I am 54, semi-retired, and lead a pretty healthy life dividing my time between the East Coast and Hawaii. All my life I have exercised and surfed and stayed in pretty good shape. I never had any prostate problems until about seven years ago when my PSA suddenly spiked from 1.5 to 3.0 after a routine blood test. Even though my PSA was under what still within what was considered a “normal” range my urologist recommended we do a biopsy given the unusual increase from my base level PSA.
For anyone who has had a biopsy then you will know it is definitely not fun and not something you want to happen if you can avoid it! In my case, the results of my biopsy came back as “suspicious” and that was all that was explained to me. I didn’t really know what “suspicious” was meant to mean! No cancer was found (not that I was told anyway) and I was told to come back in four months to do another biopsy. That was not something I wanted, but it seemed like this was the right thing to do based on what my urologist was telling me.
I was eagerly waiting for the procedure since it’s so much fun (not) but was relieved that the results came back negative again. Then, three years ago, my PSA spiked again, so once more I headed to the urologist for my third biopsy. Happily, the results were once again negative, but my prostate was definitely traumatized by three biopsy procedures that resulted in a number of ongoing side effects (more on that later).
So here was I, three biopsies, a continually spiking PSA and my urologist not finding anything wrong with me! It just seemed like my urologist just wanted to keep testing me until he found something even though nothing was there to be found! Then, three months ago, my PSA spiked to 4.8, so once again the alarm bells started ringing. Rather than have another biopsy, I started doing a lot of research of my own to see what could be the problem . One of my biggest complaints throughout this whole process, and one which has caused me a lot of anxiety, is nobody ever offered me any advice as to diet, and other things I could do to keep my prostate small and healthy. I had to find out all that information for myself and it takes a lot of time and research, as, in my mind, urologists just don’t seem to know or keep up with the latest information on diet and nutrition. Believe it or not, after researching this more I found out that doctors have no nutrition or diet training at medical school which I found really hard to believe. Anyway, I started doing a number of things differently. First up, I started taking supplements for my prostate as I thought that in my case, my PSA was maybe the result of inflammation or just my prostate getting big from me getting older. It’s hard to say what I initially felt when I started taking the supplements but I definitely felt my energy levels increase and seemed to be more alert and feeling “healthy”. I initially thought that was just my “positive outlook” and apart from taking the supplements I was not doing anything different than I had been doing in the last 7 years. One other effect I absolutely did notice though was my increased sex drive. I am certain that my 3 biopsies had caused a decrease in my erections (something my urologist never mentioned). I really did notice an improvement in this area very quickly, which was not something I was expecting and was an added bonus!
Anyway, after three weeks of taking the supplements (Prost-P10x), I went back in for a PSA test. And, just as I had “felt” my PSA had dropped from 4.8 to 3.3! This was the largest drop in my PSA I had ever had. Now I am not saying 100% that it was solely the supplements but I really believe it was part of the change. So now, going forward, to stay healthy and avoid more biopsies, I am also now combining the supplements with more exercise and better eating habits including eating less meat and dairy as well as drinking green tea and trying to relax more (I have even started meditating!). Anything that I can do to keep my PSA levels down is great news for me. If my PSA levels are not caused by cancer the last thing I want to do is to continually have biopsies as this is something I definitely want to avoid if possible. Anyway, that’s my story and hopefully it will help other men out there.
Maury Levin
San Diego, CA
November 17, 2011
