PSA Questions

Hi,
I just realized there was a second part to your message.
My prostitis symptoms include, bladder spasms, urgency to pee, small amounts of blood in seman and or urine (mostly when I don’t drink enough water) I feel a pressure in my bladder area...there are just a whole slew of symptoms,..the bph causes poor urinating,,,,during the day I’m not bad....at night I can stand there and wait and it’s so frustrating. Then dribbling is no fun....I’ve cut out all caffeine and alcohol. Drink lots of water, decaf green tea, and pomegranate juice...
My doctor will base his decision on wether to do another biopsy or not based on follow up psa and psa free. ...like I said earlier your psa free is a good number! My prostitis has been an on and off issue for 25 plus years....if your dr told u 7 have a large prostate it stands to reason that your psa fluctuates..listen I’m worried just like you but I trust my dr. Is doing everything he can to keep me healthy...he isn’t rushing to a biopsy...let’s both hope for the best,,,

My urologist won’t use an antibiotic for prostitis...he doesn’t want my resistance to build up against that. Besides unless you have a bacteria infection it won’t help....my advice for what it’s worth....here is what my dr preaches.....drink a lot of water..(4 or more 16 ounce glasses a day)
No reg. coffee or alcohol or chocolate or anything that u know bothers your prostate...the more you piss the more u flush it out...my belief is your dr is just doing due diligence with the biopsy to make sure...
I really feel just drinking a lot of water and following what I mentioned will help u.... betting your biopsy is neg, I’ve got to wait to Jan to see if I get more movement down on psa. Hoping to dodge a bullet!
In any event we are both worried but willing to bet we will both live a Long time to complain..lol....also decaf green tea , pomegranate juice,
and eat healthy lots of veggies and whole grains and nuts...stay positive!

I am a traveling salesman,..lol,..I plan ahead for piss stops...the fluids.. mainly water will help the prostitis....I’m sure your dr had to tell u that as well...gotta keep the prostate flushed out... cafffine and alcohol irritate it....believe me I miss red wine and good coffee..I limit myself to one cup of decaf a day and then 3 or so decaf green teas (anti inflammatory). I believe u are on the right track.... none of us have all the answers but keep asking questions and u will develop things that work for you...minimize the stress.....won’t help...Your relatively young and healthy and have a lot of life ahead....you will get this under control.

Some doctors are just not good communicators, if I was you..get your biopsy results....I’m betting it’s negative...find a urologist you are comfortable with if your current one doesn’t accomplish that,,..in the mean time finish the antibiotics and flush your prostate out, no doubt it will help...just keep asking any questions that come up...I’m sure you are in good hands unfortunately not all doctors make us feel warm and fuzzy....so it’s up to you what your comfort level is with current urologist...when u go see him...make sure u voice any and all concerns.

Hello,

I'm 47 male and I had some blood in my semen back in October, I did have the Vasectomy back in April so in the back of my head I think this could be related.

I went to see my Urologist who didn't bat an eye; DRE was negative, Urine tests were negative but the PSA test came back at 3.8, this was my first ever PSA test. He put me on Bactrim for two weeks and in my next visit he said it came down to 2.7 which was a significant drop. All along he has felt that I don't have PC and it's been treated as inflammation. I should be 2.5 or below for my age so I'm just right there. He said if my PSA had come down to a 2.4 then he'd see me in a year. I know the stats say that we all have a risk for PC but the only issue I had was the blood, which has not returned and the PSA dropped with a round of antibiotics.

What are your thoughts?

Regarding the PSA jumping around, this is where I am now and wonder if any one has any observations. I’m in the initial response phase, ADT, Chemo, get down to 0.84. Tested every three weeks. All tests done at NIH. Next readings 1.24, 1.31. I meet the “definition” of castrate resistance. Then next reading (three days ago) 1.17. Nurse says she has no hard data but she had noticed a PSA jump in some people at the end of chemo.
I was little freaked out that I castrate resistant and my life expectancy had jut gone down. The ONC doesn’t know what will happen but says that maybe my nadir is around 1.2 and the PSA will meander.
Any one see something like this?

Hi all...

I just wanted to post this follow up if for no other reason then to confirm that my spiking PSA was "most likely" due to infection as Tall Allen and others suggested. I left off when I posted my 4K score of 7...and...one urologist I am seeing (who ordered this test) recommending a biopsy. The rhetorical question that Tall Allen put forward at that point was (paraphrasing)...why did he order the test if he wasn't going to accept the significance of the test results (7 putting me in the low risk group who "could" forego a biopsy...not unequivocally but could)?

So...I was able to convince the above urologist to prescribe a 2 week course of antibiotics (I was complaining of significant UT symptoms since September). Well...after the 2 weeks I was feeling much better...now...most of my UT symptoms have disappeared. As you see from history...I have had my PSA PROCESSED by 4 different labs (1 being the 4K lab itself). My high was 5.6 and my low was 2.3 in September 2017 (history...1.6 and lower over one year ago). I had my PSA tested in the same 3 labs after the antibiotics and the results are...1.7...1.9 Free 21%...2.02 Free % 20. The urologist who was recommending a biopsy no longer feels it is necessary at this time and suggests a follow up PSA at 3 months and if all is okay with that result...a follow up office visit 6 months from now.

If I had not had the good fortune to stumble on this forum...I am sure I would have had or would be very close to having a biopsy at this time. My story is my story and my story shouldn't be interpreted as a course of action that anyone else should follow...only...I would like to say...the good people on this forum are a wealth of information that steered me in the right direction and I am very grateful.

I guess my only question at this point is how to best leverage the extensive workup that I have been through the past 4 months to keep ahead of the curve so that when MY Pca grows to a significant level I will be able to have it identified and treated early...? Quarterly PSA'S...4K yearly...mpMRI...etc..any suggestions?

Again thanks to all...

Thanks Tall Allen...

Hi MacroMan,

It has been a revelation to me how sensitive PSA values are to a variety of regional disease processes (Pca, UTI, Prostatitis, and combinations of all of the above...etc...). After reading many of the clinical presentations men on this board have had I now understand that Pca can be present even with lower PSA values (even lower then mine is now). I have also come to realize that presently (IMO) there is not an effective public awareness campaign being waged to inform men of the importance of monitoring the health of their prostate. I wish you the best...

Regards

Belatedly replying to Sono re prostatitis.

I was diagnosed 40 years ago. It is "chronic". Once the bugs get in you can't get them out. Nature has beautifully designed the family jewels so that it's very difficult for anything to penetrate. I would have flare ups every few years that were somewhat controlled by Cipro. I always wondered why they didn't just inject antibiotics into the prostate

Found a guy in NYC who was injecting antibiotics into prostate. Saw him and PSA jumped from 2 to 7. Primary care Dr. said prostate was traumatized by injections. Continued injections and was in better shape that I had been for over 20 years. Thereafter any PSA rise was attributed to either injections (even when I had refrained from them for months to get a correct reading) OR prostatitis.

Saw a urologist 3/16 and my PSA was 85. He said it was prostatitis. No one ever biopsied. By December my PSA was 240. Told it was prostatitis. I said this is ridiculous and asked for a biopsy. Too late: Prostate riddled with cancer. Bone mets.

A good friend of mine who is a Dr. said "a lot of times once a physician starts looking at a problem a certain way they keep looking at it that way"