Hey guys in this week's video we're talking about prostate cancer a really important condition that
we need to raise awareness on we're going to talk about the symptoms that everyone needs to be aware
of and when to seek medical attention now please do bear in mind if you have any of the symptoms
or signs that i discussed in this video it doesn't automatically mean that you have prostate cancer
it could be due to various other things that are causing it however the most important take
home messages if you have any of these signs or symptoms please please please speak to a
healthcare professional as soon as possible now i appreciate this is going to be quite a long
video so if at any point you want to find any specific information the video is chaptered it's
all in the description below feel free to click it find the relevant chapter that you want to
find more information on and click it however i would strongly advise that you watch the entire
video so you can learn everything you need to know so to begin with what is prostate cancer
let's first start with cancer so cancer is a disease where genetic changes can cause a cell
or multiple cells to grow abnormally this abnormal growth can then result in a tumor
and the way that these cells change in a tumor can affect body functions such as your immune system
your bloods your hormones and then they can cause other problems so prostate cancer is a particular
type of cancer that starts within the prostate now the prostate is a walnut-sized gland and it's
found just below the bladder prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men accounting
for about 26 of all new cases now prostate cancer is more common in older individuals about 35
of cases are in those who are 75 and over however a quarter of all cases are found in patients who
are under the age of 65 which again is why it's so important that you know the signs and symptoms to
be aware of now prostate cancer is more common in those with black ethnicity it's also more common
in those who are overweight and obese or if you have a family history of prostate cancer now the
bad news is that no one really knows the actual reason why prostate cancer happens but the good
news is that early diagnosis of prostate cancer means that it can be treatable and curable in fact
up to 84 of men with a prostate cancer diagnosis survive for more than 10 years and this is again
why it's so important that you're aware of the signs and symptoms to look out for and when to
seek medical attention also remember other people might be having these signs and symptoms and by
you being aware you can really help out and make a difference early catching of cancer or prostate
cancer can make a massive difference in survival rates and quality of life which is why it's super
important that we do in this video and raising the awareness on these sides of symptoms so what
are the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer well the initial signs and symptoms of prostate cancer
are very rare it's very rare to actually have symptoms at the start of prostate cancer that's
because it usually takes quite a long time for the prostate to grow and cause any signs or symptoms
so you may have had it for a long time before you actually start to feel any symptoms and symptoms
only usually get noticed when the prostate grows large enough to then press on something called
your urethra your urethra is the tube that carries the urine out of your body so what i've done
is i've found a makeshift urethra this is actually from a blood pressure cuff
so if you imagine this is your urethra and your urine comes out at the end this is going to be
our prostate so it goes through it like that and eventually once the prostate then grows it's going
to press on this urethra and by pressing on the urethra we're going to get the symptoms that we're
gonna talk about so when this happens there's some signs that you need to be aware of so for example
the main thing is having any difficulty peeing so for example this pressure is gonna cause us to
struggle to pee we're also gonna have a lower flow we're going to have a difficulty starting as well
to actually pee and also because of this pressure you might feel like you haven't emptied enough you
haven't empty enough urine or you might feel like you've still got some left as well so these are
common symptoms caused by this pressure on the urethra you may also find that you need to pee
a lot more often than you used to and you might be waking up at night multiple times during the night
to go and pee you might also get sudden urges that you need to pee really badly these are things that
you obviously haven't experienced before and it's suddenly coming up also you might find that you're
dribbling a lot more after you've peed so once you finish you find that you're still dribbling or you
might even find you have a bit of incontinence or a bit of leakage when you're going to the
toilet now at this point please do not panic it does not mean that you automatically have cancer
but again the most important thing is if you have any of these sort of symptoms if you notice any of
these kinds of symptoms or you know someone who is go and speak to your healthcare professional
it could just be an enlarged prostate okay it could be something else that's causing get but
the most important thing is that you speak to a healthcare professional so they can do the
relevant investigations that are required and as i mentioned earlier one of the reasons why it's
so important you're aware of these is an early diagnosis can massively increase survival rates as
well as increase in the quality of life hopefully it's not cancer hopefully it's something else
but you just need to be aware of it and it needs to be checked out now sometimes prostate cancer
can eventually spread to other body parts as well remember how we discussed cancer at the start of
the video discussing how it can affect other parts of the body as well this can sometimes
happen as well with time with prostate cancer known as advanced prostate cancer one of the
main symptoms to look out for this is any sort of dull stabbing aching pain within your bones
such as your back your pelvis and your hips and another few points for you to be aware of is any
swelling in the legs any blood in your waist if there's any change in color any blood in your
semen so again if there's any change in color if it's a brownie color or any change in color
speak to your healthcare professional if you're having any difficulty getting an
erection or keeping an erection and also if you're feeling generally unwell and tired all the time
and lastly if you're having any weight loss so unexpected weight loss stuff that you wouldn't
plan you just feel like your clothes are feeling a lot looser all of a sudden and you haven't been
dieting and you've had unexpected weight loss now these are just a few symptoms of advanced prostate
cancer because it really depends where it's spread to as well there are many other symptoms as well
which i will leave in the description below so if you want to find out more information on them
please give it a read and the most important point to remember from these signs and symptoms
if you're having any of these so the symptoms of prostate cancer that we spoke about earlier
and also the symptoms of advanced prostate cancer that we just spoke about please please please
speak to your healthcare professional don't wait don't wait a few weeks i think it's going to get
okay speak to your healthcare professional there and then if you know anyone that's that's that's
got these symptoms tell them to speak to the healthcare professional as well so now that we
know about signs and symptoms let's talk about diagnosis because you might be wondering well
what's my healthcare professional going to do now there's no simple test for prostate cancer
your healthcare professional will do multiple investigations for example they might do a urine
test to check for any infection they might do a prostate exam they might do a prostate biopsy
they might also do a blood test they might do an mri so there's multiple tests that they will
do so one of the most common blood tests that we do here in practice is the psa blood test we're
going to measure the amount of psa within your blood psa stands for prostate specific antigen
a high amount doesn't necessarily mean prostate cancer because 15 of patients with prostate cancer
sometimes have a normal or low psa level but it's a really good indicator along with all the other
tests that your healthcare professional is going to do now psa testing can be really helpful in
finding both aggressive types of prostate cancer as well as slow growing prostate cancers but
because of its issue of reliability it's not often used for routine health screening here in the uk
now here in the uk we also offer something called the informed choice program for psa blood tests
this means that any male over the age of 50 can have a psa test from their gp surgery now
if you've got symptoms then definitely speak to your healthcare professional and they're going to
do that anyway but even if you don't have symptoms and you're perfectly fit and healthy and you want
a psa blood test they will do it for you as well so please bear that in mind as well now early psa
testing can be particularly beneficial for those who are especially at a higher risk of prostate
cancer like we spoke about earlier so for example those who are a black ethnic origin those who are
overweight those who are obese or if they have a family history of prostate cancer so remember
you don't have to wait until you have symptoms if you are 50 and above then you can go to ggp
surgery and get a psa blood test but remember those signs and symptoms if you have any of them
speak to your healthcare professional in different countries they do things differently i think in
america they do psa blood tests every one or two years for certain men but like i say i'm talking
about the uk here i don't know the rules for other countries speak to your healthcare professional
over there for more advice on this and of course i will leave loads more information about psa blood
testing in the description below the nhs has a useful link on it as well so if you want more
information feel free to click on the description and click on that link to find out more so please
do remember if you have any of the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer that we spoke about in
this video there's gonna be a box here that pops up as well feel free to pause it please please
please speak to your healthcare professional that is the most important thing because your health
is the most important thing and remember catching prostate cancer early can have a significant
impact on survival rates and your quality of life and actually treating it as well so please
remember these signs and symptoms you now know them if you know someone else that's suffering
from these signs of symptoms as well point them in the right direction and as always i will leave
loads more information in the description below and please remember just by having these signs and
symptoms it doesn't automatically mean that you have prostate cancer but it's just important for
you to remember these i will leave loads more information in the description below for you
so that's it for this week's video i really hope you found this information helpful this is a topic
that we need to raise more and more awareness of prostate cancer is a real big thing now it's the
most common cancer for men and we need more men to be aware of these signs and symptoms
it's a difficult thing to talk about but i really hope that you found this information helpful and
now you know what to look out for you know it's looking for yourself you know what to look after
your friends and family as well as i always say at the end of the video always remember that you're
awesome and i will see you next week hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make sure
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