Myth #1: Prostate Cancer Always Manifests Tangible Symptoms

Most of the prostate cancer cases are identified due to high PSA. PSA stands for prostate-specific antigen, which is a protein that can be found in the blood. People believe that the prostate always reflects some symptoms, which isn’t true.

The prostate cancer symptoms only start to show up when cancer has spread beyond the prostate or metastasized. These symptoms can be bleeding when you urinate, lethargy, and back pain from metastatic disease to your spine. If someone has these signs, then they should know that at this stage, it can be lethal.

Furthermore, most of the time, men do not identify any symptoms in prostate cancer cases. They are symptomless, so it will be wrong to say that they always show up signs. Older men are more prone to this fatal disease, and if in their 60’s they are diagnosed with it, they might face urination problems. It is because prostate size increases.

Myth #2: An Enlarged Prostate Is Bad For You

Having a prostate is as essential as having testicles and penis. It is also a pivotal organ that needs to do its job for men’s better health. It helps provide a healthy environment for the egg, which will be fertilized by producing prostatic fluid to mix with the sperm that comes from your testicles.

Furthermore, people believe that the fluid that ejects out semen comes from testicles. But the truth is only a small portion comes from testicles and more ejaculates from the prostate. Around 20-30% of a man’s ejaculation is from his prostate, and the maximum of it comes from the seminal vesicles.

During the seventies, most of the men come across a situation where they might ejaculate significantly less during orgasm. They barely see any fluid, as they noticed at an early age. Another aspect that men at older ages notice the enlarged size of the prostate. Again, it is prevalent and not automatically a bad thing.

While urinating, a person pushes the fluid from the bladder out of your penis via the urethra. The urethra is a thin fibromuscular tube that goes up from the bladder to the tip of the penis. The prostate envelops it. In simpler words, as the prostate grows, it starts to squeeze the urethra making it tighter and narrower. The tightening can lead to a weak or intermittent stream, dribbling, the feeling of incomplete bladder emptying, urinary hesitancy, and other symptoms as well.

Therefore, several effects of an enlarged prostate are not a fun topic, and enlargement is inevitable also, certainly not harmful. You can consider the prostate a dumb organ with no brains, which wants to grow!

Myth #3: PSA is an indicator of Prostate Cancer

 

 

Often people have this misconception that PSA comes from the prostate. But in reality, if you have a prostate, which all men with XY chromosomal do, you will naturally make PSA. It is a protein secreted by the prostate. It starts to grow once you hit puberty and you start producing PSA. With the growth of the prostate, PSA’s level also starts increasing in the blood.

But what is an average PSA level? If it is below four, then it’s normal. But this number keeps on changing throughout life. For instance, men around the age of 18 shouldn’t have a PSA anywhere near 4. The men aging between 35-40 should have this and still reasonably as low as one or two. At the age of 50-60, PSA could start to go up to two or three.

Myth #4: All Prostate Cancers Are Life-Threatening

It would be wrong to believe the myth that says all prostate cancers are lethal. Half of the people lose hope of living just after knowing that they are diagnosed with cancer. In reality, prostate cancer is divided into three stages, low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk.

Earlier in the1980s and 1990s, people preferred to eradicate prostate cancer from roots by removing it. But now, the scenario is different. Low-risk prostate cancer rarely hurt you or kill you. Furthermore, nowadays, it is more preferred to keep an eye on low-risk prostate cancer instead of directly opting for treatment. The reason behind this is the chances of encouraging cancer by affecting it with the side-effects of treatment. The treatments can sometimes make the situation even more fatal.

So you can live with low-risk cancer in the prostate and keep an eye on PSA testing and biopsies to ensure that it’s not increasing. Furthermore, after surgery, there are chances that the person never gets his normal erections ever in life and also the urinary functions.

Myth #5: Prostate Cancers Are Hereditary

Like any other cancer, prostate cancers can be hereditary? As per the studies, only five men among ten faces hereditary prostate cancer. In comparison, the highest cases come from the risk developed by race and physical lifestyle plus health.

Conclusion

All men are at risk of catching prostate cancers. 13 out of every 100 American men get diagnosed with this sort of cancer during their lifetime, among which 2-3 lose their lives. Furthermore, age is the most common risk factor here, and older men are most prone to this disease. Hence, it is essential to talk to your health providers about it to make sure you live healthily!