That's why you must do your annual checkup with you doctor. You doctor is the one who knows your medical history and knows whats normal for you. One must ask questions. Along with a PSA test which I don't mind is the digital exam which I hate with a passion but my doctor insist. So trust your doctor and do what he says.
Prostate too large?
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OldWingit
Ed Wing
I had the large prostate and a jump in my PSA# The biopsy was very bad 9 out of 10, too advanced for surgery.
After almost three months of radiation at Loma Linda U. med center and two years on hormone shots my cancer
is still gone after nine years. I asked my doctor if I was in the clear and he said you don't have to worry about it when you are dying of something else.! Great.
Ed
After almost three months of radiation at Loma Linda U. med center and two years on hormone shots my cancer
is still gone after nine years. I asked my doctor if I was in the clear and he said you don't have to worry about it when you are dying of something else.! Great.
Ed
Oh, come on. The digital exam is something to look forward to.
Doug is quite right that the PSA test is not a good indicator that you have a prostate problem and it does lead to a lot of unnecessary biopsy testing, which can create its own problems. Like my friend who had the biopsy test and got a severe infection from it. That's why it is important to know when you have exercised the prostate before a PSA test.
I've had the same Doc for 40 years and trust him implicitly. He is very thorough and having seen my numbers remain consistently low for the 10 to 15 years I have had PSA tests, he suggested, at the time, that my .3 rise was something to pay attention to, so he was glad I posed the question about recent activity prior to the test which showed a higher number. Getting an early diagnosis allows for other less invasive treatments to be used, rather than the surgical route, which is fraught with more potential complications.
I've had the same Doc for 40 years and trust him implicitly. He is very thorough and having seen my numbers remain consistently low for the 10 to 15 years I have had PSA tests, he suggested, at the time, that my .3 rise was something to pay attention to, so he was glad I posed the question about recent activity prior to the test which showed a higher number. Getting an early diagnosis allows for other less invasive treatments to be used, rather than the surgical route, which is fraught with more potential complications.
Oh, come on. The digital exam is something to look forward to.
Ha! Ha! At my last annual checkup, as the Doc said lay on your side and pull your knees up, I jokingly said, "Oh boy, now comes the good part!" He replied "maybe for you, not so much for me". Then he said that when a patient asks for a second opinion, he holds up two fingers together instead of just the one! LOL!
The key to that exam is just relax!! A close friend reported that the first time he had the digital exam, he screamed the office down! Another friend refuses to have it done, saying "it's an exit, not an entrance!"
Slogan for Brit medical professionals, which I'm sure Upt' North and others across the pond will appreciate.
"Save your life - be a wanker!"
"Save your life - be a wanker!"
Yeah sigh, I am do for a checkup in march. My regular doctor moved and is out of network. So after 10 years I now have a young female nurse practioner........wonder how that's going to work out
.My urologist admits that the PSA test is nearly worthless, but we both agreed that it would be better to do a biopsy and be sure. Then a few years later he tells me the biopsy isn't really a sure thing, forgot the exact percentage, let's say 90% for the first one. So he suggested a second one to raise the coverage to 95% or so, which also came back negative. Then a few years later he suggested doing a third one, this time to raise the certainty to close to 100%, that came back negative as well. So I'm done with their faux science and have given up on PSA testing altogether.
Since I was in my early 40s when my PSA started shooting up, they wanted to be sure there wasn't any cancer. As you get older the risk becomes less because even if you get the non-aggressive form of prostate cancer it takes something like 20-25 years to kill you anyway, so you'll probably die from something else before the prostate cancer gets you.
If you like having a dart gun shot up your ass 10 or 12 times, and pissing and ejaculating blood for a few days, I highly recommend the prostate biopsy.
Since I was in my early 40s when my PSA started shooting up, they wanted to be sure there wasn't any cancer. As you get older the risk becomes less because even if you get the non-aggressive form of prostate cancer it takes something like 20-25 years to kill you anyway, so you'll probably die from something else before the prostate cancer gets you.
If you like having a dart gun shot up your ass 10 or 12 times, and pissing and ejaculating blood for a few days, I highly recommend the prostate biopsy.
Gee, you make it sound so enticing! LOL! Yes, all you and your Doc say is true, but there have been a lot of lives saved too, even with this less than perfect testing regime.
Yeah sigh, I am do for a checkup in march. My regular doctor moved and is out of network. So after 10 years I now have a young female nurse practioner........wonder how that's going to work out
I hope she keeps her nails trimmed short! And try not to think of it being a YOUNG FEMALE, when she goes where another man has gone before!
No disagreement there, I'm just trying to shed some light on just how unreliable PSA is as an indicator. They could probably save just as many lives by instituting a prostate cancer lottery where they perform biopsies on people selected at random. My PSA is about 10x as high as yours, with no cancer, and your doctor is worried about a few tenths rise, how can that be scientific?
My Doc also said PSA numbers are unreliable.
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OP
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STmark1300
Ron
Yes the PSA has it's problems. I get that. One doc explained, it's not the number but the rate of change he watches. So they need a baseline first. They also have biopsies and scans they use to look for cancer. There are also different forms of cancer, very slow moving and aggressive. Slow forms they ignore. What is concerning to me is how the doc's differ so much, looking at the same results. One doc left me scratching my head. The doc I trust confirmed that size matters, and eventually I will have a big problem without surgery. And finally, a skilled surgeon is needed to avoid damaging the muscles there to maintain your love life.
the Ferret
Daily rider since May 1965
Yeah sigh, I am do for a checkup in march. My regular doctor moved and is out of network. So after 10 years I now have a young female nurse practioner........wonder how that's going to work out
Plus, there's going to be a 'second' person in the room when the digit is inserted and the odds are it will also be a female.
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STmark1300
Ron
My earlier doc prescribed Finasteride, and said by the way it causes cancer. So I did not take it, thinking it would be counter productive. The tamsulosin did not help.