,
I was hoping to hear from someone who would say "Nah,
sounds MUCH more like prostatitis than cancer....just
take some herbs and see what happens...!  
  My age is 57.....but you mention the psa
rise..doesn't prostatitis cause psa to rise sharply ..?
 Can't prostatitis cause a hard prostate or is it only
a "boggy" prostate that is caused by prostatitis..?
all my symptoms including the psa rise began all at
once when I got a really hideous cold....these symptoms
began just as the cold was clearing up......testicle
pain, burning on urination and ejac, frequency, general
pain and discomfort below the belt, butt hurting, ED,
very low sperm volume........most of the pain went
right away when I began taking antibotic, but the most
of the other things persist including and intolerable
backache....anyone have any thoughts..? does the fact
that the symptoms came on with a cold AND responded
quickly to ABX give me sufficent reason to
realistically hope that this is NOT cancer,, but infact
an infection in the prostate..............???  
  Hate to sound so "needy", but the Drs, son't seem to
be willing to devote a great deal of time to talking to
me about this...any thoughts would be appreciated...10-Z

On 8/19/04 9:32 PM, in article
a08cc259.0408191832.626b8146@posting.google.com, "Jim Thomas"
<jimndiane@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Hard as a rock prostate with a increasing PSA.  In the average person who is
less than 80 years old this is kind of a no-brainer, you probably need a
biopsy.  If you had a normal gland on exam, symptoms of prostatitis and just
a elevated PSA, then it is not as clear cut.

It is not wrong to talk to another urology doc if you do not like what you
hear, but for the most part this is not a complex urology problem.  Abnormal
rectal exam (even with normal PSA) equals prostate biopsy in any person less
than around 75-80.

Good luck,

ME

hi - the below is your post and i took a post from the
alt.prostate,support.cancer newsgroup from a gentleman who was told not
worry about it.  now, one year later - since they found out about his
high psa and his high gleason score are telling him that he has a 50%
chance of living for three years.

hope this info helps.

~ curtis

tenzzi@ragingbull.com (tenzzi) wrote in message
news:<ff0e4bc4.0407261227.46fe22b5@posting.google.com>...

I guess that I'm new to the
protstatitis game and don't know what to do....can anyone please councel
me on the wisdom of having a biopsy done ? I'm afriad that this
intrusive test might make things worse, AND even IF I had cancer I would
almost certianly not opt for surgery,chemo, nor radiation....so I wonder
what the point would be...thanks greatly to anyone who could shed some
light on this predicament...tenzzi PS..my psa was 2 3yrs ago, 5.1 6
months ago, 6.2 3months ago, and 7.0 2 weeks ago.....I have all the
symptoms of prostatitis,( and my regular Dr agrees, but says he does not
know what to do about it).....the urologist does not even seem to want
to discuss prostatitis.....all he can seem to think about is
Cancer...and tell me that the option to treatment is death....he seemed
disgusted with me today when I would not agree to a biopsy right
away.... also what it is worth he insisted the same thing when I kept
telling Drs that I had a hernia 3 yrs ago......turned out I was right,
but he had pressured me then to have a biopsy......he says my prostate
is about the size of a lemon and one side of my prostate is Boggy and
the otherside is hard as a rock....he said the hardness would NOT be
prostatitis
        would anyone be kind enough to share some
thoughts on this with me, I sure would appreciate it ...as going against
the Drs alone is tough.....thanks..10-Z  
Re: Anything else like Saw palmetto that messes up PSA readings?  

Group: alt.support.cancer.prostate Date: Sat, Aug 21, 2004, 10:20pm
(CDT+1) From: himselfhimselfMYPANTS@juno.com (Pat)
In article <20577-4127DB4E-50@storefull-3153.bay.webtv.net>,
PALMER_ENT@webtv.net says...

hi pat - did they tell him not to ejaculate for 48 hours before the psa
test?
this can mess up the readings and make them higher. it various by how
much depending on how soon the test is ran after the ejaculation.
also, prostate infection can with the psa numbers more so natural drugs.
a severe prostatitis can shoot the number into the teens or higher.

you say that he had a discouraging biopsy. what were the results? did he
have a high PIN or was he told he had pca?

~ curtis

Hello-

A year ago he had psa of 10 but his % free was higher than the cutoff so
he felt fairly safe. Six months later he wanted another psa test but
that doctor disueded him, "come back in a year from the original PSA of
10".

Good God- he now got PSA 150. I told him about the NEJM velocity study
and he quickly go biopsied at a major institution and--- Gleason 10! He
is now under the care of different doctors, leading specialists, and
they are doing bone scans, and x-rays. Meanwhile, he is on Casodex and
something that acts like Lupron but seems to start with an X or Z.

The doctor's nurse advised him to take selenium, Vitamins, lypocene,
garlic, red grapes and other stuff. He read the list to me and when I
heard that it included the Saw Palmetto- I told him to refer that to the
doctor because of the PSA warping effect. I also told him I would post
the question whether there were any other PSA warping supplements that
he should first clear with the doctor.

He has good medical insurance and contacts with leading medical
institutions.
The slides were read in institution 1, and then he carried them to
institution 2. Institution 2 was told what institution 1 had diagnosed
the slides as, which seems inappropriate. He also noted that the second
institution had the slides for only 10 minutes before they did their
report.

He is not in denial, but is asking for more people to read the slides.

  Thank you.

Pat

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knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."