Pmr and raised psa

[andfio]

Does anyone know if pmr and predisinol raises your psa .husband was put on predisinol 6 months ago blood test for prostate psa was 5.1 and digital examination done all seemed ok and husband has no prostate problems.He had a flare up due to work load and went from 6 to 8.5 od predisinoland now 8 which seems to be working but doctor did a psa test and now 6.1 and digital test same as last time .we have a urology appointment in case his prostate is cancer he is feeling great and pmr seems stable just now and no prostate problems at all thank you

[PMRpro Ambassador]

No, pred and PMR do not have any effect on PSA - just prostate related things, exercise shortly before the test was taken

[Miserere]

My husband tested positive for prostate cancer - the only reason I made him go to the GP was the time it was taking to pee. His first reading was 11.8, second reading 10.6 and latest reading 8.4. He's been told that his cancer is the non-aggressive sort and he will probably die with it rather than of it. He is not on prednisolone - that's me, currently reducing to 7.5mg. However, I have changed his diet to minimum sugar (sugar feeds cancer) and low carb, high fat, high-ish protein. He has lost some weight, heals more quickly and feels good. Your husband's readings are not at all bad. Attend to diet and exercise and do the best you can. Most of all - don't panic! There's no need. And reduce as much stress as you can - that's responsible for so much. I shall be thinking of you but I'm sure he will be OK. My warmest wishes.

[Bcol]

Hi, not hot my psa scores to hand, but being on Pred for the last three years has had no effect on them.

[pata63]

I'm also experiencing raised PSA over the last few years, plus an enlarged prostate.

@PMRpro When I saw my GP two weeks ago he did a digital exam. He said wait a few days before I get my bloods done because a digital exam itself can give raised values.

I'm off to a CT-IVU tomorrow because I've got microscopic amounts of blood in my urine. This has been going on for maybe 2 years and I had a flexible cytoscopy to have a look last year. Now we're moving up the scale of testing. The CT-IVU is for the the specialist I've seen before a few times.

@Miserere do you know what sort of test they did for prostate cancer? Do I look forward to a biopsy? I already had one on a kidney to check for LVV and it wasn't great fun. 😕 Worth invoking sick day rules for my Pred. I felt like I had been stabbed in the back and all my back muscles were rather cross about that for the next two days.

I've heard a few mentions about genetic testing but I don't know how far along that is. I guess I should probably be over in the men's health forum for these questions.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to pata63]

If you want to tag someone as you did me and miserere you have to select the name from the pop-up list that appears as you type the name, just typing the name isn't enough for a notification to be raised.

Not just the digital exam - riding a bike can be enough to raise PSA! No personal experience - but my husband was walking like John Wayne after his biopsy ...

[Exflex]

Being male and a family history of prostate cancer I have PSA checked every 6 months. Always blood test first, then the digit test to feel the prostate. With PSA you can get false positive and false negative.

[pmr_nikola]

Sorry for late comments... I have had relatively elevated PSA before PMR ( 11-14 range) and was checked every 6 months for years with no significant change. Last test before PMR was in July 2015 and PSA was 12. I was diagnosed with PMR in December 2015. My next PSA test in January 2016 went to 22.7! Since rheumatologists knew about high PSA, as part of the elimination I did 3T MRI for prostate region just to make sure there is no cancer in the area. I was on prednisone from December 2015 until December 2022. My PSA stayed high between 20-24 even after I stopped prednisone treatment and is still over 20...

What caused jump in PSA is anyone guess. There is no correlation to prednisone dose. My guess is that some component of the PMR causes inflammation in the prostate area and this enlargement causes increase in PSA reading.

edit: any exercise, especially bike ride should be avoided for 3-5 days before PSA test. Any sexual activity or heavy lifting may cause false PSA reading.