What Younger Men Need To Know About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is often thought of as a disease that affects older men. And indeed, 60% of cases do occur in men ages 65 and older, according to the American Cancer Society. However, this means that 40% of cases occur in men under the age of 65. As such, it's important for younger men to be well informed about prostate cancer, too. Here are some key things you should know about this disease if you are a younger man.
Early symptoms are easy to ignore
Sometimes, men ignore or shrug off the symptoms of prostate cancer for a long while before they finally seek treatment. Young men may be especially likely to do this as they often assume prostate cancer is just an old man's disease. However, the longer you put off treating prostate cancer, the harder it is to treat. For this reason, you need to be on the lookout for the following symptoms, which are often subtle at first:
- Slow or increasingly weak urine stream
- Trouble achieving or maintaining an erection
- Pain in the lower abdomen or lower back
- Urine leakage
- Blood in the urine or ejaculate
Prostate cancer can spread
You may figure that since removing the prostate is the most common treatment for prostate cancer, it doesn't really matter how bad it gets before you treat it. The problem with this reasoning is that prostate cancer does have a tendency to spread beyond the prostate if not addressed promptly. It may spread to your bones, your blood, or even your digestive tract, and once it does, it becomes a lot more dangerous.
Prostate cancer testing is easy
If you're putting off prostate cancer testing because you're afraid it will be painful or invasive, don't. A part of the diagnosis is a prostate exam, which can be a little awkward, but isn't painful. But the main means of diagnosing prostate cancer is with a test called the prostate-specific antigen test. This is a blood test. All you need to do is provide a small sample of blood. Your doctor — or, more accurately, their lab — checks your blood for the presence of a protein. If the level of that protein is too high, this generally means you have prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is not just an old man's issue. Regardless of your current age, you should be on the lookout for symptoms and seek prompt testing if anything ever seems amiss. Keep these tips in mind when looking for prostate cancer testing services near you.
