@Ducbird Many thanks for this notification. Hopefully some of our members will take this opportunity to find out one way or the other and even if positive it’s better that it is earlier than it otherwise would have been. When I was diagnosed the oncologist told me that they were achieving an 80% success rate and getting better all the time. So earlier is good. However the fact that firms such as this are benefiting from the reluctance of our fellow men to ask their GP for a test that the NHS provide FoC does rankle somewhat. I see that there is currently an add campaign running on the box at the moment encouraging guys to go and see their GP.
I’ve just had an email from Prostate Cancer UK asking me to sign a letter to the government requesting a change to the NHS guidelines. Black men have double the risk of other men. And they're also more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, when it's harder to treat. Despite this, NHS guidelines leave it up to men to check their risk and take action themselves irrespective of the known different risk levels due to ethnicity and family history. Our loved ones get regularly screened for breast cancer which is now running second to prostate cancer, so why not us? Please sign the letter and I would hope that if you meet any resistance from your GP to give you a PSA test you will put them straight in no uncertain terms.
Hopefully the Transform trial will come up with the best way to screen men https://prostatecanceruk.org/research/transform-trial
I paid £12 for mine. Happy with that. No 2 week wait to see Dr, no 2 week wait after that to get a blood test and no waiting after that to get the result.
If you don't have it already, it's worth adding the NHS app to your phone. It's then possible to check test results long before the GP or surgery get to you.
If you’re retired, work part time or shifts the NHS is probably great. Not if you’re working, time from your holiday allowance, loss of earning and the cost of travelling/parking makes the £26 a bargain. Maybe if the NHS worked better as an organisation the FOC might be good value, as it stands it really isn’t.
I meant both sexes, only we see ourselves as disposable. I believe it’s a cultural thing for men though in that it is seen as some form of a weakness to get ill and a willingness to deny there may be something untoward with your own health. Sometimes and for some people it takes someone who’s a close friend or colleague to insist that you have yourself checked out. Weathers good, are you out of your safety cycle later. Suns out guns out.
What I've witnessed is a bit of 'victim blaming'. As if it's men's own fault as they're too stubborn to get checked. Even a quick poll on this very thread will show that to be untrue, what is obvious is the number of chaps who were completely unaware of the availability of a check upon request. As well as the glaring disparity between the checking of man bits and lady parts. No cycling for me today, I've bit if a butt strain that needs some care and rest...I overdid it in spin class. I blame the young girl in front of me, I swear her bottom had its very own unique frequency.... I lost attention for a while and injury quickly followed....
The breast screening programme is aimed at 50-70 year olds There is a trial on going looking at the effectiveness of screening for the younger and the older groups. Men do get breast cancer so check those chests https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/breast-cancer-in-men/
They most certainly do. When I was working on the Royal Naval College at Greenwich one of the project managers for the incoming academic institutions was so diagnosed. I also had a scare recently but it turned out to be a latent side effect of the hormone denial treatment administered prior to undergoing radiotherapy.
Now this is strange. about 4 years ago I had my prostate checked as was weeing a lot. PSA was through the roof and prostate was very enlarged. Luckily MRI did not show anything untoward but was prescribed 2 prostate meds to reduce size etc. PSA level came down to normal quickly . Now when at the doctors a few months ago I asked if I still must take them meds. Dr said not compulsory so I stopped. Now I might wee once a night instead of 4 and not every 30 mins in the day but just a few times since stopping the meds. Don’t know why but it’s true. Everything still normal PSA level and prostate size wise. Glad to be taking a few less pills everyday.
Presumably the frequent weeing was a side effect of the enlarged prostate encroaching on your bladder?
