Green Tea Pills and Prostate Cancer...

An article for those interested from the NIH:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728057/

Another article:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/191448.php

David

Glad you asked. I've been taking large doses of decaffeinated green tea extract (5 capsules 2x a day) for a few years, for their miraculous anti-inflammatory effects. It enormously helps my chronic prostatitis and has completely eliminated my chronic sinusitis, both of which had driven me crazy for over thirty years.

Half a year ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but at a level my urologist characterized as "less than minute" -- out of twelve biopsy cores, only one of them had cancer, and it was only 0.3 mm, and at Gleason 3 + 3 = 6. I'm 58 years old. I'm currently considering my options, and tending toward the Proton Therapy. Problem is I'd have to commute to Philadelphia from Northern Virginia, or live in Philadelphia for up to two months killing time. The daVinci robotic surgeon is ready to cut of course.

Obviously there is no way of knowing whether the cancer originated before I started taking green tea, and the green tea slowed it down or halted it, or whether the cancer originated while I've been taking it despite taking it. But just the anti-inflammatory effects are well worth it.

THANK YOU JIM! Actually my long-term urologist is himself an expert at brachytherapy and I discussed this with him. My prostate is hyper-hyper-sensitive. When the doctor does the digital rectal exam he could lift me in the air with just his fingertip, that's how bad it hurts. I'm afraid that with a prostate like that, if he implanted all those seeds inside it, which I'd have to wear for the rest of my life, just the mechanical presence of them would be intensely painful to me or at least very uncomfortable, forever. He actually agreed that I wouldn't be a good candidate for brachytherapy for that reason, although he was confident that it would dispose of the cancer. He also suggested AS, as you have, and thought that I could go five years or ten years without much risk.

My cancer diagnosis was half a year ago and I've been not quite dragging my feet but taking my time trying to figure out what to do, so I've kind of defaulted into AS. Since it's been half a year I'm going back next month for another biopsy, which is the frequency the uro suggested. Even the biopsy is a very rough sample, notwithstanding that they try to span the broad expanse of the prostate, and could easily miss things, as shown by post-surgical biopsies of removed prostates that often upgrade the extent of the presence of cancer and the Gleason score.

The doctor's former associate is the head of the robotic surgery department at GW Hospital in Washington, and I had a consult with him. He seemed very objective about the pros and cons. I've been looking at the videos on Youtube of the "minimally invasive" daVinci RP procedure, and I find them horrifying. Plus the suffering of the poor miserable wretches who've gone thru it, as described by their postings here and elsewhere, honestly discourage me. I know that many patients do quite well with it, and return to full continence and manageable ED a few months later, but plenty of them don't, so the risk seems really high. So if I do anything it will be the Proton Therapy. I have yet to try scheduling an appointment at the Pennsylvania facility, but I'll probably do so very soon.

"I've been looking at the videos on Youtube of the "minimally invasive" daVinci RP procedure, and I find them horrifying. Plus the suffering of the poor miserable wretches who've gone thru it, as described by their postings here and elsewhere, honestly discourage me."

hey Pookie, If you think surgery is bad read some of the threads written by those enduring the final phase of prostate cancer...

Surgery is a cake-walk...Disappointment, yes..Suffering, no...

Re the "horrifying" videos of Da Vinci Surgery, well that's what surgery looks like, in fact it often looks much worse (eg open heart surgery where the ribs get spread apart). Even a simple five minute snip on my chest to remove a mole left blood all over my chest and a pile of bloody swabs and instruments etc. So this "horror" is not an issue exclusive to Prostate cancer surgery. I have even had a visit to the dentist where the nurse had problems with the amount of blood I was leaving around the place.

One active ingredient in Green Tea etc is anti-oxidants, which are good for helping the body destroy bad stuff.

Alf

Green Tea also available where I live with extra flavours such as lemon, mint, ginger orange, cranberry, which helps aleviate any risk of monotony. I'm not sure if my sinusitis has got better since drinking green tea, but I have perhaps had less hay-fever and my sense of smell has been much better.

I think drinking green tea also indirectly helps me eat fewer calories as I find that I don't want to eat a cookie or cake with it the way i do with coffee, also I don't add milk, cream or sugar, and one cup is usually enough!

Alf