Has Alan had that test where you pee in big jug for i forget how long,you
keep it in fridge,until the amount of time is up..Sorry have concussion
and a beautifull black eye,hard to see...So if i haven't explained this right
everybody feel free to jump in..Oh no pee burning,maybe cranberry jucie
in bottle during,his gym class???? Sue ouch that hurt...

Sue:

Who said anything about pee burning, ouch, or anything??? Oh have a concussion and a black eye?? You poor thing.

He has no problems at all. I was just questioning the fact that his PSA numbers keeping getting a bit higher and higher.

He pees perfectly fine, (and no, they never made him pee in any cup and keep it in the fridge). He is not up all night peeing.

I was just wondering why a man's PSA reading can go from 0.89 (in 2003) to 3.38 in 2007????

Maybe it's because he is now in his 60's?? I looked it up on the internet and it says that PSA levels can be elevated after a man turns 50. I guess we've been lucky for 10 years??? lol

Melody

This is another place where the lizajane charts can come in handy. I have read that it is the rate of change of PSA that istelling, not the absolute numbers. All men's psa goes up over the years, it's just that if the rate of going up changes, doctors get alert.

So if you chart them, assuming that the first test, which you just called 2003, was in feb, it would look like this:

8/03.............8/06.............2/07.............5/07.........................8/07
0.89........... 2.51............. 2.69.............2.9............................3. 38

.....................60%.............34%......... 37%......................... 60%

From 2003 to 2006, they went up at an average of 43%/year. Then for the next 14 months, at 34%, the next three at 37, the next 3 at 60. But in general, the test is just done once year, so if you take out the early 2007 numbers, and assume we are working with all numbers in August, then, from 2003-2006 the avg was 60%, from 2006 - 2007, it was up 35%.

8/2003'...................... 8/23/2006.......................... 8/23/2007
0.89............................ 2.51.....................................3.38
......................................60%......... ..........................35%
So if you just look at it by year, the rate of increase is not changing upwards.

Anybody else want to take this on? I am really terrible at math, and can easily have made major errors in thinking and calculating here.

Anybody think the rate of change idea is wrong? I don't know where I read that or how long ago.

Which reminds me, why am I doing this rather than going to sleep? I dont' know nearly enough about the subject.

I just know the lizajane charts.

ok, g'night folks.

--in the recent research, the doctor is well within the clinical guidelines by currently engaging in "watchful waiting" until the PSA goes above 4.

Considering that almost anything that irritates the prostate in men can cause the PSA to rise--and that Alan has certainly had issues with autoimmune inflammation--if the numbers continue to rise at the rate they are now, it would probably be worth it for him to have an ultrasound of the area.

Analyses like this one are pretty typical of what I've found:

http://www.urologystein.com/psa.shtml

There are some dissenting viewpoints like this one (but even most of these find levels below 10 to be only "moderately elevated"):

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/f.../Detection/PSA

As Liza Jane notes, the rate of increase--termed the "velocity"--is important, though apparently more predictive in those with already diagnosed prostate cancer.

Another possibility (you can mention) here is have Alan's free PSA measured along with the total PSA--elevated free PSA compared to total PSA (the ratio is often reported) is more likely indicative of a benign conditions such as prostatitis or benign enlargement.

Wow, now I'm learning all stuff about Prostate.

I wonder what I'll be learning about in 5 years. That is, by the grace of the Lord, that we'll both be here in 5 years.

I wonder, does a man (as he ages), have to EVER and ALWAYS have prostate problems?

Can it ever be that as a man ages, (maybe his genes play a part, or good habits, I don't know), but has it ever happened that a man lived to the ripe old age of let's say 85 or so and has NOTHING wrong with him??

My uncle is now 90. At 89 he started to have prostate problems. Actually his health went downhill after he collapsed at the job he had until he was 86. He worked on oil trucks. That's right... Oil Trucks. Until he was 86.

He saved his money, but he wanted to work. So he worked until he was 86. When he could no longer work, he fell apart and everything happened to him.

So is this a "man gets older, and he has to have prostate problems", or can some guys just grow old and just get older?

Just a curious question, my dear Glenntaj. lol

Mel

Good Go Glenn!

((((((((((shiney sue)))))))))))

My gosh, that was shocking to read! What has happened to you?

I sure hope you are resting easy and beginning to heal!

(((((((((((shiney sue))))))))))))

Hi Melody,

Two things come to mind in terms of Alan... one is that the holistic M.D. I saw tries to keep her patients' B12 level above 1200. But I realize that if Alan doesn't want to take it, he won't.

And second, I've lost ten inches around my waist on 3 minutes of exercise a day... which is either on my Gazelle or walking around my garden. So the huge amounts of exercise time people on telly tell us we need, well they may not be correct.

Hi Consider:

The day I lose 10 inches around my waist from only 3 minutes of exercise a day, I'll call up Richard Simmons and take him out to dinner.

Your results are absolutely mind boggling.

Years ago, (and I mean years ago), I went on this diet, really really strict. Gave up everything for one month. I just walked at night with my neighbor who was 50 lbs overweight.

We walked and we walked for one hour every single night.

I ate protein, lean this, lean that. BUT!!! I was also on oral diabetes meds. Lots of them.

I didn't lose a darn thing. Got so frustrated, I went back to chips and dips at night.

Very frustrating when you do what you are supposed to do and nothing works.

But ever since I am on the Lantus and I eat extremely healthy, no refined sugars, no sugars at all, well, I dropped the weight. My body also changed.

Heavy people really never look at their bodies by the way. All these Angelinas, and Jennifer Love Hewitts, well, they can do their bra commercials and put on their bikinis and look at themselves in the mirrior, but heavy people don't. They just put on clothes, hope that nothing is bulging and mostly, concentrate on their face and makeup. All my friends are like this, and so was I. I would pass a mirror and never look into it. Because I knew what I would look like.

I can laugh about it now. Oh, this is a funny story. When I was 24, I lost 85 lbs. My first successful weight loss story. My first serious boyfriend, my first everything. But I did this in 5 months. I went from being really overweight, to looking like Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. Really changed my looks.

So there I was one day, walking past a storefront with a mirror and I said to myself "oh who is that girl, what a nice outfit she has on". Guess who it was?? ME!!! I had no idea what I really looked like because I never paid attention to my body. So when I lost all the weight really really fast, and put some outfit on that my mother had purchased for me, it still didn't click in my head, that I was the person in the mirror who just walked by. This is not an uncommon thing among formerly overweight people.

And one day, I was laying on the couch, and I felt a bony something. I started to go "oh my god, what is this thing?" It was my hip bone. I had never felt my hip bone before.

And shortly after that I went to my doctor for a checkup. I will never forget his face. After listening to my lungs he goes "very good, very good, how do you feel? and I said 'well, I have this hard thing in my torso, what is this thing?" and he goes "what do you mean, you have this hard thing on your torso?" and I put his hand and he burst out laughing and he goes "melody, that's one of your ribs".

You see, I had never felt my ribs before.

This happend years ago. I have gained and lost millions of pounds since I was 24. But now, I believe I have a mental handle on my over-eating.

I'm feeling lots of things these days.

lol
Melody

lol

For one thing, I bet you weren't as heavy as me.



For another, I bet you were able to be more active. I was in bed for nearly two years ... and now I'm up more but not all the time by any means.

I think the trick is to do three minutes more than you were doing before.

And I think it's ridiculous to push to the limits in the beginning and that way the body sets that as the norm...

I like my body having a low norm for exercise... and I'm glad it works.

Now... to read the rest of your post.