What would you do if you have high PSA levels? I share my experience, and natural approach to get over with this condition that apparently has poor prognosis.
If you know you’re dying, would you limit yourself?
This is a question I ask myself when confronted with situations that threaten health and limb.
My answer, of course, is No. A big NO.
A good reason is that you never know when death will be coming. We tend to think that we will live for eternity in this world. But we should realize that it’s otherwise. We have limits in our sojourn on earth.
Having lost a loved one to cancer five years back, I can see the struggle for survival. An aspiration to live a longer life. And this is just but normal. There is a yearning for eternity in our hearts.
What would you do if current medical approaches categorize you as someone who needs immediate medical intervention? Dying or suffering because of sickness within the next five years is a likelihood.
What would be your decision?
This time, I did not follow my doctors’ advice. I defined my destiny, armed with knowledge, discovery, and personal resolve, to put my health under control.
High PSA Levels
I came to think about this situation as I have struggled with my health for many years. The doctors I consulted once told me I immediately needed an operation for a bodily “abnormality” that I could not make myself conform with.
I have a very high prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value! Higher than the high range of 4 to 10 ng/mL considered as high PSA level. I was told by not only one doctor to undertake surgery, to remove something from my body that causes such condition.
How can that be so brazen? Will I let someone meddle with my body just because of that high PSA value? I feel just fine, just a little discomfort, but I can feel in my bones that I’m okay.
Well, that’s what I thought.
Truth is, deep inside of me, I’m also worried about my situation. I had a sick wife, while I also have a health condition to deal with. It’s like double jeopardy. I’m being tried or challenged twice for the same concern—grave health concerns that afflict us in this imperfect body.
My wife is undergoing chemotherapy while I, too, would undergo an operation that will affect my overall health condition. That’s the likely scenario if I submit myself to radical intervention that will surely put stress on my body.
I chose not to follow the doctors’ advice for biopsy. I’m willing to take the risk given the information that I have gained from my readings of prostate-related journal publications.
Essentially, I did the following things to get over this health condition.
5 Points to Deal with a High PSA
1. Search the Scientific Literature on Prostate Treatment (and Non-Treatment)
I found an article by health professionals that there was no significant difference in the longevity of those who underwent surgical intervention and just living with the condition. Sadly, I have trouble finding it but would include a link here once I find it again.
I convinced myself that no surgical intervention is the only choice I have to make. A doctor would frown at me dealing with my attitude for sure.
That’s how my doctor reacted when I told him about the research findings. He questioned the source, saying it may just be coming from a blog without scientific evidence.
I said No, it’s a legitimate scientific paper published in a reliable, non-predatory journal. I did not say I work as a researcher in the university. I forgot, looking at his disbelief. I may have convinced him had I told him I do some health research because I was the research director at the university.
That was 10 years ago, anyway. I decided not to undergo the operation recommended by my doctor. I told him I’ll just watch and see as my readings have advised me to do. In medical parlance, they call this watchful waiting. Wait and see. Whatever. This is the only thing that appeals to me.
2. Stick to a Resolve to Gain Control Over Your Health
I wouldn’t want myself subjected to an operation, just like a guinea pig. I have been there once to find out what causes my frequent nose bleeding. But the doctor himself, after the operation, could not categorically tell me what happened. He did not do something directly related to the bleeding, but did other things because his hypothesis was wrong!
When I asked more questions, he just kept quiet. Maybe he doesn’t know the answer or is just perplexed by my incessant questioning. Or perhaps he wants to do some more research into my unique case.
After all I have spent, and the anxiety associated with having such a medical condition, the doctor would just keep mum. Maybe he himself is baffled by my condition, but he could not explain something beyond what he observed.
I would say it may have been because I have written a lot of articles on those days as cathartic to my plight. I wrote four, sometimes five, articles per day. I may have written a lot of English, hence, the nose bleeding.
That’s just a pun. Well, anyway, perhaps the pressure and the stress of work and home life made my nose bleed without a plausible explanation. My case is an idiopathic occurrence never been identified elsewhere.
3. Be Diligent and Make Follow-Up Research
But trying to understand why I had this condition (I mean going back to the high PSA thing), I searched the internet to find answers—for years.
I learned that exercise is one of the best natural solutions to an inflamed prostate which causes the high PSA value. That is one reason I keep on running as far as I can go and as long as I can sustain. And be consistent with it if ever possible. To test that idea that exercise, not only moderate but vigorous activity on a regular basis, can prevent a prostate condition from getting worse.
I seemed to manage because the doctor’s prediction that I will suffer from prostate pain, etc. after diagnosis in the next five years, was not so after over 10 years without that prescribed surgery. I won. But I don’t know if my approach will work for all men. I’m just one case.
4. Your Attitude Makes Sense: Be In-Charge of Your Health
You can be in charge of your health, although you also need to balance the benefits against the cost of whatever health condition you are in. It pays to be informed and educated about your malady.
We have everything in our fingertips. And we have the time to study it ourselves closely. Do your own research. That’s what I did.
I can feel some discomfort somewhere there, but I do not have a persistent urge to urinate whatever as the literature says. Just a little difficulty in unpredictable times.
My bodily reactions are intermittent and erratic. Nothing definitive. And, at the back of my head, I would never undergo an operation, which will only make my health worse. That’s my hypothesis, anyway. I may be wrong. But I have survived.
I am not in any way recommending my approach if you have this condition, as you may have a different circumstance than mine. You need to balance things and make a sound decision-making strategy. And of course, if you wait a little more if you can, there are new medical approaches coming up that may suit you.
Recently, I learned that there are new, less invasive treatments available like water vapor therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). It uses heated water to remove a part of the prostate that causes difficulty in urinating.
5. Make Life Even More Meaningful
What, then, should we do each day of our life? For me, making the most of it by not limiting what we can do will make life more meaningful.
Don’t let others define who, what, or what direction we will take. As long as we don’t hurt or harm others with what we are doing, we are fine. Don’t limit yourself. Realize your potential. Find what makes you happy.
Don’t let others muddle or prevent you from achieving your life’s goals or attain things that make you realize your full potential and achieve happiness if that makes you comfortable. After all, we cannot live for more that 100 years. We can also help the earth and let the next generation realize their own potential by leaving our legacies for posterity.
Now, this is my 352nd article in this blog sharing my thoughts, ideas, knowledge and experience through the years. And I know it benefitted over 3.39 million readers. That’s what Google Search Insights say.
Hmm, I’ll do some welding back in my tool shed. There’s more to life than worrying about your health. Let’s be productive.
© 2023 January 14 P. A. Regoniel
