September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
Ladies, let’s encourage the men in our lives to take care of their health.
Tag your husband, partner, father, brother, uncle or male friend who is 35 years or older and encourage him to get screened for prostate cancer especially if his father or brother has been diagnosed with or died from the disease. Screening can start with a PSA test.
A PSA test is simply a blood test not a finger examination. It measures the level of prostate-specific antigen in the blood and can help identify whether further checks are needed.
Don’t wait for symptoms. Let’s honour, support and invest in the men we love by encouraging them to get screened.
When symptoms do appear locally, they are often linked to the tumor pressing on the urethra (the tube that carries urine):
- Urinary frequency: Needing to urinate more often, especially at night (nocturia).
- Weak flow: A slow, weak, or interrupted urine stream that may start and stop.
- Trouble starting: Difficulty or straining when trying to begin urination.
- Bladder control issues: A sudden, urgent need to go, leaking, or dribbling afterward.
- Pain or burning: Discomfort during urination or ejaculation.
- Blood: Blood present in the urine or semen.
- Sexual dysfunction: Trouble getting or maintaining an erection (erectile dysfunction).
Advanced or Metastatic Symptoms
If the cancer spreads outside the prostate to nearby tissues or bones, more severe signs may develop:
- Bone pain: Persistent pain or stiffness in the lower back, hips, pelvis, thighs, or chest.
- Incontinence: Complete loss of bladder or bowel control.
- General decline: Sudden, unexplained weight loss and severe fatigue.
- Swelling: Fluid buildup causing swelling in the legs.
