Prostate cancer worry-2

[Redcollector]

As I am not sure how to post a reply to all the people that have replied to my original post, I thought if I started another thread all people will see rather than me replying individually to one post which may only be seen by that person.

To update and clarify the position.

I have as yet not been diagnosed with Pca, hence my post contained the word ‘worry’

However my concern is as a result of a scan I had done 12 months ago that reported a sclerotic lesion within L4 in my back taken to be a benign bone island,

I reported in my previous post that I had been diagnosed with enlarged prostate in 2016 to provide background information as much as anything.

Some new information I opted not to share as am sure it will further confuse things, is that just before I had that CT scan that saw the Lesion I had a medical condition called heart block, I won’t bother anyone with all the details but it necessitated in my having a pacemaker inserted, to be clear I have had lots of tests since and have no issues with heart disease and it’s seems no medical obvious reason has been found as to how that came about.

I have never really accepted that happened for no reason, so I looked at length into possible causes of heart block, one of the reasons I have seen is that it could be caused by cancer in another part of your body, having had plenty of tests since that event with no obvious reason found I had come to terms with the fact that just maybe it was one of those things.

Then a few weeks ago I started to get a fairly nebulous back pain by that I mean that it’s very non specific, nothing you can put you finger but With the pain coming and going, sometimes painful enough to keep my awake, which is when I revisited the report that identified the sclerotic lesion and as I have said reported as benign. Other things I had looking back Now is that my pattern of going to the loo had changed quite a bit, more night time peeing, more sudden needs to pee etc.

So back to the ct report although it reported as benign I started to consider whether that diagnosis could have been wrong to further add to my concern I came across a reference to the fact that my diagnosis of a sclerotic lesion with a bone island whilst most often is innocent can be mimicked by Prostate cancer.

So my focus has been trying to find reasons mainly why that’s unlikely to be the case, given that the measures and initial tests for Prostate cancer use both PSA and DRE, I asked if anyone had been diagnosed with advanced PCa especially with bone mets which is my worry with the back pain, but had a low PSA, this against a background of my PSA readings over the years 2015, 16,17,18 of 1.9, 1.4, 1,5, 1.6, which I reported as all being less that 2.

In the meantime for my part I have been to see the doctor, who has carried out a new PSA test which very interestingly has come back as .7 which is lower that it’s ever been, now whilst I am clearly very happy that it’s lower that higher it seems an anomaly, I also had a DRE and was told prostate felt ok, but we all know they can they can only feel one side of your prostate.

Along side that I have arranged to have a new CT scan tomorrow which will be compared to the previous one and See if any changes to the sclerotic lesionor anything else in my back had changed.

It’s unfortunate that I would have preferred an MRI by the pacemaker rules that out easily.

So I welcome all your views so far and some have confirmed that people can get aggressive/advanced PCa whilst remaining with a low PSA, that in itself still gives me cause of ‘worry’ that I may still have PCa, will have to wait and see outcome of test tomorrow, although it may be days before I get that result.

Happy for any comments especially on the anomaly of my new lower PSA reading that does seem rathe unusual.

Stay well.

Alan

[LearnAll]

Yes..some people can get PCa even with very low PSA but the percentage of such low PSA cancers is only 1 to 2 percent of the total.

[GranPaSmurf]

Yes, I 'R 1'.

(I always wanted to be a 1 % 'er)

I don't think you have enough indicators yet to focus on PC. I'd say get a good urologist and get a thorough evaluation every year or 6 months.

[Magnus1964]

Possible Pca but I would not jump to any conclusions. Back pain? Could be many things. The CT scan may not show anything even if it is Pca.

Bottom line, keep a close watch on your PSA, look for upward trend.

[Tall_Allen]

You seem prone to catastrophizing. Learning some CBT or mindfulness techniques may help (I practice mindfulness). Try to deal with what you know, and try to avoid tying every ache and pain to some myth you have created in your head. Such thoughts occur naturally - see them for what they are and let them go.

[Redcollector in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you for your reply, you are right absolutely, but its hard for me.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Redcollector]

I saw a psychotherapist and took classes.