The FOPS will be at the Oshwal Centre and will be offering free PSA tests and advice by courtesy of the Fulford Charitable Trust

SCREENING FOR THE HEALTH OF YOUR PROSTATE

The Friends of Prostate Suffers (FOPS) in partnership with Graham Fulford Charitable Trust will be offering the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Test at the Oshwal Health Awareness Day. There will be presentations from specialist urologists who will also be there with members of FOPS to talk about what help is available for Prostate sufferers.

Prostate is a walnut sized gland found in men, which lies underneath the bladder and surrounds the tube that men pass urine and semen through. The prostate is tiny at birth but after puberty it enlarges The prostate is the only organ that continues to grow throughout life. This can sometimes cause problems once a man reaches middle age. Three most common types of prostate problems are:

• Non cancerous enlargement of the prostate called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)
• An Inflammation or infection of the prostate gland called prostatitis
• Prostate Cancer

If you have problems with your prostate you may have following Symptoms:

Needing to urinate more often, especially at night; Difficulty starting to pass urine; Straining or taking a long time to finish urinating or feeling that your bladder has not emptied properly; A weak flow or dribbling urine; Needing to rush to the toilet or leak urine before you get there.

The only problem is that often during early stages of prostate problems you may not have any symptoms. The earlier, men recognise there is a problem with their prostate and seek medical help, the better the outcome of treatment is likely to be.

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a protein produced by prostate cells and is found in the blood in small amounts. PSA Blood Testing is not an infallible test, but it is good for basic screening purposes. The test can give out false positives or negatives because a number of factors including certain medications might affect your PSA test, but as a screening tool it can be used to give indications if further testing is required. Early detection can make prostate cancer one of the easier cancers to treat, giving a high survival rate. It can be slow growing or be very aggressive and a delay may cause it to spread and may be too late.

Keeping a record of yearly PSA test score can help, as an upward trend in PSA values may mean further testing is necessary.

Finding you have Prostate Cancer can be very traumatic and lead to periods of depression and loneliness and talking to those close to you can be difficult. The happy and positive bunch of Members of FOPS found that sharing experiences with others who are coping with or have Prostate Cancer was very therapeutic. They support their aims by organising social and fund raising events, such as awareness Presentations with Songs, Dinner Dances with entertainment and collecting funds during National Prostate Cancer week in a fun way with singing.

The aim of the Graham Fulford Charitable Trust is to promote PSA screening. They feel that there should be a Nationwide Screening Programme for all men.

Till this is the case they are carrying out PSA tests all over United Kingdom and also promoting that men from the age of 50 (45 with a family history of prostate) to ask their doctors for a PSA test. They have so far PSA blood tested over 12,000 men and identified 200 known cancers to date.

VISIT THE PROSTATE AWARENESS STAND FOR MORE INFORMATION