Conference quark::mennotes

    I didn't realize that SO many men die of prostate cancer.  (Its time we
    paid more attention to our diets guys)
    
    How is it not PC to fund cancer screening programs for men?  Aren't
    there screening programs for things like heart disease for men, or
    for other diseases for men?
    
    It may be that because the average life expectancy for men has
    increased that prostate cancer has a chance to develop.  You know if
    you avoid most of the things that can kill you,  SOMETHING is going to
    wind up getting you eventually.
    
    Yeah, I know, this is not a prostate cancer discussion per se... but a
    discussion of why there aren't screening programs for men on this
    disease.
    
    Jeff
    

    In 1993 the amount spent on breast cancer research was $190 milion
    the 1994 budget calls for $260 million to be spent
    
    In 1993 the amount spent on prostate cancer was less than $50 million
    There is no increase planned for 1994.
    
    bill 

    
    Do you think men have difficulty addressing the need for more research
    in the area of prostate cancer? Do you think they have difficulty
    articulating the importance of fighting something that is so closely
    tied with sexual organs?
    
    Or is something else in the way?
    
    If you look at how the women's movement is addressing breast cancer,
    women are being taught to do self-exams, and to be more honest and
    open-eyed about the subject. And, as more women are educating
    themselves about breast cancer, they are fighting for funding. 
    
    Perhaps there needs to be a similar revolution among men. Perhaps
    prostate cancer can be self-detected? Perhaps more men need to organize
    and discuss the realities of it so that more men are aware of the need
    to fight it.
    
    Women have worked VERY hard to take the shame out of breast cancer, and
    that goes a long way in helping women who have it, or are susceptible
    to it, fight it sooner, and more effectively.
    
    How do men feel about Prostate cancer? Do they know which men in their
    families have had it or died from it? Do they know if they are
    susceptible to it? And what activities or tendencies may put them at
    risk? Are they able to talk to their doctors about it when they have
    physicals? Are they encouraged to do so?
    
    When I get my physical exam, I am ALWAYS asked whether I'm doing my own
    self-exam. I typically reply with a sheepish no, and get a lecture...
    and a breast exam. This is how seriously doctors are now taking breast
    cancer. It's ALL about catching it early. I've also been to talks at
    Digital where women shared their experience with breast cancer, with
    the focus being on "catch it early, before it kills you". Would men GO
    to a similar seminar? Does information dessimination have to be
    different for men?
    
    A lot of questions... the answers really should come from the folks for
    whom prostate cancer has the most impact.

    
    Sticking your finger up your tush to see how things are going for a
    self exam might be alittle more difficult than doing your breast.;]

    RE .4
    
    I guess that's the question - if sticking your finger up your anal
    canal can save your life, how many men would do it on a regular basis?

    .6 you missed the point. You might not reach your prostrate glan with the
    finger in you anal canal. 
    
    

    regarding .4
    the question is not "skicking your finger up your anal canal can save
    your life" it takes more than that, it takes a doctor's knowledge to
    judge what is inside and if there is any anormality at all, or change, 
    I don't think that anybody can have that knowledge without extensive 
    training along with a doctor's degree in medicine or similar
    qualifications while a woman can really feel a lump in her breast if there
    is one with a single stroke, as easy as that... there is no comparison.
    
    Ana
    

    I would think a self anal exam (prostate) might be a bit difficult to
    perform on oneself ASSUMING you know what feels right and what doesn't.
    
    It is easy to perform a self exam on ones testicles though.  Also the
    symptoms of prostate cancer can be watched for:
    
    Difficultity in urination
    Frequency of urination
    An ache in the prostate area
    A change in the urine stream (diminished)
    
    Often the above symtoms signal BPH (benign prostate enlargement) not
    prostate cancer... but the symtoms can similiar at first so not to
    panic if you have the above... but get it checked out by your Dr.
    
    Jeff

    There is a blood test available for the detection of prostate
    cancer. Why isn't it included in the yearly physical?
    

    re .10, it's a feminist plot to get rid of men!!  :-)
    
    Lorna
    

    The blood test in question is the PSA.  Often health fairs at malls,
    etc. will offer this test.  
    
    This test is not without its failures though.  Two weeks before my
    father died from advanced prostate cancer (Bone involvement, lung/heart
    involvement, you name it involvemnt), he had his last PSA test, and it
    had shown that over the last 6 months his PSA content had fallen.  Also
    PSA can be high in perfectly healthy men.
    
    I guess it's like breast cancer tests.  Sometimes the more deadly forms
    don't show up on a mammogram, and the "markers" don't show up in blood
    tests either.
    
    Meg 

                    <<< Note 94.10 by USWRSL::HINDLEY_DO >>>

>    There is a blood test available for the detection of prostate
>    cancer. Why isn't it included in the yearly physical?
 
	It depends on your Doctor, the test WAS part of mine.

	You may want to ask this question of YOUR Doctor.


   Jim

    Its not a bad idea to get a PSA test even if your not suspicious of
    your prostate.  The baseline it provides is helpful in future PSA
    evaluations.
    
    Jeff
    

    
         Just a comment:
    
         I had my yearly checkup at my HMO and the primary physician would
         not have done the PSA test if I hadn't requested it. I felt that
         he tried to discourage me from having the PSA test but I insisted.
           The primary physician did tell me that the test was not an
         accurate indicator (not his exact words) of prostate cancer.
           I am curious if other HMO's or private physicians have the same
         attitude toward the PSA test. Appreciate any response!
           Readers digest had an article about the PSA test that strongly 
         encouraged men to have the PSA test for each exam. Be aware that
         Readers Digest oftentimes mixes fiction with fact.
                                                    Bill. 

    
    
    There are similar issues with the mammogram - according to some
    physicians, it is NOT recommended for women under 30 unless there's
    breast cancer in the family. That's why the self-exam and the manual
    "feel" check are so important. It may be that there's a similar issue
    for men.

    re .16
    
    I recently had a physical, and I asked my doctor if they were doing a
    PSA with the blood that they were taking for tests.  He explained how
    the HMO had debated it, presented pros and cons, (he ended up writing
    both!) and eventually decided to do it.  From what I understand, and he
    confirmed, it's important to establish a baseline.  PSA will generally
    increase with age, but it's the rate of increase that's critical.
    
    Also, the treatment for prostate cancer has rather unpleasant
    side-effects - high probability of incontenence and impotenence.
    
    Rich

    There was an article recently in the editorial page of a newspaper with
    the headlines "If Males died from Breast Cancer research would be
    better funded."  Further the author, a woman, further stated that "The
    women who die from breast cancer are the mothers, wives or sisters of
    the guys who make the political decisions, that's why; we arn't a
    special interest group."
    
    I was rather taken back by the article for various reasons since the
    reasons stated against are the very reason for. 
    
    Television has had many programs on the subject recognizing the need
    for examination (both self and medical) and early detection.  Newscasts 
    locally have had specials and commercials are being run prime time.   
    Provinces are talking about making it as easy as possible for women to
    obtain examinations.  Doctors offices have information available and
    most have made Xrays part of their medical after 50.  
    
    But, I have seen little about prostrate cancer amoung men.  No
    commercials, no special programs, no newscasts etc.
    
    To accuse men of purposely underfunding research in this area appears
    to be irresponsible jounalism.  
    
    In many cases, the old saying goes for both men and women, 'you can
    lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.' 
    
    When was the last time you got your prostrate gland checked?

My doctor said that they don't normally do prostate exams until the patient is
somewhere in their 40s.  I'm 35, so I didn't get one this time.

There is another cancer, which only men can get, that you can do self-exams for:
testicular cancer.  My doctor did check for that, and also asked if I did
occaisional exams.  I don't know what the frequency of it relative to prostate
cancer is though.  But, you don't see much literature/tv programs encouraging
men to do regular exams of their testicles.

Rich

When I had a complete physical at 35, I was given a prostate exam.  While it's
not pleasant for the patient or the doctor, it only takes a minute.  I'll ask
some doctor friends what they think.

    When was the last time I got my prostrate gland exam? When my ex wife
    asked for a divorce!:_) And the opposing camps attorney wanted to check
    me out to see if this would fit proper.:)
    
    

    I got a prostrate exam when I joined my HMO back in 1980, at the
    ripe old age of 21.
    
    At least, I think that's what it was.  ;')
    
    Fletch : "Say doc, did you ever do time?"  :') :')

Um, it's prostate, not prostrate.

    Well, it COULD have been a prostrate exam if he was lying face down on the
    examination table.

    - Jim

    Darn, had I meant that typo, I coulda bankrolled it into a joke.

It was reported in the news this morning that Frank Zappa died from prostate
cancer on Saturday.

Rich

    
    don't anyone hold their breath for the SG or her activist minions
    to express any regrets on the passing of anyone from this ailment.

    Re .28: Are you sure? Seems to me prostate cancer's had quite a lot of
    publicity lately; Bill Bixby's death, and now Zappa's, have given it
    the "celebrity involvement" that seems to be such a key element of
    health campaigns, and there was a lengthy article about it in a recent
    issue of one of those Sunday newspaper supplement magazines (which,
    whatever else one may say about 'em, seem to be about as mainstream as
    one can get...). 
    
    It may not equate to a comprehensive strategy for combatting prostate
    cancer, but I'd say the word *is* getting out...
    
    -b

    And now, Don Ameche.

    
    Recently in either Black Enterprise or Emerge I saw a BEAUTIFUL ad
    about prostate cancer. It was a picture of three generations of males
    in a family, and to the side was information about the prostate and how
    it changes during a male's life, what men can expect and what they need
    to do. It was factual, well-presented, tasteful.
    
    So, the campaign is starting. The question is whether people will take
    notice.

    There is allot you can do to avoid prostate cancer and BPH, (benign
    prostate enlargement). First, have those check ups and have the PSA
    test done after age 50.

    Next pay attention to your DIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Ideal:

    Low fat, high in vitamins A (beta carotene), E, C, and zinc, and SAW
    PALMETTO (an herb available in health food stores). Also add tofu
    (yeah tofu) to your diet. Far eastern diets include allot of tofu and
    studies have shown that the tofu tends to minimize the incidence of
    prostate cancer.

    I have somewhat reversed BPH from an abnormal urine flow rate on a
    medical exam, to a normal flow rate and minimized symptoms of BPH via
    the above regimen.
    
    Take it for what its worth... but the above is working for me.
    
    Jeff