Jan 12
16
Recommendation to Delay Prostate Cancer Treatment?
Did you know that over 50% of the cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in the US are not life threatening? Nor will they progress to this status any time soon? I found this very interesting and cautiously optimistic. This means that the larger part of prostate cancers are really not in any sort of advanced stage of concern.
This is how the National Institute of Health is approaching their latest recommendation on treating the male cancer in men who are diagnosed with it in its earliest, least threatening stages. The institute is actually recommending that men who are diagnosed with the very beginning stage consder stalling treatment until it can be tested and shown that they acually need the treatment.
In this interesting move, which I find utterly fascinating since it is obviously a multi billion dollar industry, they are essentially telling men to wait to get expensive and often deadly of life threatening treatments. Hooray for the medical establishment, I must say.
This is actually a brave step in my eyes, although I’m sure it is not without controversey in other circles. Why would I think that? Well, because it could potentially be saving a lot of men from going through unnecessary, unhealthy hormone treatments and chemo and radiation, all of which can do more harm than good to the male body.
Men who are treated for prostate cancer often risk incontinence (not being able to control their bladder) as well as impotence, both of which can be life altering and devastating to the male phsyche, to say the least. Not to mention, I don’t personally believe in a lot of the medical cancer treatments out there today.
I think most of them actually make people sicker. I recognize the need for them at certain stages of a cancer, but in the earliest stages, when the problem may never even cause issues with the body, or spread, why would you put someone through medical hell and a pile of never ending bills? It all seems pointless.
And so, I must agree with the NIH’s assessment and recommendation. It is costing people millions in unnecessary bills, and also causing a lot of heartache when it needn’t. As long as a man is monitored for prostate cancer prevention and for any advances, this is the way to go – that is my personal opinion, and no I am not a doctor nor a medical professional, that’s just my feeling on the subject.
Making sure you are doing everything to maintain the health of your prostate is of vital importance as well. I’m a big believer in preventive medicine.
