork).

Left in place for a week, it gently reshapes the prostatic urethra to improve urine flow, offering a minimally invasive solution with significant relief and limited down time.

“I did quite a bit of research into the procedure,” Mark says. "The results looked promising, and I became really interested in it as an alternative to more invasive surgery.”

However, the procedure wasn’t covered by his medical insurance at the time.

Two and a half years later, Mark was contacted by his professor that the procedure would now be covered through his insurance.

He had the device inserted under a light general anaesthetic at the end of October 2023, and it was removed a week later in early November 2023.

“Everything went very smoothly,” Mark says.

“As soon as I’d recovered from the anaesthetic and was able to urinate, I was allowed to go home.

“I’d recommend staying close to home for the first week after the insertion because you definitely need easy access to a toilet during that time.

“The removal of the device was a straightforward procedure under light anaesthetic, and once it was out, I felt much more comfortable almost immediately.”

At first, Mark was still going to the toilet quite frequently, including during the night, but as the weeks went on, things started to feel more normal.

Urination became pain-free, and the sense of urgency reduced. The frequency, both during the day and at night, improved dramatically.

Mark says his life has changed since having the iTIND procedure and he’d definitely recommend it to others.

"There is some initial discomfort, but if you stick with it, things do get better, and in my experience, it’s absolutely worth it in the long run,” he explains.

“By around four weeks after the procedure, I was genuinely delighted with the results. My urinary flow had improved, I was going to the toilet far less often, and most importantly, I no longer had the constant worry about needing to find a toilet quickly. I could comfortably hold the urge for longer periods.

“The improvement in my night-time toilet visits has exceeded my expectations, I’m now down to getting up just once a night, sometimes twice, which has made a huge difference to my sleep and overall well-being.

“Without a doubt, I’d recommend the iTIND procedure to other men as a less invasive alternative to surgery. It’s been liberating not having to constantly think about toilets, public loos, or disturbed sleep. I really do feel like I’ve got my quality of life back.”

Mark wants people to know that they should seek help for BPH as soon as they start experiencing symptoms rather than putting off medical intervention.

“I’d really like other men to know that there’s no point in just putting up with it like the generations before us did,” he adds.

“I feel men should openly talk about this with other men and their GP. It is a treatable condition with initially medication and then the iTind procedure, which for a lot of people I am sure would be a better option over the more radical surgical procedures.

“It is the best thing I have done to improve my quality of life. I see so many men going to the loo very frequently and have discussed my treatment with a number of friends who have problems.

“When I compare myself to them, I feel liberated from the chains of BPH. It really is a chain on your life.”