OT: Prostate Trouble

[Cursitor Doom]

Gentlemen of a certain age.....

When a doctor sticks his digits up yer bum during your annual prostate examination, what exactly is he feeling for?

1. Enlargement
2. Hardness
3. Irregular shape

Anything else?

[Andrew]

Your cocaine stash ?.

Cigar tube holding money ? (Papillon)

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

on 30/06/2020, Cursitor Doom supposed :

Texture of the prostate.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Cursitor Doom pretended :

Here is a good source of expert information..

[Tim+]

That?s pretty much it. As a junior doctor I only prodded one prostate cancer but it was distinctively different in feel from regular hyperplasia. Lumpy, hard and irregular.

Tim

[Cursitor Doom]

One of the daft questions that arise is, can a doctor give *himself* a prostate exam? I'm guessing not *quite* or not *fully* satisfactorily?

[Tim+]

Not really. It?s just that bit too high up to feel properly.

Tim

[John]

In my case - despite no symptoms a friend talked me into asking for a regular PSA (blood) test so that I would then be regularly checked. I asked for a PSA - the GP asked about symptoms and I told him I had none but would like to be regularly checked. He agreed with some reluctance. My PSA test revealed a high reading. Only then did I have the finger test which didn't reveal much - It could have been very early stage. I had a MRI Scan anda CT Scan - also a biopsy (not pleasant) and all revealed I had cancer. The solution was an operation which I had. I declined a new regime of a "clean up radiotherapy", prefering to wait and see if the cancer had gone (it can remain in the margins of the prostate). A later PSA test revealed a rising reading so the clean-up radiotherapy was going to be needed. 31 sessions followed. I now have a PSA test twice a year and it is undetectable.

I have nothing but gratitude toward the friend who nagged me to ask for a PSA test. It could have been years before symptoms drove me to ask my doctor for a test.

Ask for a PSA Test - it could save your live.

[Pomegranate Bastard]

In your case a johnny bag.

[Tim+]

Then again, it might result in years of pointless anxiety or even unnecessary surgery. Seriously, it?s just not that simple.

Tim

[tim...]

why does it matter?

It's a trivial part of the diagnostic process

[Robin]

Indeed.

I thought the evidence documents for GPs for the management programme were quite good

[tim...]

agreed

but then some people worry about the slightest thing

That's a huge failing in the medical system

it's not clear why it happens

there's several non invasive checks available between having a high PSA and an operation

[John]

Tim+ [e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The PSA test was only an indicator that I needed further investigation.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

It happens that John formulated :

Even a high PSA value is not proof of a problem it is just one of a range of indicators. My PSA is high, but no problems found..

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Quite. Not a definitive test.

[tim...]

that's easily established by more frequent PSA tests

the value ramps up very quickly to several hundred in the aggressive form

(for the uninitiated it should be less than 6 in a well person and will be under 20 for a normal prostate enlargement)

[Andy Bennet]

Nope - mine went as high as 72 and was not invasive - BPH and a 120g prostate which was reduced via HOLEP. This all started as increasing dificulty to pee, finally ending up in A&E after totally not being able to pee for 18 hours and catherterized.

[tim...]

mostly it is

That's a different matter

People can/do have surgery for non cancerous enlargements

[Cursitor Doom]

Purely idle curiosity, that's all.