Taking Charge of Your Health
- It’s more imperative than ever for men to get a jumpstart on their health screening plan, as an alarming study just released predictions of men’s cancer cases and deaths skyrocketing by 2050, based on global statistics in 2022.
- Actor Ben Stiller, 58, was able to catch his “intermediately aggressive” prostate cancer early from a routine screening in 2014 at age 48. And Men in Black star Will Smith, 55, thanks to a routine colonoscopy when he turned 50, found a precancerous growth in his colon and had it removed.
- Some reasoning behind this health epidemic is that men are more likely to drink and smoke, which significantly up your risk for cancer, and men are more likely to be around environmental exposures on the job, exposed to carcinogens. They’re also more likely to put off going to the doctor out of fear or embarrassment. Access to care and lack of health insurance plans are other issues.
- Catching cancer early can save your life, reduce your treatment plan – or help avoid treatment or complicated surgery altogether, depending on the type of cancer and how early you catch it. Contact your doctor and ask about prostate cancer and colon cancer screenings — and be sure to know and share your family history, as it can up your risk for various types of cancer.
Actor and filmmaker Ben Stiller, 58, was able to catch his “intermediately aggressive” prostate cancer early from a routine PSA test in 2014 at age 48. And Men in Black star Will Smith, 55, thanks to a routine colonoscopy when he turned 50, found he had a precancerous polyp in his colon and had it removed. The men who would have avoided those tests and continued on with their lives for years and years may have been in trouble by now, which is why the predictions are surging.
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Whatever the reason, there has been a significant raise in awareness at the danger of men putting off health checks and annual physicals. Lower-income people and minorities are also exponentially more at risk.
Catching cancer early can save your life, reduce your treatment plan – or help avoid treatment or surgery period, depending on the type of cancer and how early you catch it.
Getting Screened for Prostate Cancer
For example, with low-risk, slower-growing prostate cancer cases, more and more doctors are using a watch-and-wait approach, or active surveillance, instead of going right in for surgery, which can help avoid side effects. Since Stiller’s was more aggressive, his plan involved surgery, but those guidelines are now changing case by case.
The American Cancer Society recommends that men at age 50 who are at average risk should begin screening. Men who are at high risk of prostate cancer should begin screening at age 40. Men with a close relative diagnosed with prostate cancer should consider annual screenings in their 30s. Most doctors agree that men over the age of 70 do not need screening.
When you do get screened for prostate cancer, your doctor may run additional tests.
One of the tests is the PSA test, a simple blood test that screens for prostate cancer. It looks for more significant amounts of protein-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. An elevated PSA test does not always mean you have prostate cancer. It could also reflect that your prostate is enlarged, which is common, or it could signal an infection or inflammation.
The PSA blood test for prostate cancer
Your doctor may also conduct a digital rectal exam (DRE) to check your prostate for lumps. Depending on the results of these tests, imaging scans and a biopsy may be ordered.
After tests are conducted, your doctor analyzes the results to give you a Gleason Score. This score ranges from 6 to 10. The higher the score, the more aggressive the cancer.
This score, along with your other test results, helps doctors determine if your cancer is “low risk,” “intermediate risk,” or “high risk.”
Symptoms of Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. It starts in the walnut-shaped prostate gland between the rectum and bladder, producing the fluid that nourishes sperm.
Symptoms of prostate cancer may include:
- Urinating more often
- Waking up in the middle of the night to pee
- Blood in your urine
- Trouble getting an erection
- Pain or burning when you urinate
- Pain in your back, hips, thighs, or other bones
- Unexplained weight loss
- Fatigue
Be sure to get in to see a doctor for any concerning or lingering symptoms, and even if you’re not showing symptoms, speak with your provider about when you should begin your annual screenings.
Screening for Colorectal Cancer
Having a colonoscopy like Will Smith had is the only way for doctors to detect polyps — which are small white growths on the colon and usually precancerous — so they can remove them.
“These polyps have no signs, no symptoms,” Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet. “The only way that you can know you have them is if you do a colonoscopy — and you see them and you take them out during that procedure. And if you do that, those cannot grow into colon cancer.”
Looking for polyps during a colonoscopy
It’s vitally important to get screened for colon cancer appropriately rather than taking these at-home screening tests.
The American Cancer Society, as well as SurvivorNet experts, recommend that people at average risk of developing colon cancer start regular screenings at age 45. The test is easy, painless and nothing to ever be embarrassed about.
What Increases Your Risk for Colon Cancer?
While experts don’t know exactly what causes colon cancer, they do point to certain risk factors, such as diet, smoking tobacco, and drinking alcohol. Having a family history of colorectal cancer can also increase the risk. They don’t mean that you’ll definitely get this cancer — only that you’re slightly more likely to be diagnosed.
You may be at greater risk for colon cancer if you:
- Are older. About 90% of cases are in people age 50 or older, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Yet it is possible to get this cancer earlier in life.
- Have inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis can, over time, cause cells in your intestines to turn cancerous.
- Have a family history of this cancer. Just under one-third of people who get colon cancer have family members with the disease.
- Have a gene mutation. About 5% of colorectal cancers are caused by an inherited genetic mutation that causes syndromes such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome).
- Don’t exercise very often. Staying active can lower your risk.
- Eat a diet that’s high in meat. Regularly eating red meats like burgers and steaks, and processed meats such as hot dogs and bacon might put you at higher risk. Eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains instead might lower your risk.
- Are overweight or obese. Having too much weight increases your risk of both getting colon cancer, and of dying from it.
- Drink a lot of alcohol. Limiting alcohol to one drink a day for women and two drinks daily for men could help lower your risk.
- Use tobacco. Long-term smokers are more likely to get this cancer than are nonsmokers.
Alcohol and cancer – ‘Moderation is important’
Up to a third of people who develop cancer at a younger age have a genetic condition that puts them at high risk. Environmental factors may also contribute to younger people developing colon cancer.
For that reason, it is important for people of all ages to pay attention to changes in their body or bowel habits. Weight loss, blood in the stool, and changes in bowel movements that don’t go away are worth seeing your doctor about.
Lung Cancer CT Screening Saves Lives
Another important test to discuss with your doctor is a screening for lung cancer, whether you’re a smoker or former smoker (be aware that non-smokers can also get lung cancer).
With lung cancer, early detection is essential. The sooner doctors catch this cancer, the more likely that treatment will be successful. Early-stage lung cancers that are removed with surgery may even be curable. But all too often, lung cancer isn’t detected until it has already spread and it’s more difficult to treat.
“In about 70 to 80% of patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer, unfortunately the cancer has spread outside of the lung and is not suitable for surgery,” Dr. Patrick Forde, thoracic oncologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells SurvivorNet.
One very effective way to find lung cancers early is with a low-dose computed tomography (CT) scan. This test uses a very small amount of radiation to create highly detailed pictures of your lungs. It can reveal cancer long before your very first symptom appears.
Diagnosing lung cancer without invasive tests
A study published in the February 2020 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine found that former and current longtime smokers ages 50 to 74 who had low-dose CT scans were less likely to die from lung cancer (24% lower risk in men and 33% lower risk in women) than those who didn’t have this test.
“[The CT scans] were able to pick [up the cancer] at an earlier stage and potentially cure them at a higher rate than not doing screening,” Dr. Forde says.
A doctor will determine the need for this test based on your age and your smoking history. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends yearly low-dose CT scans for people who:
- Are between 55 and 80 years old
- Have a history of heavy smoking, and
- Smoke now or have quit within the past 15 years
Therefore, if you are a longtime smoker between the ages of 55 and 80, ask your primary care doctor if you qualify for low-dose CT screening, and how to get this test.
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