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Showing posts with label PSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PSA. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Thinking About PSA and the Latest News


I live where it is a good 90 minute drive to any city of real size.  When I moved to this area almost ten years ago I was trying to teach the communities about the fact that the PSA test was ineffective.  Of course the closed minds so common in small towns ruled and no one would even try to listen.  Now we know that even the medical profession has decided that PSA can be a real issue leading to over treatment to many who do not even need it.

One forward thinking doctor told me years ago that the acid fast bacteria lab test was much more effective in screening for real cancer cases in men when it came to prostate care.

Like the story my long time colleague tells below, I lost a friend to this dis-ease because of a doctor who always said he would use natural care but it took too much time to tell his patients.

What cost health?




PSA test DOA
by David Christopher, M.H.


You have probably read the news about prostate screening for cancer, which appeared on the front page of many newspapers across the country. On Thursday October 13, 2011 an Associated Press article by Marilynn Marchione basically blasted PSA tests. It related that this test is only a measure of inflammation which can be elevated for many reasons including bike riding, recent sex, or normal enlargement of the prostate due to age. She also debunks the claims that the screening saves lives. She makes these claims by drawing from a very large, well done American study, that\ showed that annual screening did not lower the chances of dying from prostate cancer. Many men believe the screening saved their lives because their urologist erroneously told them it did. These men and urologists become very vocal in promoting prostate cancer screening.


Less visible are the unfortunate men who test high for PSA and are then subjected to invasive testing that can harm or spread cancer. One such case as reported in the article is, "... Donald Weaver who was a healthy 74 year old Kansas farmer until doctors went looking for prostate cancer. A PSA test led to a biopsy and surgery, then a heart attack, organ failure and a coma. His grief stricken wife took him off life support. 'He died of unnecessary preventive medicine,' said his nephew, Dr. Jay Siwek, vice chairman of family medicine at Georgetown University. Blood tests can kill you ..."


The United States Preventive Task Force does not recommend the use of this test, and doctors have been warned by the AMA to leave slow-growing prostate cancer alone; that interference may spread the cancer.


What should we do to prevent prostate cancer? Well first, grow up and eat like an adult. Stop eating those sugary breakfast cereals. Stop drinking milk, it contains hormones that stimulate growth of prostate tissue. The hormones found in meat can also negatively effect prostate health. Do eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, sprouted grains and legumes, and include nuts and seeds in your diet. This program is preventive for not just prostate cancer, but all cancers. If prevention is too late, then do the extended herbal cleanse as explained in the Dr. Christopher Three Day Cleanse booklet.


Next eat the seeds highest in cancer preventing nitrilosides; which are apricot seeds. They are extremely bitter, but buck up and eat six seeds a day to start and work up to as many as 30 per day. These simple seeds are natures' chemo therapy.


Cyanide and benzaldehyde are the chemicals in the seed that destroy cancer cells. These two chemicals are bound to two glucose molecules and are inert until activated at the actual cancer site. This is accomplished enzymatically. The chemicals are released with beta-glucosidase which is found at cancer sites. Healthy cells are surrounded by the enzyme rhodanese, which in the presence of sulfur, converts the cyanide into thiocyanate, which then converts to cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12). The Benzaldehyde, in the presence of oxygen is converted to benzoic acid, an analgesic.


In conclusion, I ask "Why would anyone want to go through risky medical procedures to look for possible prostate cancer, when nature provides a safe and natural chemotherapy, specific to cancer cells and at the same time is nutritive to healthy cells?"


NOTICE: All information in this newsletter is given out as information only and is not intended to diagnose or prescribe. For our official Disclaimer, Biological Individuality, Important Notice-Terms of Use please see: http://www.herballegacy.com/Disclaimer.html


Selections from Natural Health News



Oct 12, 2011
Specifically in regards to prostate cancer, new research published in the International Journal of Cancer has shown that gamma-tocotrienol, a cofactor found in natural vitamin E preparations, actually kills prostate ...



Feb 08, 2009
The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test measures an enzyme produced almost exclusively by the glandular cells of the prostate. It is secreted during ejaculation into the prostatic ducts that empty into the urethra. PSA liquefies ...
Dec 10, 2009
For this study, Gerhauser's team started with hormone-dependent prostate cancer cells and stimulated them with testosterone, which led to a massive secretion of prostate specific antigen (PSA). "When we treated the cells ...
Dec 16, 2008
On the contrary, high levels of 2-hydroxy estrogens—or “good estrogens” as they're sometimes called—have quite the opposite effect, serving to lower telltale PSA levels and protect vulnerable tissue in the prostate, cervix, ...
Oct 23, 2009
Mammography and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, although having "some effect," have led to the well-documented overdiagnosis and overtreatment of breast and prostate cancers, they note. ...

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Propecia and PSA

While there is quite a lot of evidence that the PSA is a very outdated and inaccurate test for this men's health concern, it contiues to be the most commonly used lab test for prostate cancer screening.

On 5 February, Johns Hopkins reports that the hair loss drug Propecia may inaccurately reflect PSA status.
Propecia and Your PSA February 5, 2009
By Johns Hopkins Health Alerts; www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com

If you're a man who takes the hair-growth drug Propecia, you should let your doctor know before you have your next PSA test, as it could affect the accuracy of the results.

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test measures an enzyme produced almost exclusively by the glandular cells of the prostate. It is secreted during ejaculation into the prostatic ducts that empty into the urethra. PSA liquefies semen after ejaculation, promoting the release of sperm.

Normally, only very small amounts of PSA are present in the blood. But an abnormality of the prostate can disrupt the normal architecture of the gland and create an opening for PSA to pass into the bloodstream. Thus, high blood levels of PSA can indicate prostate problems, including cancer.

A blood test to measure levels of PSA was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1986 as a way to determine whether prostate cancer had been treated successfully and to monitor for its recurrence. Today, however, PSA tests are FDA approved for prostate cancer detection and are widely used to screen men for the disease.

Now research suggests that the hair-growth medication Propecia (finasteride) significantly lowers a man's PSA level, producing misleading results and potentially masking the presence of prostate cancer.

Propecia is the same medication as Proscar, which is used to control benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The difference is the dosage -- 5 mg per day for Proscar vs. 1 mg for Propecia. Proscar is known to artificially lower PSA levels by about half, and doctors interpreting PSA results in these men compensate by doubling the PSA value. But Propecia's impact on PSA level has not been formally studied until now.

The researchers in the study which was reported in the journal Lancet Oncology (Volume 8, page 21) assigned 355 men age 40-60 to take either Propecia or a placebo (inactive pill) for 48 weeks. For analysis purposes, the men were grouped by age: 40-49 and 50-60. By the end of the study period, PSA levels among men in the younger group had dropped by an average of 40%; in the older group, PSA declined by an average of 50%. Among men taking the placebo, the PSA levels of the younger men had not changed, and the levels of the older men had risen by an average of 13%.

Bottom Line: If you use Propecia, be sure to let your physician know so that your PSA results can be adjusted accordingly.
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