I have been having the test for about 20 years. A few years ago, my PCP told me my test result showed a spike, so she recommended me to a urologist. The spike was still in the normal range, but she thought it should be looked at closely. The urologist did the test again, and I was back to my earlier level. I have been seeing him annually ever since. Another benefit of going to the urologist is that he started treating me for BPH. I am on two medications for that, and my prostate has definitely gotten smaller. It took over a year for me to notice, but my trips to the bathroom have been much less frequent.
On Saturdays, I usually run errands, like going to the grocery store, Petsmart, Costco or Sam's, Lowes. Before taking Finasteride, I would have had to stop at the restroom of one or more of those establishments. Now I don't have to go at all and it can wait until I get back home hours later.
That’s interesting. My problem with that is that since my cancer diagnosis, my doctors have recommended that I not take any prostate reduction drugs. The drugs not only reduce the prostate, but they also reduce the PSA. Since the PSA number is important in tracking the cancer progression, it was also important to eliminate any artificial alteration of it.
I did have significant reductions in flow not related to the cancer. I was completely stopped for several months (they called it ‘retention’). I had to use several catheters a day during that time. A REZUM treatment (I called it steam cleaning) fixed that.
In fact, it was a change in my PSA numbers that flagged the change in the cancer. This was confirmed by an MRI and another biopsy. That all led to having the cancer lesion being removed (hopefully). I get it checked in three weeks with another MRI and PSA test.