Prostate Cancer

Did you know that prostate cancer is the second cause of mortality in men after lung cancer. The risk factors include:

• Age.... The older men are at a higher risk than the young men.

• Genetics... Most families have relatives that have been affected by this disease. Those ones are at a higher risk of being affected by cancer.

• Race.... The African-americans are more prone to this disease than any other race.

• Lifestyle.... Smoking, high consumption of alcohol, food high in fat and red meat.

Prostate gland is a part of the male reproductive system. As little as it looks on might think its has no significance, but without this gland, so many things can go wrong.

The prostate is responsible for producing 30% of semen. It produces a slightly alkaline liquid that helps to neutralise the acidity of the vagina, and also helps to sustain the life span of the sperm in the vagina.

The prostate can be affected by so many infections

• Prostatitis: Here bacteria inflames or irritates the gland. Well there are non bacterial causes. When this occurs, the person experiences fever signs, urinary tract difficulties. Prostatitis is treated by a large variety of modalities including antihistamines, anxiolytics, surgery, phytotherapy, physical therapy, nerve modulators.

• Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Here, there's an enlargement of the prostate. It grows big and presses on the bladder, thereby constricting the flow of urine. The elderly men are mostly affected by this.

  This BPH has same signs and symptoms of prostate cancer and often misdiagnosed as cancer.

  Here there's hesistance in urination, difficulty in urination(dysuria), little or no urine(anuria).

  Well this can be treated with the right medications(Tamosulosin), surgery and other invasive procedures.

• Prostate Cancer: The big bang, can be very deadly when it isn't detected early.

  Luckily for this generation, lycopene has been discovered to decrease metastatic capacity of prostate cancer. That's why cancer patients are fed with food like tomatoes high in lycopene.

Diagnosis(how do i know i have prostate cancer)

• DRE examination.... The physician feels the prostate from the rectum. Once the prostate is hard or has a lump, then that's a sign that something is wrong .

• Prostate cancer imaging... Alot of scans can like the MRI, bone scan,CT scan can be used to diagnose cancer.

• Test... There are proteins that are produced by the prostate gland. These proteins when in over abundance indicates an abnormality with the prostate.

How do i fight prostate cancer(prevention)

• Brisk walking

• Avoid bad habits smoking and drinking.

• Eat food high in lycopene, fruits and vegetables.

• Regular sex can help tooo. Having a healthy sexual life.

• Avoid tight clothing.

• Sit while urinating to remove residual urine.

We preach against self medication. So the American Cancer Society advises men to go for screening tests, beginning at:

• 50 years for average risk men.

• 45 years for men at high risk Especially African-Americans with any of the relative diagnosed before 65years.

• 40 years for men with relatives that have been diagnosed of the disease at an early age.

There are ways to handle prostate cancer once you find out:

• Medical treatment...involves use of medications, surgery and other procedures that are determined by the physician.

• Non pharmacological treatment... This is done will going through the medical treatment. Which involves healthy diet, proper exercise, limiting smoking and drinking.

Cancer in general can be treated once detected early. Check the health status of your Prostate and make sure its healthy.