PSA result

My dad got one that came back a 22, anything over a 4 is considered high from that particular lab. He had prostate cancer but was able to catch it early so he has been fine since 96. It is one of the most curable forms of cancer. You are smart to try to get the ball rolling on the appointments.

Best of luck

Can you tell me what his treatment was? Some of the stuff I am reading about urinary incontinence and loss of erection is alarming to say the least. Thanks for your earlier reply.

I am hoping this is a lab mistake of biblical proportions and am going to request a re-test sans the flaxseed.Either way I am going to try to force an earlier appointment.

More telling than just being in the range is the order on which your PSA levels may increase. An increase of, say, 0.5 to 2.5 in a year may have someone saying "oh, he's still in range", but the fact is that your levels just increased five times. That is what can be alarming, and is what physicians will pay attention to these days (if they're any good).

I'd definitely get your urology appointment ASAP, but I'd think they'd want to do a repeat PSA.

Thank you for your repsonse.

56.6 wrote:

I have been using flaxseed ( ground) to lower my cholestrol and have been a ttremendous amonut of job and life stress the past few months.

If you're eating raw flaxseed, stop! It has thiocyanates, which interferes with iodine uptake by the thyroid. Always eat it cooked (for example, with oatmeal)!!

Thanks for the tip, I had been eating it raw. I will not eat any more. I am really hoping the fact I was battling a virus last week may have thrown a whopper of a false number but I am realistic to the fact I have some sort of prostate problem.

Sorry about the typos, but I feel almost frantic with concern though reading what is being posted is gearing me down.

Thanks for your response.

Anybody else?

Prostatitis or a possible infection? If your prostate is inflammed for other reasons (like mentioned), it could cause a skewed number. Still....get all the work done.

PSAs can be elevated for many reasons, including hypertrophy, infection (prostatitis), cancer, and, yes, lab error. I'm unaware of any interaction with flaxseed. The most important thing would be: get it rechecked, in conjunction with a rectal exam. If it is still high, or if there is an obvious abnormality on exam (asymetry, hard nodule, greatly increased size) you will have to decide on biopsy vs close watching. Most will steer you towards biopsy, looking for early detection of cancer, although it should be noted early detection of prostate cancer has not been shown to improve overall survival, and the side effect of all treatment options are things like incontinence, impotence, rectal bleeding, etc.

Good luck, hopefully you are found to have a very tender and large prostate, get diagnosed with prostatitis, get 2-4 weeks of antibiotics, and it all goes away.

MN md

Bless you all who have posted. Did get another blood draw (same Lab)for PSA and free PSA. GP referred to to Uro/Onc who I will see tomorrow afternoon. Still have frequent urge to go but much better output ( hope that's positive for good). Am afraid to go running for fear of making myself worse am I better off doing nordic track?

Again thanks to those who've posted.