Prostate Cancer Awareness

Signs of Prostate Cancer

Knowing your body is essential.  If you experience any of the following symptoms you should make an appointment with your physician:

• Problems urinating, including a slow or weak urinary stream or the need to urinate more often, especially at night
• Blood in the urine or semen
• Trouble getting an erection (erectile dysfunction or ED)
• Pain in the hips, back (spine), chest (ribs), or other areas from cancer that has spread to the bones
• Weakness or numbness in the legs or feet, or even loss of bladder or bowel control from the cancer pressing on the spinal cord.

Most of these problems are more likely to be caused by something other than prostate cancer. For example, trouble urinating is much more often caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a non-cancerous growth of the prostate. Still, it’s important to tell your health care provider if you have any of these symptoms so that the cause can be found and treated, if needed.

Causes

In most cases it is not clear what causes prostate cancer. On a basic level, prostate cancer is caused by changes in the DNA of a normal prostate cell.

Prevention

There is no sure way to prevent prostate cancer. Many risk factors such as age, race, and family history can’t be controlled. But there are some things you can do that might lower your risk of prostate cancer in addition to getting annual screenings.

• Diet: The effects of body weight, physical activity, and diet on prostate cancer risk are not clear, but there are things you can do that might lower your risk, such as: eating at least 2.5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day, being physically active and staying at a healthy weight.
• Supplements: Some earlier studies suggested that taking certain vitamin or mineral supplements, such as vitamin E or selenium, might lower prostate cancer risk. But in a large study, neither vitamin E nor selenium was found to lower prostate cancer risk.
• Aspirin: Some research suggests that men who take a daily aspirin might have a lower risk of getting and dying from prostate cancer. But more research is needed to show if the possible benefits outweigh the risks, such as an increased risk of bleeding.

Know Your Risk Factors

Aside from your annual screenings and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it is important for you to know you risk factors. There are several factors that may increase your risk of colon cancer.

• Older age
• African-American race
• Previous personal history of prostate cancer
• Family history of prostate cancer
• Poor diet
• Smoking
• Obesity

Prostate cancer awareness, including knowing your risks factors and possible preventative measures to reduce your risks of prostate cancer, is vital. Invest in your health by taking the time to get your screenings early.