Chocolate, for me, is bad, especially dark chocolate (which is the
BEST). Other foods to avoid are coffee and beer. There are lots of
other foods on the list too, but the info is not very consistent.
http://tinyurl.com/yhodp4

If you mean a trans-rectal biopsy, the recovery time is about an hour
if there are no complications. Sometimes there is bleeding that can
last a few minutes or hours, and you will notice red or pink urine...
semen can be red for weeks.

One possible complication is infection, which I guess can occur any
time within 5 days or so of the procedure. This can usually be fixed
up at Emergency, but is potentially very serious if not treated
promptly. Another possible complication is acute urinary retention
which would probably occur immediately afterwards. The fix is
catheterization at Emerg.

Probably not, but everyone is different. The prostate gets stabbed
several times, and that could cause some swelling, I suppose, which
might reduce flow.

Has acute retention been an issue with you? Or very slow flow that
threatens retention? Retention is a medical emergency that needs to be
relieved within a couple of hours. That can be a problem if you are
miles from a hospital (or on a trans-Pacific flight). Consider
learning self-catheterization (from your uro, or search this NG), then
take the necessary supplies with you.

Ed

Concerning high PSA and biopsy, you may want to read this interview with Dr
Stamey:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/489474

------------------------------------------------

And this one with Dr Lee:

The PSA prostatic cancer test: avoid an unnecessary biopsy - prostate-
specific antigen
Healthfacts,  May, 1992  

"PSA [level alone] doesn't diagnose cancer," said Fred Lee, M.D., in a
telephone interview. "PSA is a glycoprotein secreted by the normal prostate
gland. As men age the gland gets larger in a good percentage of cases, and
this is called benign prostatic hyperplasia."

The enlarge prostate usually makes more PSA, explained Dr. Lee, who is a
clinical professor in radiology and urology at Wayne State University in
Detroit.

However, PSA levels are also elevated by the presence of cancer. Thus to rule
out cancer, most doctors recommend further testing with transrectal
ultrasound, which in turn usually leads to a needle biopsy of one or more
sections of the prostate.

Dr. Lee expressed alarm about the increase in the number of biopsies caused
by the use of PSA as a screening test. He had no trouble with a biopsy
recommendation to men with blood levels higher than 10 nanograms per
milliliter, or 10 ng/ml, because this indicates a high likelihood of cancer.
But Dr. Lee took issue with the common practice of ordering ultrasound and an
immediate biopsy on men who fall within the grey area, between 4 ng/ml and 10
ng/ml. A large portion of the older male population with benign prostatic
hyperplasia are within this range.

Dr. Lee attributes the rush to biopsy to a lack of expertise in interpreting
the ultrasound results. "What you've got is all these urologists out there
who have ultrasound equipment, and they've got this [elevated] PSA, and they
don't know what the hell to do with it, so they're bringing all these poor
souls in and biopsying them." His alarm has its personal aspect. Dr. Lee
developed the field of transrectal ultrasound, the use of high-frequency
sound waves to image the prostate.

While urologists making up their capital investment are a major factor in the
overuse of ultrasound, consumer demand also plays a role. Over the last few
years, screening with transrectal ultrasound has been marketed directly to
the public as a lifesaving procedure.

A needle biopsy of the prostate is often presented as an innocuous procedure,
but it has risks. "The biopsy is done through the rectum, which is full of
bacteria, so you can't help but place bacteria into the prostate," said Dr.
Lee, outlining the typical scenario following high PSA results. "Prophylactic
antibiotics are given, but antibiotics don't reach high levels in the
prostate."

"It's a gland that doesn't concentrate antibiotics very well. Once a man gets
a low-grade infection in the prostate, it tends to stay for a long time. Then
the PSA goes higher, the patient gets more worried, and the urologist get
more worried. And what does the doctor do? He biopsies a second time. So
they're in a cycle." One-third of his practice consists of men referred to
him after this scenario, said Dr. Lee.

Dr. Lee advocates a more cautious approach to elevated PSA that will reduce
the number of unnecessary biopsies. He co-authored a new study (Cancer, March
1) that correlates the size of the prostate with PSA levels. This is done
with a skilled use of ultrasound. "We determine how large the gland is, and
we predict how much PSA the man is entitled to."

Unfortunately, most urologists do not follow this approach. They tend to use
ultrasound as the means of locating biopsy sites, whereas Dr. Lee employs the
technology to determine who really needs a biopsy. The technology is also the
center of a turf struggle between radiologists and urologists. The majority
of urologists who now own their own ultrasound equipment have had it for less
than a year or two, according to Dr. Lee, who is a radiologist.

"And they have had no training in how to read imaging--that's the realm of
the radiologist. Transrectal ultrasound has a lot of built-in error,
depending upon the expertise of the person doing it," said Dr. Lee. "It's
very subjective."

Some researchers argue against screening because prostatic cancer is often so
slow-growing that it never becomes lethal or even symptomatic within a normal
lifespan. Autopsy studies of older men who died of other causes show that
nearly half have cancer in the prostate.

--------------------------------------

This concerning the needle biopsy is also enlightening:
http://chetday.com/needlebiopsy.htm

You may get relief by using Saw Palmetto:
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA365604