Are You Experiencing A Prostate Cancer Symptom?
Since a prostate cancer symptom can look the same as a symptom of something like BPH (enlarged prostate), it can be easy to mistake one for the othe...
Since a prostate cancer symptom can look the same as a symptom of something like BPH (enlarged prostate), it can be easy to mistake one for the other. It’s generally during routine examinations that prostate cancer is first detected. If you’re showing any of the following symptoms, you should probably go see your doctor immediately:
- Difficulty in retaining or passing urine
- The urge to urinate frequently, particularly at night
- An intermittent or weak urine flow
- Painful or burning urination
- Blood in urine or semen
- Difficulty in achieving an erection or painful ejaculations
- Frequent lower back pain or stiffness in the upper thighs and hips
There are also a variety of factors that can influence the risk of developing prostate cancer, which affects one in six American men and makes it the most common type of non-skin cancer. These risk factors include:
Age. As men get older the risk rises sharply. For men under 40, the odds of being diagnosed with prostate cancer are roughly 1 in 10,000. However, for men between 40 – 59, the risk increases to 1 in every 38, and for men between 60 – 69, the risk jumps to 1 in 15.
Family genetics. A man who has had a father or brother with a prostate cancer diagnosis is twice as likely to develop it himself. The risk rises even more if that diagnosis of prostate cancer in family members occurred at an early age (e.g., 55 years old), or if there were 3 or more family members affected.
Race. Men of African-American ancestry are 60% more likely than Caucasian men to develop prostate cancer, with their odds of dying from it more than twice that of other races. The prostate cancer risk for U.S. men, overall, hovers around 17%. For Asian men still living in Asian countries, the cancer risk is the lowest (about 2%), but as they move into Western cultures, that risk tends to rise dramatically.
Location. Men living in cities above 40 degrees latitude (north of Columbus, OH, or Philadelphia, PA) have the highest risk of death from prostate cancer than for men anywhere else in the U.S. It is suspected that lower levels of sunlight during the wintertime reduces critical Vitamin D levels, increasing cancer risks.
Here are some additional risk factors that can lead to exhibiting prostate cancer symptoms and the aggressive development of prostate cancer:
- A consistent lack of high-fiber vegetables in the diet
- High calcium consumption
- Lack of exercise due to a sedentary lifestyle
- Excessive height.
Factors and conditions that apparently don’t increase the risk of developing prostate cancer include:
- Being overweight (or having a high body mass index, or BMI)
- Enlarged prostate (or BPH)
- Prostatitis
- Hypersexuality
- Vasectomies
- OTC and prescription medications
- Alcohol
Over 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every year in the U.S., and 32,000 men will die this year from it. Author Darrin Paulsent delves into the subject in order to help men distinguish between a legitimate prostate cancer symptom and the more common prostate enlarged symptoms that are readily treatable.
