There are different tests that can be done, including just a digital examination, which is not very pleasant, but hardly "highly invasive".
My cousin had a prostatectomy which has certainly not left him incontinent. I did not ask about impotence. As the alternative was dying of cancer, I think he was quite happy with the deal.
That seems rather foolish to me. You are better off having the information. What you then do with it is up to you, and you can be as conservative as you like. One approach is to look at the trajectory of results, rather than the absolute level. So, a rapidly increasing PSA would be more concerning than a high-ish but constant level.
Interesting Radio 4 programme (partly) on this the other night
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For speed, the transcript of the programme is also at that website. Use your browser to search for "sceptic" to jump straight to the start of the relevant section
Not what I meant; have had the old finger myself and was pronounced normal; which adds to my having no desire to get tested. A prostate biopsy is a different story though.
eg try
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Well, the majority (ie, well north of 50%) of patients undergoing prostatectomy will get erectile dysfunction. Probably wouldn't be too concerned if I was 30 years older, but it's an issue for me. I suppose I'd rather be alive and impotent than dead, but the point is that plenty of prostates get removed unnecessarily.
But my point is that I'm healthy waterworks-wise, have no family history of prostate cancer, am not black, have had a negative rectal exam etc. If I decided to have a PSA test, then if it was very low then all hunky dory. However, because the rate of false positives is so high there would be a good chance the PSA result would be a bit high, which would get me and my family worrying, and set me on the path for multiple repeat testings over a period years, which will most likely come to nothing but keep my angst levels cranked up. So, not for me.
This whole thread has come up at an odd time for me. I agree wholeheartedly that a sense of "well being" is something that is currently terribly undervalued by doctors and incredibly easily undermined by well meaning but flawed screening programs. I personally resist all attempts by my GP to undergo any sort of "well man" screening. If you go fishing in a big enough pool you will always find something but that's a long way from proving that you've saved any lives.
All that said, a close friend of mine in his fifties has gone from asymptomatic to advanced metastatic prostate cancer in the space of six months. Would screening have saved him? I dunno but I suspect not. Would he advocate PSA screening to his friends? Dunno yet, I'll let you know. Would I now have a PSA test (in my late fifties)? It's crossed my mind but I think I might settle for a finger up my bum. I'm not easily scared by thoughts of my own mortality but I definitely wouldn't want to peg it before sixty now.
There are no easy answers and PSA testing could induce lifelong anxiety so I think I'm inclined to wait for symptoms and signs rather than undergo "routine" PSA testing.
I was of the "I haven't been to my GP for five years and I'm proud of this" - I suspect that my UK GP couldn't quite place who I was when he got my delist letter. I was persuaded when I came here to sign up for an annual check (including blood test which includes cholesterol, PSA, blood sugar etc). Apart from anything else at the start I could see the sense of my new GP having a baseline in case of future problems. I think it's worth it - the second or third check showed cholesterol moving in the wrong direction, not problematic at that stage but changing my diet has reversed this.
Since I came here three male friends about my age (early 60s) have died of cancer, one from prostate cancer who, his family acknowledge, stubbornly refused to seek medical advice until too late. But with slow growing cancers it does seem to be a hard call whether to take a chance or risk the worst effects of surgery.
That baseline is important, what is normal for you is normal for
*you*, this will almost certainly not be the normal for the population as a whole.
Late father had glucoma, no signs in me yet but I have had retinal photographs taken so small changes can be spotted early by comparing old snaps against new.
You can't screen for everything so there is always something that can come along out out of the blue, in my case Parkinsons.
It is a long while since I could piss over a wall and as my father died following prostate cancer, I have a regular PSA test. OK so far although a paternal cousin had some radio therapy following
*nodulation*.
I have been with the same medical practice for 70 years:-) They do operate a *well man* clinic and I have found the doctors susceptible to *trigger phrases*:symptoms described by the patient and linked to familial history.
One uncle had a colorectomy, mother and another uncle had cancer of the stomach. When I complained of what was probably a food related IBS they quickly had me in for colonoscopy. Totally clear! The doctor who signed me off said these things take years to develop which I took as a warning not to come back:-)
My father and one of my daughters had/have a sticky heart valve. Following an operation for a lipoma removal I was reported to have a low blood oxygen level. Once again, off for a battery of tests. They don't tell you much along the way but I ended up with an angiogram after which they said my heart would see me out! I think the blood oxygen level issue was probably due to shallow breathing and lack of vigorous exercise.
They then had a look at my lungs! Again clear. Any issues probably due to multiple broken ribs leading to a restriction in chest expansion.
I'm waiting for the receptionist to describe me as the boy who cried Wolf!
Specsavers do mine bi-annually.
Oh! Sorry to read that Dave. I suppose something is going to get us all unless we go and traumatise some train driver.
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