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To: rickmichaels

“... use of prostate-specific antigen testing for the disease increases the risk of detecting low-risk prostate cancers and leads to unnecessary treatments.”

The PSA is very close to worthless. False positives, leading to unnecessary biopsies, are another consequence that our family has direct experience with. False negatives occur also, and are of course, a more serious problem.

There is a more productive test (kallikrein) in development, but last I knew, it was only available at the Johns Hopkins cancer center, and if you are there, it’s probably too late for a “screening”.

My personal approach to this has been (for multiple reasons) to switch to a very low carb (borderline keto) diet. Cancers are glucose-brittle, so running your body at least part of the time in nutritional ketosis is apt to be highly protective (cells that turn cancerous, die instead of growing and metastazing).

Up there with PSA in the pantheon of useless screens are the standard “cholesterol” panels, and TSH/total-T4 thyroid tests. They don’t measure what needs measuring and rely on faulty assumptions, which can be completely misleading in low carb.


8 posted on 07/13/2013 5:21:39 AM PDT by Boundless (Survive Obamacare by not needing it.)
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To: Boundless
My personal approach to this has been (for multiple reasons) to switch to a very low carb (borderline keto) diet

I'm in the same boat, FRiend. Understanding and taking advantage of ketosis has saved my life. All of the sugar and grains we've been fed over the years turned me into a butterball. Once I realized that sugar and grain actually creates an inflammation response in the body, I decided to try a keto diet. To my amazement, I dropped over 150 lb. in less than 18 months, I was highly energetic, my cholesterol and triglycerides plummeted, I could run for miles without fatigue, and keeping to a keto diet was beyond simple.

With regards to TSH/T4, I will marginally disagree with you. My family's had thyroid issues for generations, and having suffered from it myself, I can say it's a very real problem. I do, however, believe that diet is the primary culprit in the destruction of our thyroids and our waistlines.

Cancer only became a big health problem in the 20th century, it seems. Was it our migration to modern lifestyles of leisure? Did our diets change so dramatically? Did our medical sciences finally start diagnosing cancer reliably?

12 posted on 07/13/2013 5:42:44 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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To: Boundless
The PSA is very close to worthless. False positives, leading to unnecessary biopsies, are another consequence that our family has direct experience with. False negatives occur also, and are of course, a more serious problem.
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For example, I read somewhere that a man’s PSA count may be elevated if his prostate is exercised through sexual intercourse close in time to when the blood test is drawn for the PSA test. This may also occur if your doctor just performed a digital rectal exam and manipulated the prostate before the blood was drawn. Certain medications may also elevate the PSA count. This suggests that a number of PSA tests should be taken over a period of time and every effort should be made to remove as many factors as possible that may contribute to a false positive.
28 posted on 07/13/2013 6:44:54 AM PDT by iontheball
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To: Boundless
The PSA is very close to worthless. False positives, leading to unnecessary biopsies, are another consequence that our family has direct experience with.

I see the PSA as a "red flag, you might want to look into this" test. If it weren't for a PSA screening I did in January, I wouldn't know now that I have T2B/C, Gleason 3+4 cancer (diagnosed via biopsy). At 50 years of age, I'm all for attempting to eradicate it.

I, for one, am glad the PSA screening exists.

44 posted on 07/13/2013 12:18:07 PM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative (I'm a constitutionalist, not a libertarian. Huge difference.)
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