S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On this episode of Midday Edition , we're drawing attention to men's health issues and preventative measures. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. June is Men's Health Month , and even though men face specific health challenges , there's a lack of awareness about disease prevention early on. So we wanted to talk about how men can take better care of their health and ask for support when they need it. Last week , Midday Edition's Andrew Bracken spoke with Kevin Maxwell. He's a professor of nursing at the University of San Diego. Andrew began by pointing to President Biden's recent diagnosis of prostate cancer , and how it shed light on the most common forms of cancer and men. He asked Professor Maxwell where ? Prostate cancer treatment stands.
S2: Well , at this point , you know , once. Once it's been identified , you know , there's there's various. Treatments that are still available. Um , especially with , with , uh , former President Biden. Uh , the fact that it had advanced to stage four , which is metastatic cancer , uh , makes it , you know , more treatable , uh , but not curable. I'm sure there's a lot of listeners that wonder , you know , how can someone with what should be the best care in the world , uh , have something like that missed ? Uh , and there's there's many controversies , I suppose , about , uh , prostate cancer screening. I mean , the test , uh , has its downfalls , and so it can make it challenging at times. Uh , not everyone with prostate cancer is going to test positive , uh , with a PSA test , uh , and vice versa , uh , so that that can be , uh , some of the issues , uh , today with with prostate cancer. But yeah , it is it is one of the the number one or second most commonly diagnosed solid cancer in adult men after non-melanoma skin cancer.
S3: So I mean , what do you think the lasting lesson of that , you know , of the news about President Biden and his diagnosis is. I mean , what should men take from that.
S2: To make sure that you are aware of of your body ? A lot of times , um , you know , people maybe explain away symptoms that they're having , um , that it's important to have a relationship with your provider , uh , that you feel free to discuss those sorts of issues. Um , to , you know , get the appropriate screening , but also be aware of the downfalls of some of the screening tests that are available. Uh , and also the risks that are associated with that , uh , with unnecessary , uh , screenings and biopsies and overdiagnosis , which was , you know , one of the main problems with prostate cancer is that we were treating more people than before because of the advent of the the PSA test , but also doing more harm in the long run , which is why it's sort of while it is an important tool in your diagnostic ability when it comes to prostate cancer , it's not perfect. And so you do run the risk of a lot of unnecessary treatments. And , you know , if we talk about mental health , uh , stress that goes along with , uh , worry about the possibility that you might have cancer , uh , when it turns out that , you know , the vast majority of people that are going to have an elevated PSA only have benign prostatic hyperplasia , uh , rather than prostate cancer itself , uh , and then trying to determine whether that cancer is something that's ever going to do anything , they've got the slow growing or something that could be much more serious.
S3: And yeah , it sounds like you're saying there's something of a balancing act there that doctors go through in terms of how to treat prostate cancer , because in many cases , um , you know , it may be present , but it may not ultimately lead to death. Is that part of the reason ? It just can be a slow moving cancer ? Yeah.
S2: And that's that's why it's important , you know , that once , once there is a concern , uh , for for cancer is that you don't you don't stop at a prostate specific antigen test , uh , that you would go on to either MRIs or biopsies. And that's the biopsy is going to let you know what type of cancer it is and whether it's something that you just want to do. Watchful waiting. Uh , and it may never amount to anything , uh , versus the risk that it's , it's a fast growing and that that could be something that you need to have treated.
S3: What other forms of cancer are men at higher risk of developing. I think you mentioned skin cancer earlier. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I mean the big ones. Colon cancer , I think , comes to mind specifically when we when we talk about , you know , lung cancer , I guess is going to be another huge one. And but it's it's far more difficult to treat. And there aren't a whole lot of good options for , for lung cancer. But definitely when we talk about most people would say , you know , if you catch cancer early , you have a better chance of dealing with it. And that's that's true for for a lot of cancers , especially colon cancer. Um , other cancers , whether you catch them early or catch them late , there aren't a whole lot of good options. Um , and so you run the risk of , you know , ten years of misery , uh , versus not knowing about something and , you know , waiting for it to become symptomatic. So that's why it's important that men know you know , which are the important ones to screen for , and then get those screenings and then also lifestyle modifications. You know , so stop smoking because that's that's probably going to be one of the number one things that can affect your health.
S3: And another leading health issue kind of related to all of this is is heart disease. What are some ways to work on prevention. You know , even at a younger age.
S2: Keep your weight in check. Um , you know , eat a healthy diet with low and processed foods. Um , get plenty of exercise. Don't smoke. Uh , moderate your drinking , uh , if at all. Um , I think are the big ones. You know , the first thing is you always are going to recommend to people is , you know , keeping their their diet in check. Uh , and , uh , lifestyle modification to , to help lower the risk of those things. And another one is , uh , sleep apnea. Um , snoring , uh , can sort of. It's almost like a gateway to all kinds of cardiac problems. So if your sleep partner tells you you snore , uh , it would be worth your while to look into that.
S3:
S2: Uh , you know , if you've if you've ever seen someone who's sleep deprived , and I suppose if I looked in the mirror right now , I'd see that person. Um , but you would , uh , it looks like , you know , that that stress , uh , builds up , and stress definitely has an effect on your health. Um , you know , people that work nights have a higher incidence of of issues , uh , because of the importance of , you know , getting that sort of restorative , uh , sleep , you know , whether whether you're somebody that needs four hours of sleep or night or someone that needs 12 hours of sleep or night. Um , getting that taken care of. And also , um , being aware of how important it is to get adequate sleep , I think is vitally important.
S3: I mean , for a lot of men , I think sometimes talking about their health , going to seek help can be uncomfortable.
S2: Starting young in life with seeing a provider. Uh , whether or not , you know , do you need an annual physical in your early 20s ? Probably not. Uh , but it's also , you know , getting in to see somebody. You build those relationships , you build that trust , uh , so that when things do come up , um , maybe you'll be more inclined to discuss it with your provider. Um , but , you know , that's. A difficult issue. Um , if it comes to things that can affect your employment , uh , if you just , uh , if you don't want anyone to know about it or embarrassment or thinking it's going to go away. Uh , when we talk about , uh , men's mental health , you know , anxiety , depression , post-traumatic stress , uh , and then another big problem is substance abuse issues , because people try and self-medicate , you know , whether it's with alcohol or other drugs , uh , legal or illegal , um , that , uh , maybe help them forget. Um , but that doesn't make disease go away and oftentimes can make it worse. Uh , if you don't get help. But there's , there's , there's many options , especially , uh , for mental health problems. There's there's many more options than when I was younger , uh , for people as far as Medications. Whether or not you want to have counseling. But I've yet to meet somebody that didn't feel like counseling hadn't been a good choice for them.
S3: So really emphasizing the importance of mental health and how it relates to our physical health as well.
S2: You know , and if you if you don't trust your provider , then there's there's plenty of others out there. So find somebody that you really feel like you can identify with that is going to , you know , give you sound advice on how to take good care of yourself. You know , for people that are going to be searching for things on the internet and with , you know , artificial intelligence , now , those the the new technology will interpret things for you. And just know that that's , you know , that's that's maybe not the best way to get your medical advice at this point. That may change in the future. But I think , you know , having having a trusted person that you can bounce things off of rather than trying to do it in a vacuum will help.
S3: I've been speaking with Kevin Maxwell. He's a professor of nursing at the University of San Diego. Professor , thanks so much for joining us and hope you get some more sleep after this interview.
S2: Thank you so much. Have a good day.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
