Active surveillance best bet for most men with prostate cancer

Don’t let terrible prostate cancer advice destroy your life

If I had a nickel for every time my wife told me she doesn’t expect me to solve her problems — she just wants me to listen — I would have retired to some tropical island years ago.

But if there’s one thing we men can’t do, it’s sit on our hands.

We guys like to take action. We keep driving when we’re lost. One drip of the faucet, and we’re under the sink with a wrench — whether we know how to use the darned thing or not.

But if you have prostate cancer and rush into action — especially the kind the mainstream recommends — it could be the worst decision you’ve ever made.

You see, most prostate cancers are slow-growing and don’t need a radical solution like a prostatectomy or radiation. In fact, a new study in the Journal of Urology found that two-thirds of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are good candidates for active surveillance, which is sometimes called watchful waiting.

That means you closely monitor your prostate cancer with your doctor to see if it ever becomes serious enough to treat.

But a second study in that same issue found that lots of men are plowing ahead anyway with surgery, radiation and other treatments — and they’re wrecking their lives in the process.

Men who got cancer treatments they never needed ended up with serious — and often lifelong — complications like erectile dysfunction, incontinence, diabetes and even bone loss after their prostates were removed. And the poor guys who take the radiation route end up at risk of secondary bladder or rectal cancer.

I’ve never liked like the term “watchful waiting” when it comes to managing your prostate cancer.

It sends the wrong message, because it makes guys feel like they’re doing nothing — and that’s unbearable for most of us.

It’s no wonder that when a doctor presents the choice that way, so many men choose to cut or burn their cancer out.

But as I’ve told you before, you don’t need to sit idly by and leave your cancer untreated — in fact, I don’t recommend my patients do that at all, even if their cancer isn’t serious.

Because, despite what the mainstream would have you believe, there are ways to treat your prostate cancer that don’t leave you scarred or radioactive.

I use natural treatments like quercetin and curcumin that help control inflammation and are proven to fight cancer. Quercetin actually helps cut off communication between cancer cells, which kills them dead. (That’s what I call taking action.)

If you have a slow-growing prostate cancer that isn’t life-threatening, what’s the harm in giving these proven cures some time to work?

You’ll be taking action — and maybe even saving your sex life. And there’s nothing more manly than that.

Sources:

Prostate cancer: Optimism, caution for active surveillance

(medpagetoday.com)