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Old September 30th 11, 05:26 AM posted to alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent,rec.bicycles.soc
JimmyMac
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Default Insight into the phases of the Internet forum life cycle: a perspective

On Sep 27, 11:48*am, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
"JimmyMac" wrote in message

...
On Sep 23, 8:35 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
[...]

But alas, most men never get
to the biopsy point until too late because the PSA test is usually all
over
the map. The DRE is pretty worthless. You have to catch prostate cancer
before the physical tumor stage, i.e., before it has spread.
Not quite true, *Yes the DRE is not definitive nor is a PSA test, but


until better tools become available (some are almost there).that is
what is commonly employed. *ON the other hadn you don't have to catch
prostate cancer before the tumor stage and often enough won't. *As
long as the tumor is discovered when still organ confined, a
prostatectomy or radiation can, in most instances, be a life saver.
Once the disease has spread to seminal vesicles, lymph nudes or has
metastasized to bone, prognosis is far less promising.

There has been a recent large study about which treatment is the least
disruptive to a normal life. Prostatectomy is the worst, followed by
radiation, followed by seeding, the least disruptive.

How is your anti-hormonal treatment going? I just had 1 shot in the belly
prior to radiation and seeding and had a non-ending series of hot flashes
for 4 months as a result. I don't know if I could live with those shots.


Hot flashes are the least of my worries and I don't suffer too badly
from them. I am more concerned about the long term effects of hormonal
therapy. There is a downside to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).
Adverse acute menopausal side effects include hot flashes, abdominal
fat deposit, breast pain and/or enlargement, reduction in the size of
testes and penis, loss of lean muscle mass, emotional changes,
anxiety, depression, weight gain, fatigue, impotence, and loss of
libido. More serious side effects include anemia, loss of bone mass
(osteopenia/osteoporosis), Type-II diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, memory impairment, cognitive
decline, adverse effects on the liver, increased risk of skeletal
related event (pathological fracture), colorectal cancer, and excess
serum cortisol. Some anti-aging experts refer to cortisol as the
"death hormone" because of the multiple degenerative effects that it
produces including immune dysfunction, brain cell injury, and arterial
wall damage. Regardless, I had only two alternatives. I could allow
the disease to rapidly progress unabated, or I could opt for ADT to
survive longer. I chose the latter.

I read every day about men, many not so old, who are still dying of
prostate
cancer. The trick is to catch it early before it has spread. Every man
over
the age of 50 should be getting the PSA test every year even though it
isn't
totally reliable.
Since prostate cancer is now more commonly being discovered in younger


men, the current wisdom is to get a PSA every year beginning at age
40.

Yes, better safe than sorry!

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota


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