Male Prostate Cancer Treatments, Symptoms, Detection – Male Reproductive System, Types of Risk Factors

Prostatitis, enlarged prostate or prostate cancer? Amita’s natural healing approach can help.

The prostate is a male-only gland which makes fluids necessary to help produce semen. Stimulated by male hormones such as testosterone, the gland develops during adolescence. While younger males rarely experience prostate gland problems, with age the gland may cause health issues, ranging from benign—such as prostatitis and enlarged prostate—to malignant such as prostate cancer.

Prostatitis is an inflammation of the prostate gland which affects many men over 50, with symptoms ranging from burning urination to fever. Enlarged prostate, known as benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH, is also common in older males. As the prostate grows larger than normal, it presses on the urethra, making urination difficult and painful. Both of these conditions are treatable and respond well to holistic methods.

Prostate cancer is a more serious condition. It is different from many other cancer types because it can be quite slow and asymptomatic-meaning that patients may not have any symptoms such as pain or discomfort at all-until the disease is diagnosed during a check-up. The downside of this slow-growing cancerous process is that it can develop into a quite advanced state before it’s noticed.

While prostate cancer symptoms can be vague and hard to pinpoint, there are a few things to pay attention to. The symptoms can range from painful and frequent urination to painful ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. Other alarming signs such as traces of blood in semen or urine should be reported to your doctor promptly. Lastly, pains in the lower back or hip area may be a warning sign of prostate cancer and should be reported as well.

However, if you have the above symptoms, they don’t necessarily mean you have prostate cancer. They can also be caused by prostatitis or enlarged prostate, so talk to your doctor to get the exact diagnosis.

What are the risks of prostate cancer? There are several risk factors associated with prostate cancer with age being the greatest by far.

Age: Prostate cancer is very rare in men under 40 years old, but the chance of having it increase significantly after 50. About 6 in 10 cases of prostate cancer are found in men over the age of 65; another statistics says that men over 65 comprise 65 percent of all man diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Race: Prostate cancer affects more African-American men than men of other ethnic origin. It occurs less often in Asian-American and Hispanic/Latino men than in non-Hispanic men. Unfortunately, modern medicine still doesn’t have the answers to these racial and ethnic disparities.

Lifestyle: Scientists aren’t sure what role lifestyle, including dietary habits and exercise, plays in prostate cancer, but they do pinpoint some trends. Men who eat a lot of red meat and fatty dairy seem to have a greater chance of developing prostate cancer. But these men also seem to eat less fruits and vegetables, so medics aren’t sure how these two factors affect the risk; the general advice is to balance protein, fat and vegetables in the diet. When it comes to physical activity, some studies showed that exercise may be lowering risks of advanced prostate cancer, but other studies didn’t draw any correlations.

Family History: Family history plays a role in being a risk factor as well. Having a father or brother with prostate cancer more than doubles a person’s risk of developing it. If more than one family member had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, the risk of other family members developing it is much higher as well.

Inflammation and STDs: Some studies showed that prostatitis may be a factor in the increased risk of developing prostate cancer, but other studies did not arrive to the same conclusion. And while there had been some speculations that sexually transmitted diseases or STDs may factor in the prostate cancer development, so far this hasn’t been proven.

Mainstream Prostate Treatments: Today’s modern medicine’s conventional treatment for prostate conditions includes a variety of medical procedures, often accompanied by prescription drugs. Prostatitis is primarily treated with antibiotics. There are several treatment methods for enlarged prostate, ranging from medications called alpha-blockers to which relax prostate muscle and improve urine flow, to surgical procedures that cause “thermal injury” to the prostate and kill the overgrown tissue. Prostate cancer patients may have to undergo a surgery called prostatectomy, in which the doctor removes a portion of the prostate or the entire prostate. After that some patients are required to take chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or laser therapy. They also have to live with a catheter for up to two weeks as they heal after the surgery.

Alternative and Holistic Prostate Treatment: At AmitaUSA Healing Center, we believe that herbal remedies, natural supplements acupuncture can strengthen the body and immune system so that it can fight many ailments without surgeries and drugs. Our treatment for prostate problems includes a combination of acupuncture, micro-current and Homeopathy therapy.