The ludicrous battle continues
Heroin for cancer patients
Where is the common sense and compassion in this country for cancer patients who suffer in agony? Addicts on opioid drugs are now getting better pain control than cancer victims. Cancer patients and their families should be enraged by what is happening.
What is galling is that the government wants to reduce barriers that limit access to heroin for addicts in drug-treatment programs. Yet there is no such access for cancer patients in hospitals. It appears that not all the lunatics are in the asylum.
Don’t Succumb to the
Stupidity Factor
You may need to see a psychiatrist, rather than your family doctor. Not because you suffer from serious mental disease, but because you may die from cancer due to what’s been called the “Stupidity Factor”. Too many people fail to take the basic precautions to prevent cancer. Others fail to, or refuse to, get tests that could detect early cancer. And many don’t sign a living will with advanced directive to clarify their wishes for pain management and medical assistance in dying.
Beware of the PSA Test
Prostate Cancer
Several years ago, a federal panel of doctors who set guidelines for cancer screening urged physicians to stop ordering the PSA test. One reason was the unexpected complications. PSA tests can lead to prostate biopsies, which is painful. But more importantly, complications can include blood in the urine or semen, rectal bleeding, infection and in rare cases, death.
– 21 out of every 1,000 men who have a prostate biopsy will have complications severe enough to require hospitalization.
– 2 out of every 1,000 men who have a prostate biopsy will die within 120 days of the biopsy due to complications.
The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health has reported that for every 1,000 men treated for prostate cancer…
…. 112-214 will have short-term complications such as infection, additional surgeries and blood transfusions
….. 127-442 will suffer from long-term erectile dysfunction
….. up to 178 will experience urinary incontinence
….. 4-5 will die from the complications of prostate surgery.
Tell your partner to examine “his” breasts
The vast majority of Canadians rarely associate breast cancer with men. So a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal will be a surprise to many that says more men die from breast cancer than testicular malignancy.
Males who do not carry the BRCA2 mutation have 0.1 percent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. But for males carrying this gene, there is an 80 fold increased lifetime risk of this malignancy.
75 percent of men with breast cancer have a palpable mass around the nipple which may be associated with pain, nipple discharge and eventually ulceration. And compared to breast cancer in women, the diagnosis in men is made at a more advanced stage. So like women, men should learn to regularly check the nipple area for masses.
The diagnosis is made by mammography and ultrasound and all suspicious masses should be biopsied.
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