Cancer is one of those horrible things in the world that we can run away from. They say 1 in 3 people will get cancer, and for men the most common ones are prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Please be careful and check for prostate cancer and testicular cancer occasionally as both of these don’t always show obvious symptoms.
Prostate Cancer affects 1 in 8 men in the UK, and older men are more susceptible.
The prostate is a gland that men have that makes semen. It’s pretty important. Prostate cancer is when cells in your prostate go crazy and start growing in a way that can’t be controlled. Sometimes men can develop prostate cancer and never feel any symptoms. The problem are the cases of prostate cancer where the cancer spreads outside of the prostate gland.
Most of the time prostate cancer won’t show obvious symptoms. Black men, men over 50 and men who have a family history of prostate cancer are the most at risk. If you are worried at all, you should go talk to your doctor about getting some tests to check. There are a few symptoms that may show up if you have a benign prostate problem.
These include the following:
- needing to urinate more often than usual, including at night – for example if you often need to go again two hours
- difficulty starting to urinate
- straining or taking a long time to finish urinating
- a weak flow when you urinate
- a feeling that you’re not emptying your bladder fully
- needing to rush to the toilet – sometimes leaking before you get there
- dribbling urine after you finish.
Testicular Cancer is much less common, account for only 1% of cancer in men in the UK. However it affects younger men aged between 15-49.
You can most commonly find testicular cancer by feeling your testicles and finding unusual bumps or swellings. The testicles are oval and firm, but shouldn’t feel hard. If you think your testicles feel particularly hard then maybe you should go get a double check from the doctor. Other symptoms of testicular cancer includes feeling a dull ache in your scrotum, or if your scrotum feels very heavy.
To check your balls, roll each testicle one at a time between your thumb and forefinger. Feel around for lumps, bumps, pain and even the firmness/hardness. Most likely, everything will feel normal. You should get acquainted with the feel of your balls, and I advise doing this once a week in the shower or something. If anything ever feels out of the norm, go get it checked by your doctor.
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