"Mow"vember

Stoniphi

Stoniphi

obscurely fossiliferous
Valued Senior Member
This is Prostate Cancer Awareness month. Men are reminded to get informed about prostate cancer and their personal risk levels.

This year I want to dedicate this reminder thread to our dear departed friend Billy T, who died from this cancer.

Prostate cancer is the number 2 cancer killer of men. At this time, the only way to check for it is by the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. If you are a male that is 40 years old, you should know your PSA and stay informed of that number.
 
May I ask - mow'vember? Not going to lie... when I first read the title I thought it said "Meow"vember - what does the "mow" stand for (I'm guessing not like, mowing the grass?)
 
Stoniphi said:
This is Prostate Cancer Awareness month. Men are reminded to get informed about prostate cancer and their personal risk levels.

This year I want to dedicate this reminder thread to our dear departed friend Billy T, who died from this cancer.

Prostate cancer is the number 2 cancer killer of men. At this time, the only way to check for it is by the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. If you are a male that is 40 years old, you should know your PSA and stay informed of that number.
Click to expand...
Well, you can also get a periodical rectal exam from your doc and watch out for signs such increased frequency or difficulty of urination, vague aches and pains etc. False +ves are very common with PSA test and you run the risk of blighting your life with anxiety.
 
I have stage 3c prostate cancer. That is a gnat's eyelash under stage 4.

Surgery, 40 radiation treatments (total 80 Grey) and 3 years of first round chemo. July PSA was .03, Septembers was .08. That means that the treatments have failed to repress the cancer and I will have to go back on first round chemo indefinitely. Barring a breakthrough of some kind, I am going to die from prostate cancer just like my friend Billy T recently did.

Does that qualify as 'blighting my life with anxiety'? It sure feels like that to me. :eek: Please note here - it was NOT getting a PSA test that did that, it was finding out that I had prostate cancer that did that to me.

We refer to it as "mow" vember because many men quit shaving for the month. When we are then asked why we chose to grow out our beard, we respond with a discussion of prostate cancer awareness. At the end of the month, you 'mow' your beard.

US federal govt @ cancer .gov said:
The United States Preventive Services Task Force has analyzed the data from the PLCO, ERSPC, and other trials and estimated that, for every 1,000 men ages 55 to 69 years who are screened every 1 to 4 years for a decade (5):

  • 0 to 1 death from prostate cancer would be avoided.
  • 100 to 120 men would have a false-positive test result that leads to a biopsy, and about one-third of the men who get a biopsy would experience at least moderately bothersome symptoms from the biopsy.
Click to expand...

Sorry ex, but I do not consider 1% to be "common" for false positives. The advise to avoid those pesky tests are because it is much cheaper to pay for palliative care than it is to pay to fight the cancer. Last year my optometrist (who had followed that advise not to get the PSA test) finally got it when he could no longer urinate without a catheter. PSA was 150 ng/dL. He had metastases in his lungs, liver, brain and spine. A year later now and he has died from prostate cancer. Painfully.

Since the advise was put out there to not bother with the PSA test, the number of advanced cases of this cancer have skyrocketed. Why? Because men are now waiting for symptoms before getting checked out so their cancer is well advanced when it is found. Insurance only had to pay for a few months treatment for my eye doc, then he was done (as in "dead") Much cheaper for the insurance company though. -_O

The bottom line for me is this: I know only 2 people who have died in the last year. Both were men, both died from prostate cancer. I have prostate cancer and it is trying very hard to kill me too. Do the math. :frown:
 
Stoniphi said:
I have stage 3c prostate cancer. That is a gnat's eyelash under stage 4.

Surgery, 40 radiation treatments (total 80 Grey) and 3 years of first round chemo. July PSA was .03, Septembers was .08. That means that the treatments have failed to repress the cancer and I will have to go back on first round chemo indefinitely. Barring a breakthrough of some kind, I am going to die from prostate cancer just like my friend Billy T recently did.

Does that qualify as 'blighting my life with anxiety'? It sure feels like that to me. :eek: Please note here - it was NOT getting a PSA test that did that, it was finding out that I had prostate cancer that did that to me.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that... it has been a constant source of annoyance for me that the greater medical community seems to have this thought of "well, we have radiation and chemo, etc... that's good enough" when, well, "good enough" simply isn't. It seems like outside of a few specific groups, there isn't a whole lot of push for better treatments.

Stoniphi said:
We refer to it as "mow" vember because many men quit shaving for the month. When we are then asked why we chose to grow out our beard, we respond with a discussion of prostate cancer awareness. At the end of the month, you 'mow' your beard.
Click to expand...

Ah, that makes sense - thanks for the explanation!

Stoniphi said:
Sorry ex, but I do not consider 1% to be "common" for false positives. The advise to avoid those pesky tests are because it is much cheaper to pay for palliative care than it is to pay to fight the cancer. Last year my optometrist (who had followed that advise not to get the PSA test) finally got it when he could no longer urinate without a catheter. PSA was 150 ng/dL. He had metastases in his lungs, liver, brain and spine. A year later now and he has died from prostate cancer. Painfully.

Since the advise was put out there to not bother with the PSA test, the number of advanced cases of this cancer have skyrocketed. Why? Because men are now waiting for symptoms before getting checked out so their cancer is well advanced when it is found. Insurance only had to pay for a few months treatment for my eye doc, then he was done (as in "dead") Much cheaper for the insurance company though. -_O
Click to expand...

And that's another thing that pisses me off... insurance companies are getting to dictate way too much. My wife was denied access to a newer anti-depressant medication a few years back because the insurance company didn't believe she needed it and tried to put her on Zoloft... which she had already been prescribed and it made her worse (suicidal thoughts et al). Even after two prior auths from her doctor, they refused.

Thankfully, she is currently not on anything and doing quite well (because the drugs they wanted to put her on made her worse). She has bad days once in a while but... how do we figure letting a bunch of pencil-pushing financial analysts determine what medicine someone needs is better than letting a trained medical professional do it? Just... wtf...
 
At age 73, I've had my prostate checked twice a year for many years.
sculptor said:
I have read that regular ejaculation is the best defense against prostate cancer.
Click to expand...
Periodically emptying the prostate of stored-up seminal fluid is obviously a good idea. The pressure puts stress on the tissue. Of course at my age it would take several months for it to generate enough to be dangerous.

But you should still get a PSA once a year, or however often your doctor recommends.
 
You are most welcome, Kit. All of my best to your wife. I deal with situational depression these days myself. The chemo really brings that out too. :(

Good job, Frag.

Uh....no disrespect intended Sculptor, but that 'regular ejaculation' technique didn't prevent mine. Other than a healthy lifestyle (diet, exercise, rest), lack of contact with carcinogens (lead, arsenic, etc) and good genes there doesn't seem to be any good way of preventing prostate cancer at this time. :frown:
 
Stoniphi said:
... Uh....no disrespect intended Sculptor, but that 'regular ejaculation' technique didn't prevent mine. Other than a healthy lifestyle (diet, exercise, rest), lack of contact with carcinogens (lead, arsenic, etc) and good genes there doesn't seem to be any good way of preventing prostate cancer at this time. :frown:
Click to expand...

If memory serves the study I read said that 21 ejaculations per month while in the 30s and 40s showed a 20% reduction in the incidence of prostate cancer(maybe only a little bit better than the story of the Florentine grandfather pissing in the Arno?). There seemed to be a potential correlation with orgasms(as though orgasmic emissions offered a layer of protection), but that investigation seemed stalled. Also, lethality from prostate cancer seems to be a different issue.
 
It is hard for me to imagine how reaching frequent sexual climax in early middle age could offer any protection against epigenetic switching proven due to the presence of lead or arsenic in the persons blood or from genetic inheritance from ones parents. Some prostate cancer is due to the toxic effects of those heavy metals, some is hereditary, and some are a combination of both.

I am aware, however, that having sex will run up your PSA for a short while. Don't do that the night before you get your PSA blood test draw as it will throw off the results.

I have not encountered such a study in my ongoing research on this topic, which I have spent a significant amount of time and effort to understand due to its personal importance to me. Could you cite that study? I would really like to read it. Thanks! :smile:
 
I did that. Meh.

I note that the upfront 'study' was done in 2002 - 2004. Another had many confounding factors (BMI, exercise, diet etc) another did not compensate for other peripheral factors. I am back to my original question - how does epigenetic change in the DNA get caused by a purely physical action? I know that the presence of specific 'weak' genetics and/or the presence of toxic heavy metals make physiological changes that lead to prostate cancer. I am aware that a subset of lifestyle choices (obesity, smoking, alcoholism etc) encourage the development of prostate cancer.

I am also aware that the advise to "enjoy frequent sex" to somehow avoid prostate cancer is an old wives tale from the 1800's that was been repeated through the 1900's as well. Ejaculation dispenses fluid through pipes. It would be great if frequent ejaculation prevented prostate cancer. In my case, it did not.

Once again, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not. I saw no scientific basis for this particular hypothesis, sorry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top