The worthless test - and the sex that's best

Are the PSA's days numbered?

I've been saying for years that the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer was worthless. Readings often vary from one test to the next in individual men, yet a single "elevated" reading is enough to convince many men to needlessly undergo invasive prostate surgery that renders them incontinent, impotent, or both.

Beyond this, it's a dirty little secret of modern medicine that the PSA is not only ambiguous, it's downright inaccurate. According to an Associated Press article from earlier this year, the majority of prostate biopsies (which spread cancer, by the way) among men with elevated PSA levels did NOT reveal cancer - and many with "normal" PSA scores actually have the deadly disease.

But the medical mainstream continues to administer the test anyway, even though it often results in more harm than good. Perhaps not for much longer, though…

Evidence is surfacing - and is being seriously discussed in mainstream medical circles - that points a harsh finger at traditional methods of diagnosis, including the PSA test. Among these findings are that men who have been screened for prostate cancer were no more likely to live than those who had not.

According to an article in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers studied 1002 veterans, 501 who had died of prostate cancer and an identical number of men the same ages and of similar condition who had lived with the disease. They found that traditional forms of prostate cancer screening (like the PSA) had NO BEARING on the likelihood of death from the disease, based on data gathered from 1991 to 1999.

In other words, the screening methods, regardless of their result, don't increase your chances of survival - but they do increase your chances of living the remainder of your days incontinent or impotent should you choose the surgery many mainstream urologists want to force upon you…

Of course, critics of the study say it isn't big enough.

Well, their wagon will get fixed come 2009, when the largest-ever study of the PSA's effectiveness will be concluded in the U.S. and Europe. At that time, there will be data from more than 300,000 men - and I'm betting it'll prove the worthlessness of that test once and for all.

Until then, keep your prostate where it is - and follow up an elevated PSA with the infinitely more accurate AMAS test for cancer. Your doctor will know what this is, and if he doesn't, find one who does.

50-something sex the envy of 30 year olds

This doesn't make sense, does it? Isn't the average man's sex drive, stamina, and ability to even have sex declining big-time once he hits 50?

Well, yes. But apparently, he feels more sexually satisfied than at any point since his 20s.

That's exactly what a recent study published in the BJU International medical journal has concluded. Researchers from both Norway and the U.S. surveyed nearly 1,200 men of varying ages on their overall sexual satisfaction as indicated by sexual drive, erections, and ejaculations…

Their findings: That even though advancing age contributed to a 22% variance in drive, a 23% difference in ejaculation, and a 33% reduction in erection satisfaction, age only accounted for around a 3% decline from one age extreme (20) to the other (59) in overall sexual satisfaction.

The study's data marked the highest satisfaction rate among 20 to 29 year olds, with a close second going to the 50+ set - men in their 40s were lower by a significant degree, and the poor 30-somethings were all but breaking out in a chorus of "I can't get no satisfaction."

It just goes to show you that managing expectations is just as important as dealing with physical limitations. If you're happy and grateful for what little sex you have later in life, you're more sexually healthy than the man who romps like a rabbit, but remains unfulfilled.

The key to sexual health, like with so many things, is a healthy sense of perspective.