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Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

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Posted 9/9/2023 5:17 PM (GMT 0)
good day, everyone. there are a few things i'd like to get off my chest. i'll try to make it short, but 4give me please, if this post turns out to be a long read.

as you know, september is PCa awareness month. shout out to all of you who have battled and overcome this annoyance, this monster. september is also the beginning of the regular season for the NCAA and the NFL football season. all of this NCAA and the NFL action attracts a lot of male spectators and home/sports bar viewers, not to mention the many players [who R males] on the field, the commentators, and the coaching staff on the sidelines.

yet during the entire month in september, not one damn word is mentioned about PCa. no blue ribbons, no commercial ads encouraging men to be screened for PCa, none of the players wearing blue, or blue ribbons. NOTHING...NOT A DAMN THING!!!!

but when october comes around all you see is a sea of pink, from any and everybody mentioned above. commercials encouraging wmn to get their mammograms, different stories about somebody losing a loved one to breast cancer or fighting it etc. november of this year, my mom will be a 15 year breast cancer survivor, so as i vent this i mean no disrespect to anyone who has battled or lost a loved one to breast cancer.

but why not the same love and attention for PCa? a man CAN be diagnosed with breast cancer, but NO woman will EVER be diagnosed with PCa. Not only that, but breast cancer awareness month is catered 2wards the female viewer.

how many men knew about PCa B4 they were diagnosed? how many men knew how to prepare to be screened B4 they were diagnosed? how many men were familiar with terms like BPH or PSA B4 they were diagnosed? how many men were aware that PCa is the MOST common form of cancer in men B4 they were diagnosed? all of this information a man would be aware of if the media and everybody else involved would do a better job of bringing awareness to PCa.

i understand there are many different forms of cancer that don't receive what one would feel its proper acknowlegement...i agree. however, with october being breast cancer awareness month and the campaign being catered 2wards women with men pushing that agenda, one would think men would do the same to save their own lives by getting the word out and bringing awareness.

sorry for the long vent, but what R your thoughts?
Posted 9/9/2023 8:30 PM (GMT 0)
Sammas,
I think there are several reasons for the disparity you cite.

I would say there is probably a high percentage of men who do not know what the prostate is, nor do they know what it does. I fell into that group, even after my Dad was diagnosed with PCa! I was so oblivious and uninterested I thought it was prostrate cancer. Lol. When there was a suggestion that my Dad may need an orchiectomy, I didn't even want to think about PCa ever again. I even cringed at the idea of a DRE screen.

Also working against PCa awareness is the knowledge that treatment can sometimes result in incontinence and/or ED. If you want to scare the **** out of a man, have a discussion about those topics. I think men view those possibilities as unthinkable, so they choose not to think about it. I also fell into that group.

PCa awareness did hit a certain stride, especially for encouraging screenings, during the decade of the 2000s. But that died out after the USPSTF's infamous 2012 recommendation for greatly reduced screenings. Interestingly, if I remember correctly, the "Task Force" also recommended reduced BCa screenings at about the same timeframe. But, for the women, BCa screenings were already too firmly embedded in the collective consciousness for the new guidelines to change anything.

Another factor is the "suck it up" mentality of men towards life in general, including men's health concerns.

And, let's not forget that PCa is the "good" cancer. No need to worry about it.

So, I think the lack of PCa awareness, the 2nd leading cause of cancer death for men, is due to men not wanting to know anything about it.
Posted 9/10/2023 6:35 AM (GMT 0)
Posting about PCa awareness month on Facebook would be something you could do..... Email your local TV News Stations.
Posted 9/10/2023 11:08 AM (GMT 0)
You guys have identified some of the reasons for the disparity. My opinion is that the BIG reason is the message. For breast cancer the message is "get your mammogram". The message for PCa is so friggin' muddled that it goes by most people. I Googled "Prostate Cancer Awareness Month". One of the sites that comes up is for the American Urological Association. They give some bland facts about the numbers then follow up with this stirring message about testing:

According to the AUA
PSA screening in men under age 40 years is not recommended
Routine screening in men between ages 40 to 54 years at average risk is not recommended
For men ages 55 to 69, the decision to undergo PSA screening should be a shared decision made between the doctor and patient, after discussing the benefits and risks associated with screening and treatment
Routine PSA screening is not recommended in men over age 70 or any man with less than a 10-15 year life expectancy

So is it any wonder that the message is lost? Until the message is, "Get tested or you will lose your sex life and/or pee your pants and/or die" then it's just a losing battle... I had dinner with a group the other night including a young couple (55 is young is SW Florida). The topic of medical stuff came up and I asked the man if he was getting regular PSA tests? Huh? What? The ignorance is staggering. Sigh....

Jim
Posted 9/11/2023 2:09 AM (GMT 0)
In general, women are better at getting the word out about breast cancer. In general, men are not good at getting the word out and engage in don't-want-to-talk-about-it silence. And the confusion around screening/not screening/maybe screening doesn't help matters.

People who land at a this prostate forum are the lucky because they get helpful, clear, actionable information and extraordinary support. There have been a handful of misbegotten troglodytes and know-it-alls who have posted here, but everyone else is considerate and contributes positively to discussions.
Posted 9/11/2023 2:28 AM (GMT 0)

mattam said...
Sammas,
I think there are several reasons for the disparity you cite...

So, I think the lack of PCa awareness, the 2nd leading cause of cancer death for men, is due to men not wanting to know anything about it.

with all of the paraphernalia that's advertised and sold, i think BCa brings in huge profits. not only that, but wmn in general spend more money than men, a woman is more likely to be in debt and a woman is more likely to vote. so it would only make sense to cater towards an audience that would bring in those types of profits.
Posted 9/11/2023 2:34 AM (GMT 0)

Tim G said...
In general, women are better at getting the word out about breast cancer. In general, men are not good at getting the word out and engage in don't-want-to-talk-about-it silence. And the confusion around screening/not screening/maybe screening doesn't help matters...

You said something then. YES YOU DID. couldn't have agreed wit' you more. 'bout 6 months after i turned 40, i was on the "screening/not screening/maybe screening" trip myself. little did i know when i went in for my physical, my primary physcian gave me a PSA blood test as a part of the blood draw. that's how my PCa journey began.
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