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Wisdom of the crowd? Got sent to a urologist for high psa, 12, was 11 in November, 8 in 2008 or so. Last go round the urologist wanted a biopsy, started all sorts of ideas tosave me. I declined and figured to buy the farm if need be.
Now up to the crap again. Bioosy scheduled in a couple weeks. I am questioning why. Quite apparent this is not fast moving cancer if at all. I know noone who had good results from intervention, several stories of ruined life. I am 74, was once told over 70 they quit looking as something else will get me.

Experiences? Thanks

IMHO you should let them check out your situation. See what they find and see what they advise. Might just have a quick fix. Good luck

In 2010 My PSA had doubled. I had a needle biopsy done and it was cancer. Gleason score was 8 (Score runs 8-10). I had it removed at Johns Hopkins. When it was removed 6 weeks after the biopsy the Gleason score was 9 possibly a 10. Got it out just in time. No chemo or radiation was needed.
Yes, prostate cancer is normally slow. Mine decided to move into the fast lane. Prostate cancer seeks to go to bone, and it is surrounded by it. I lost a good friend to bone cancer that started from his prostate.

Screw the biopsy. Had it done once and nearly ripped the bars off the bed. Every time that gun went bang, it hurt like hell. And no cancer. All because my doctor had me injecting testosterone and couldn't understand why my PSA went up. SMH.

I have problems with mine.

I'm Praying for you.

I have heard those biopsies are a MF'er. One guy claims he bent the bars upward due to the pain. Eff that, doctors have maimed and killed more members of my family than they have saved.

They must not have used any sort of anesthesia on him. I had three biopsies done on mine over the years. The first I had discomfort, the other two was painless and no discomfort after the procedures. I have high PSAs due to a large prostate, no cancer to date.

I’d for sure have the biopsy. I’ve not had one but will if my PSA goes high and my doctor recommends.
I have two close friends, one is a doctor, that had positive biopsy’s. Both were in their early 60s and chose to have their prostate removed. Both are doing fine seven years later.

I have had the biopsy done............. it ain't fun to be sure.

But it's not unbearable.

The first few jabs are an anesthetic which kinda sorta works.

It's not helped at all by the indignity of it all.

70, IMHO, seems a bit young to just toss aside a potential cancer diagnosis..

Been putting off dealing with this problem myself.

My pop had cancer in it. He was late sixties at time. Cut it out and all good, except his hard-on.

My best bud has it. Gets the biopsies yearly or bi yearly to monitor. Hurts like a bitch and expensive. But, like someone else said, it’s slow moving and he has been advised he can sit on it, for now. I think he is pondering next step. We are only 51.

I k kw my prostate is whacked, all the damn symptoms I don’t need to reiterate. But I am currently in a holding pattern if addressing it to.

I don’t want to give bad advice or impressions. I am the King Of Poor Decision Making, let that be heard. But I must say, I started taking ivermectin semi-regularly about a year and a half ago, post quarantine, and for whatever reason god only knows, my damn prostate ‘symptoms’ went from like a 10 to a 2 on the Schitty scale. No idea why. Been thinking about it and what other factors in my lifestyle or diet could have changed - not much.

I resisted mentioning anything about this through countless Covid and Ivermectiin threads because I have nothing to back it up and I’m no snake oil salesman. Just something I now think I might mention.

Good luck to you.

I am not a urologist, but it were me and I was 74 and if it has gone up 1 point in 14 years not so sure I would worry about it. Mine went from 1.5 to 5 in a year and I had mine biopsied in Jan. They did a free PSA test after the initial PSA and that indicated that I had an 18-24% chance of cancer and that is what precipitated my urologist to recommend a biopsy. Negative. I am 59. I wouldn't say my actual biopsy experience was painful but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. It was worse for me after, for about a day afterward my ass felt like somebody pounded a 2x4 up it with a jackhammer. I have another PSA scheduled for August.

Ask them to take the PSA again in 6 months or a year. If it hasn't gone up I'd let it ride, especially if you have no family history of prostate cancer. If you do, you may consider otherwise. You may just want the piece of mind of knowing one way or the other.

Everybody is different, just what I would do, if I were you.

Muffin
70, IMHO, seems a bit young to just toss aside a potential cancer diagnosis..

That's the problem. This is a long time deal. At 61 I forwent the biopsy as the promise of treatment would have cost me my job, hence insurance, and bankrupted my wife if the dire predictions came true. The doctor then was very much a money grubber. He started treatment before any biopsy. He,was quite apparently wrong then becayse 14 years later im still here. I knew second hand a man who spent 2 years undergoing chemo, radiation, castration, lost everything and died anyway. My decision then was to buy the farm.

I’ve had 3 biopsies, two ultra sounds on mine. The Biopsies aren’t all that bad. Pain is like a shot in the arm except it’s up inside. Girl up, go get it done, May save your life.

Good luck to you! I go to MD Anderson, a cancer center. It seemed the urologist I went to at first was only interested in money, cancer center cares about me.

Kenny, I'd say no crap involved. The Doc is telling you that the farm is still for sale and that he thinks the price is still too high. He is offering you a chance to avoid prematurely signing the earnest agreement and being committed to buying the farm. I know a couple of men who delayed listening to their Doc. They were forced to buy the farm and had no way out, even though they made delayed efforts without meaningful results. I also know several more who did listen, did receive therapy, and still were forced to buy the farm before they had planned. Prostate cancer is tricky, you (and your Doc) will know when your choice was positive or negative when it happens. That is only satisfactory when the result is positive and you are given another lease on life. No therapy outcome is known in advance. The Doc only knows the cumulative statistics for patients that match your profile. He needs a little more information, such as from the biopsy, to give you better advice.
So the question really comes back to you. How is the farm priced? Are you willing to pay the price? Are you ready? Are you a gambler?
The discomfort and indignity of the biopsy procedure is far less than that experienced when meeting one's fate at the hand of prostate cancer, and that may be only the minimalist and beginning consideration.
Iv'e had the biopsy, the radical prostatectomy, now in the middle of curative salvage radiation since the PSA has made a reappearance. I'm age 70 now and each step of discomfort and indignity has been relatively brief compared to extra happy and good years. The price for the farm was way too high for me and my family. Were there dark days? Of course, but they are nearly forgotten.
I might add that the Doc didn't proceed with any treatment advice until checking with my other oncologist about the status of that previous treatment condition. If that prognosis was not so good, there would have been no prostate therapy at all. I hope you can trust your Doc to make the correct professional call.

I had my PSA checked every year for an annual check-up. I’ve kept track of my PSA for several years, put it on graph paper and it was taking a sharp turn to the vertical. The first biopsy at 5.9 was negative. Whew!!!

PSA continued to climb and the second biopsy at a PSA of 7.4 was a multi-parametric MRI directed biopsy. They found ASAP…not cancer but a bad sign. With the climbing PSA, I figured it was only a matter of time.

PSA continued to climb and six months later, it was 17. The third biopsy found it in several cores. Gleason 7…nothing to sneeze at.

Had surgery in March ‘17 and PSA went way down but not quite “undetectable”. Dammit. A few months later PSA started back up indicating recurrent cancer. Almost a year later, I had radiation treatments every day for two months. PSA went to undetectable and it’s been there ever since. 😊

As far as the biopsies go, if the urologist hits the right spot with the local anesthesia the biopsies are embarrassing but pretty painless. If he misses…YEEEOOOOW! If you go through with the biopsy, if it really hurts, tell him and don’t suffer and he’ll give some more lidocaine. My first was pretty painless. The second was ok ‘til about half way through it. I knew it wasn’t supposed to be that bad so I spoke up and he said, “sorry, let’s use a little more anesthetic”. On the third, it was bad on the first couple of cores. I spoke up and he gave some lidocaine and then it was ok from there with 24 samples….not fun.

As we age, the prostate grows so one can expect the PSA to go up but it should be pretty much a linear increase. The high PSA of 12 is up there and the first thing the doc usually does is to give a 30 day antibiotic prescription to eliminate the possibility of a urinary tract infection. If the PSA goes down, that’s a good sign that it’s a UTI and they can go after that. If the PSA doesn’t go down, there may be something more at play.

At your age PSA should be much lower but at 12, it’s something to think about but then again, 1 point over 12 years is a pretty slow increase. I find it hard to believe the urologist hasn’t recommended a biopsy earlier. Do your research so you can make a good decision.

Hard for me to trust anyone in the medical field. Most doctors have expensive habits that someone has to pay for.

They usually want to do a biopsy when your number gets over 4

I know. Mine was over 6 at 47 years old. The Dr. wouldn't even answer questions. He flat out said it's Cancer and walked out while I was talking. That was 6 years ago. I have no symptoms.

I can't believe that no one has mentioned why they stopped PSA tests years ago. Google it and read the reports.

My grandfather died from treatment for what they claimed was prostate cancer at 74. He was fine and healthy as a horse. The treatment gave him Leukemia.

This is right. My PSA jumped from a 4.3 to 5.5 in 6 months. Had a biopsy and 3 out of 12 samples were positive. Went through radiation and after a year, PSA is 1. I will agree if the urologist uses anesthesia taking the samples isn't a bug thing. Getting the probe up your backside is worse, but short lived.

The thing about prostate cancer is that it affects each person somewhat differently. One of brothers was diagnosed with it at age 62, he had his removed, and four years later seems to be doing fine. My best friend found out at age 55 that he had the advanced version of prostate cancer. He had his prostate removed, had radiation afterwards, and was declared good to go..............only he wasn't. He had been fighting it ever since, and it has spread to various parts of his body. He has been in and out of treatment for the past few years, and has undergone and is still undergoing chemo. It has really taken a toll on him both mentally and physically. He is basically buying time.

Don't mess around with something that can kill you. Get second, and even third opinions, but do something about it. The earlier you find it, the better your chances of beating it.