Post-ops and Prostate Cancer

[pacman]

Don't forget gentlemen, the reason for the low incidence of prostate cancer in Asian men (specifically Chinese & Japanese) has been officially attributed to their drinking green tea on a daily basis.

Compounds have been isolated in green tea that have been shown to have a positive effect on the prostate. The tradition in China & Japan is to have a pot on the go all the time with the tea sipped from those little cups we are given in Asian restaurants.

The incidence of prostate cancer in Asia is 1% of what it is in the West.

I personally drink about a litre in the morning & a litre in the afternoon depending on time constraints. Some days it is more like 3 litres, the stuff has no strong taste but is very soothing to sip.        

I don't know if it has done my prostate any good but I know I get to pee a lot...          

[rxpharm]

socates999's reply is most accurate in terms of relevance to the question. With the newer SRS techniques the prostate is retained and may help to lubricate the neovagina.

That would mean that a prostate in a postop may develop prostate cancer. However the odds of that are extremely remote. As per Socrates999 the early stages of prostate cancer are sensitive to androgen. Low amounts of androgen that postop ts have would not stimulate cancerous prostate cells to multiply and eventually metastasize. There are also androgen insensitive prostate cancer cells as well, but these usually do not develop until later in the disease trajectory.

One of the methods of treatment for prostate cancer involves using hormone therapy - blocking production of androgen to minimize the spread of cancerous cells.

[donnykey]

(pacman @ May 14 2010,22:15) PSA testing has been widely discredited & with the everpresent risk of a false negative result, it can cause unnecessary angst among guys who get a high reading.

Thanks for the concern Pacman . But I will say I have not made any changes to my lifestyle. I was doing the same thing long before my diagnosis. The only time I think about it is when I'm due for a checkup.

I do have to disagree about the comments regarding PSA results.
I originally had a blood test covering "everything" just for something to do.
The PSA levels were a touch high and that is why I was given the various tests/biopsy which found I had an small cancerous growth in my prostate.

So in my case it's PSA all the way.

Cheers DK

[Rick Shaw]

On one of my annual STD check-ups, a male nurse who was doing the necessary sample collection said to me that some research had indicated that not ejaculating for weeks on end had a correlation with higher levels of prostate cancer. The caveat to this story is this was some time ago and he was a nurse, not a doctor; however, on an intuitive level, this makes some sense, given that the fluid will be lying about for a long period, rather than ejected and replaced. He went on to urge me to ejaculate at least once a week, advice that I have ever since enthusiastically embraced.

If there is any truth in this, then it follows that post-ops would have a higher incidence of prostate cancer...

BTW, did you know that females have a prostate gland? Formely known as the Skenes gland or the paraurethral gland, it was renamed the female prostate gland in 2002 and actually ejects fluid during orgasm. Isn't the human body a wonderful thing!

[donnykey]

No problems Mardhi. I was just commenting on the written wording of your post.

All the best to you too mate. Maybe I'll see you again in July.


Cheers DK

[Socrates999]

(Bumpa STIKKA @ May 15 2010,02:22) Hands up if you didn't understand Socrates999 post!  

555!

At least Rxpharm can speak phasaa Socratese.

[Socrates999]

(pacman @ May 14 2010,22:15) ...

PSA testing has been widely discredited & with the everpresent risk of a false negative result, it can cause unnecessary angst among guys who get a high reading.

All males will eventually develop prostate cancer if they live long enough but they are far more likely to die with it than from it.

...

... fed by testosterone, of which 95% is produced in the testicles. The androgen that Socrates refers to is the precursor to the production of testosterone but I don't know which of these is the more relevant hormone as far as prostate cancer is concerned.

Once the testes are removed in SRS, despite the comment made by Socrates, IMO I would think that the girls chances of developing prostate cancer have been reduced by a very large margin.

And I doubt that a medical professional would offer much more certainty than that. After all, if the prostate is still there, then it could become cancerous.

"PSA testing has been widely discredited "

By whom? If you can show me some comprehensive peer-reviewed study, maybe I could agree with you- but I've not seen it yet. There are contradictory data available. PSA testing has NOT been "widely discredited".

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"All males will eventually develop prostate cancer if they live long enough but they are far more likely to die with it than from it."

What a crock of sh..., err, I mean, I believe that perhaps you may possibly be wrong, unless you're making a some circular argument by defining "...live long enough..." as "...developing prostate cancer..."

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"... fed by testosterone, of which 95% is produced in the testicles. The androgen that Socrates refers to is the precursor to the production of testosterone but I don't know which of these is the more relevant hormone as far as prostate cancer is concerned."

The androgen that I was referring to IS testosterone, not some precursor.

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"Once the testes are removed in SRS, despite the comment made by Socrates, IMO I would think that the girls chances of developing prostate cancer have been reduced by a very large margin."

What do you mean, "...despite the comment made by Socrates"? If you actually understood what I wrote, you would understand that I was saying that her chances would indeed be reduced.

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Get real on the green tea crap. Officially accepted? Again, by whom? I hate to see misinformation like this spread around, as it seems to lodge in the brains of certain types who are susceptible to bullshit.

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Why don't you stick to giving Snapper photo tips?

[pacman]

When 2 close friends have gone through the trauma of prostate cancer & they need someone to talk to about their journey, one does tend to pay attention to what may one day be my own problem. Hence the green tea.

Neither of them had elevated PSA levels. As someone who has had their PSA checked for many years, I found this a bit odd.

Both of them, under different doctors told me the same, that PSA is a guide but is now not considered reliable enough to be relied on exclusively.

If you know differently, take it up with them. They may be offer a better argument than I can. I have no study I can refer you to, only the word of two prostate specialists told to me via friends.

The comment that we will all develop prostate cancer if we live long enough is from the same source. Many of us will die with it but not from it is what they told me.

Many years ago I was under the care of a consulting pharmacist/natural therapist for a major health issue I had & it was decided that I would benefit from taking testosterone.

When given the tablets, I assumed they were the testosterone but I was told that I shouldn't take straight testosterone as I would lose the ability to produce it naturally & that androgen was what I needed as "it was the precursor for the body to produce more of its own testosterone".

After all these years, I still remember that clearly. I have no expertise about this so please tell me if I was given wrong information.

And I did understand your post & will concede your point that you rate her chances to be reduced, I won't argue about interpretation. At first I read it as being little difference - it's a moot point that doesn't warrant debate.

I will make the claim for green tea. The 1% prostate rate for Asian men isn't a number plucked out of thin air & a quick google will turn up 1000's of references supporting my claim.

Here's just one quote I found:

ScienceDaily (June 22, 2009) €” According to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, men with prostate cancer who consumed the active compounds in green tea demonstrated a significant reduction in serum markers predictive of prostate cancer progression.

Everyone gets to decide if the want to drink green tea. Even sworn coffee drinkers I know are at least having it occasionally. It won't suit everyone & I don't own shares in a tea farm.

Why you should be so bothered by my post I have no idea but I hope that my advice to Snapper isn't the reason why he hasn't posted for a while.

[thegame925]

Glad to see this thread provoked a lively discussion and thanks guys for your input.

Apropos Jake_Sully€™s Post #14, this kid is from Zimbabwe and 100% Black African, so she would fall into the highest likely group.

The good news is that she is only 21, so she has plenty of time ahead of her before she could become a candidate and thanks to the major money being devoted to research into Prostate Cancer, by the time she is 40 no doubt they will have found a cure.

Of course the associated male problems (EDF etc) are not going to affect a post-op, so if a post-op was stricken, radical surgery would not affect her as much as it would have done if she was a pre-op.

On the subject of PSA tests I have been having a prostate check annually since I was 50 years old and whilst I know that there can be false-positive readings, I still believe the PSA check and the (for me) unpleasant digit check is still something I feel is a required annual ritual.

[pacman]

I am still getting PSA testing every year & I see no reason to stop. I raised the question of its effectiveness with my GP & he confirmed that it was no guarantee to be accurate but it was one of two tools he had at his disposal. The other being a rectal probe.

I should have not written that PSA testing has been "widely discredited", I was trying to make the point that no one should rely on it.

And of interest to all of us, there are people who believe that anal intercourse is an excellent way to ward off future problems with the prostate. One Pattaya resident I know well swears this to be the case.

I must discuss it the next time I am meet up with TheGame. He might see the wisdom of joining the pillow-biters club after all...      

(Rick Shaw @ May 15 2010,16:29) On one of my annual STD check-ups, a male nurse who was doing the necessary sample collection said to me that some research had indicated that not ejaculating for weeks on end had a correlation with higher levels of prostate cancer. The caveat to this story is this was some time ago and he was a nurse, not a doctor; however, on an intuitive level, this makes some sense, given that the fluid will be lying about for a long period, rather than ejected and replaced. He went on to urge me to ejaculate at least once a week, advice that I have ever since enthusiastically embraced.

This point was also raised in my discussions about prostate cancer. I never knew that an old term for it is "Priest's disease" which makes sense when you consider that all good priests have sworn off sex.

At least in theory...        

[BAM]

(Rick Shaw @ May 15 2010,15:29) .......a male nurse who was doing the necessary sample collection said to me that some research had indicated that not ejaculating for weeks on end had a correlation with higher levels of prostate cancer. .......... He went on to urge me to ejaculate at least once a week, ......

I think what he was trying to hint on was "Put your cock in his mouth" and he will help you

[transcebu]

(pacman @ May 15 2010,21:52) I will make the claim for green tea. The 1% prostate rate for Asian men isn't a number plucked out of thin air & a quick google will turn up 1000's of references supporting my claim.

There is also some discussion that the assumed correlation with green tea is actually a correlation with Vitamin D absorption differences between the regions.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/cancerProstate.shtml

There is growing evidence that Vitamin D deficiency is a major problem and contributes to many cancers including prostate cancer. Well worth a look imho and in the case of dark skinned people living in colder climates, Vit D deficency and high cancer rates are a major concern.