Being healthy is what everyone wishes for in life. But as the years go by, it isn’t always so.
As previous articles written have indicated, Gunfighters for Hire has lost five members in the past year and a half. Currently, there are several members that are battling different forms of cancer, diabetes, or both.
In a conversation with an oncologist on April 23, a question regarding a free testosterone enhancement drink came up. Normally this may be an ideal fix for men over the age of 40 to increase the testosterone that is being lost due to age. Increase your energy, increase your love life, etc. But when someone has prostate cancer, this takes on a whole new meaning.
It is important to understand that a simple blood test can check for an increase in Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), which MAY indicate the presence of prostate cancer. It may indicate other conditions not related to cancer, but it is something to consider in an annual blood test. The guideline is to pay more attention if the PSA is greater than 4. There are reports that state that a high PSA doesn’t mean having prostate cancer. In some cases, prostate cancer may be present with a PSA less than 4. It is nevertheless, important to discuss this with your primary physician. A digital exam may be needed to detect a hard or bumpy prostate.
There is a point to all of this. If anyone is unlucky to be diagnosed with prostate cancer will undoubtedly go through a learning phase. How did I catch this, what causes it, what can be done about it, how will it affect my life and how long do I have left. These are valid questions that are easily researched online. One point of interested is this. Prostate cancer feeds on testosterone. Now, refer back to the free testosterone enhancement drinks. If someone has been consuming these drinks and are not aware that they have prostate cancer, then in effect the free testosterone enhancement drink is feeding the cancer. Did the light come on?
All of the advertisements regarding the free testosterone enhancement drinks that have been shown on TV seem to overlook any warning, especially when the advertisement targets men over the age of 40.
According to an article by the National Institute of Health (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16006887), they concluded that,
“Prostate cancer may become clinically apparent within months to a few years after the initiation of testosterone treatment. Digital rectal examination is particularly important in the detection of these cancers. Physicians prescribing testosterone supplementation and patients receiving it should be cognizant of this risk, and serum PSA testing and digital rectal examination should be performed frequently during treatment.”
On the other side of the aisle, an article written by Jennifer Warner for WebMD (https://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20061114/testosterone-may-be-safe-for-prostate) concludes,
“The prostate risks to men undergoing TRT may not be as great as once believed, especially if the results of the pretreatment biopsy are negative,” writes researcher Leonard Marks, MD, of the UCLA School of Medicine, and colleagues in The Journal of The American Medical Association.
Researchers say larger studies are needed to determine the long-term safety of testosterone replacement therapy among older men.
The articles regarding testosterone therapy appear to indicate that the enhancement does not cause prostate cancer, but what if the prostate cancer is present but not yet diagnosed?
In current treatment protocols, men may be given a female hormone injection in order to reduce the testosterone levels, starve the cancer cells and to make the cancer cells more susceptible to eradication by radiation. This appears to be the accepted medical practice. Any form of cancer should be given its due attention not be ignored. Health is important and communicating with your personal physician is very important. Early diagnosis is key. The oncologist mentioned above was concerned that the enhancement drinks would feed the cancer.