Anyone here do their monitoring PSA checks through a GP?

My health insurance charges a premium to see a specialist, substantially more than to see a GP.

I'm considering switching to my GP's care for follow up PSA checks, since it seems nothing exciting is happening anyway. If some trend happens (and I surely know how to look for trends!), then I could go back to an MO. It has never been a problem to get appointments with an MO, or a urologist.

I'm curious if others have done this.

That's the only place I have gone since completing TX. My RO didn't even suggest anything other than that. I just have my PCP fax the PSA results over to my RO.

Roger

My urologist assigned me to Nurse Practitioner after cryoablation. She almost injured me doing hernia exam.
I now get PSA from male primary doctor. In my case I ask for "diagnostic" / ultrasensitive test as my PSA is < 0.1 .
The default test was "screening" PSA that would show PSA as 0.1 .

All my followup PSAs are ordered by my GP. The lab forwards a copy to my RO for his records. I'm not under a urologist's care at the moment.

I order my PSA test through Walk-in Lab, and go to a local Lab Corp about 2 miles from my house. This is very easy and costs me $35.00. No office visit required. They send me an email when the report is ready (next day). I download a copy for my files, and send a copy to my RO. I expect to see my RO for an annual follow-up, but don't need to see him before then unless something is wrong.

Here is the back story. My RO is about 90 miles away. I did not want to travel that far for a simple blood test, and he suggested that I just ask my local GP or URO to order the test. I tried to get my GP to order the lab work, but he declined because "he needed to see me in his office to make sure that I was getting adequate care." He added that he thought it was "unethical" to order a lab report without seeing me. I am sure that in some circumstances, that is true. But for me, it was not necessary.

I was "unhappy" about this. I did some basic research and found out that Walk-In Lab can order many types of tests, and the Lab Corp office is on my way to work, less than 2 miles from my house.

I have done this for 3 tests now. The service is great. I set an appointment time on-line, arrive, sign in, give blood, then leave. My longest wait was 5 minutes. I used to wait a half hour at the urologist's office.

I you want to go this route, you can save the office visit charges from your GP or RO. If you have other issues or concerns, then perhaps you should also visit the MD. If you just need a PSA test (including the ultra-sensitive version) walk-in lab is an option.

It isn't the GP or URO or any doctor....It is the lab that does the test, and then you make the decision what you want to do about it....

I've been monitoring psa thru my PCP on my annual lab work ups for 10 years. If I see it rising I'll go to a pc specialist.

I just shifted to my GP because I find it difficult to get my RO to do anything. He was great during treatment but now is not a good communicator. I have an appointment with him in a few weeks probably my last.

Larry: I am a firm believer in testing at a location you like. Close to home or far away. Numbers are numbers but comfort is comfort. Of course we also need to have that baseline and continue testing there or the numbers do not correlate.

I am doing great and I hope others are as well. Me........................unfavorable intermediate do very well indeed.

May all beings be well always free from animosity and oppression.

Roger

It's real nice when you take or take back control.

My Uro, Cardio and Dermo docs all had me on a twice a year scheduled. When the conversation came up - they were all fine with once a year visit.

I have my PSA checked at the time of my annual physical with my internist then I email my urologist/surgeon with the results, and have been doing this for 9+ years since my surgery 10+ years ago...BUT my situation (along with nearly everyone else who replied to your post) is DIFFERENT than yours. Most specifically, not a "high-risk of recurrence" case. My suggestion is to have a conversation with your MO at your next appointment or next scheduled PSA test about switching to a lower-cost alternative, rather than make the decision unilaterally.


I was curious as to why you thought your PSA was following a Gompertz curve...I've never heard of this, nor can I find any other reference to this w.r.t. PSA, either.

Well, if that isn’t interesting. A crusader against widespread screening, who was low risk from the get go, continues to have annual PSA tests. Go figure.

Blackjack said...
...
I was curious as to why you thought your PSA was following a Gompertz curve...I've never heard of this, nor can I find any other reference to this w.r.t. PSA, either.

If you're asking me that, I don't specifically recall the initial source. It probably was that Myers video that Bobbiesan linked. It seemed that the PSA rise was initially quite worrisome, quite rapid, but that the curve was flattening out. When I heard of the Gompertz curve concept, and found a curve-fitting program for it, the data seemed to actually follow that rather well. In fact, really well. To this day, it's possible that all the variation I've seen over the last couple of years is just due to test variability and physical conditions drifting over time (T level maybe? DHT? Don't know).

If you search the forum you can probably find some lengthy threads where I explored that, along with other ideas about the trend (like ADT release just allowing the PSA to float up quickly up to where it would have been post-radiation without any ADT).