A doctor has warned that some “common” symptoms that hit when you reach the age of 50 could also be a warning sign of a deadly cancer. The expert urged people to see their GP if they notice any of these signs.
Speaking in a TikTok video, Doctor Suraj Kukadia, altered his followers to the key symptoms of prostate cancer. According to Cancer Research UK statistics, this disease is the most common form of cancer among men in the UK.
Every year around 55,100 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and it leads to around 12,000 deaths. This makes it the second most deadly type of cancer in UK men.
Part of what makes it so deadly is the fact that symptoms do not typically appear until the cancer has grown large enough to put pressure on the urethra – the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the penis.
On top of this, many of the symptoms can also be mistaken for an enlarged prostate – a begnin condition that affects many men over the age of 50. Dr Kukadia, who is best known online as Dr Sooj, explained more. He said: “Prostate problems are really common over the age of 50.
“It can lead to things like difficulty initiating a urine stream, urinary frequency, which means that you’re peeing lots and lots, and urinary urgency, which means that when you need to go, you really need to go. It can also give you a weak stream, make you pee more at night, your stream can be stop start, and you could dribble quite a lot towards the end of it.”
Luckily if your symptoms are caused by an enlarged prostate it is “easy to treat”. He continued: “As the prostate grows it grows outwards as well as inwards and puts pressure on that urethra, which is your pee pipe.
“And then that leads to all of this build up of pressure and can cause all of the symptoms that I mentioned earlier. And it’s really easy to treat because we can just give you medication, it helps to relax the prostate and relieve that pressure.”
But he acknowledged that prostate cancer could come with some additional symptoms. Dr Sooj said: “However, something like prostate cancer can cause very similar symptoms but prostate cancer can also cause pain in your lower back, blood in your urine and it can cause you to have weight loss. Now, if you’re having any of these symptoms, please go and see a doctor.”
He explained that doctors can perform a physical check to feel the prostate and whether it’s “irregular or smooth” or it it’s large. They can also carry out a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test to gauge your likelhood of having cancer – however, this test is not 100% accurate.
The NHS also warns that bone pain, a loss of appetite, and pain in the testicles can be a sign that the cancer has spread.