PSA anxiety

Better prognosis if the macula is not detached, several different procedures can be done if it’s caught early- per my son, an optometrist.

I got it kinda sorta early

Far from worst case scenario. I’m ok now but early days of a retinal detachment are frightening.

Thank you for your comments. The retinal detachment will end up being a rounding error in my life but it threw me off my optimism & recovery.

Hey Ken, just want to chime in…PSA is the MOST HORRIBLE acronym in my life and probably in the lives of everyone on the forum and beyond.
The gut wrenching anxiety and projection is a real physical response to these 3 letters that seem to be so telling in whether we live or die. They’re NOT But we’ve been conditioned to believe that they are the Be All and End All of our existence.
Your results are really clinically insignificant right now, but your dread and anxiety are not - and that’s OK!! Some of us are better at compartmentalizing our fears; some aren’t (like me) but you don’t need a therapist to tell you how you should feel. If you want to talk to someone about it that’s fine, but there is no cure for how you are built.
I am a chronic worrier and I’ve learned to embrace it, rather than fight it. When that old familiar feeling of dread begins to creep in I just say to myself ‘‘oh well, there I go again”. And I quickly realize that I shouldn’t take myself so seriously because it’s ME who is making this a bigger problem than it is. I didn’t need a therapist to tell me this, just 70 years of living to know who I really am. It’s OK to have fear, but don’t let that single emotion rule your entire life. Best,
Phil

Hey, Heavyphil. Thank you. This is one of the best PSA related post I've ever read. For me it's an awaking. Much joy my Friend, much joy.

Hey Phil - great response. I too am a chronic worrier but that comes from life experience. Lots of tragedy, so I’m a glass half empty guy, but I earned it.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I wouldn’t have been so upset if I did not have a retinal detachment recently, which hit me like a truck. I was walking and swimming like my life depended on it feeling great optimistic then one day IAs I mentioned elsewhere, I wouldn’t of been so upset if I did not have a retinal detachment recently, which hit me like a truck. I was walking and swimming like my life depended on it feeling great optimistic then one day I couldn’t see out of my left eye and thought I was gonna go blind there

I may have shrugged off this PSA if not for the retinal detachment, but that injury has thrown me into high anxiety worry wart guy again.

It will pass. But man, all I wanted from God was a < in front of my .05 just to take that one thing off my plate.

I appreciate your insightful words. Once this horrendous heat wave passes I’ll be out walking again and maybe swimming in another two weeks that’s all I need. I think I’ll pass on the whole psychiatry psychologist industry. I could not despise them more. I get more from sites like this including prostate cancer UK.

Well, not sure if I can add to what others have said.

Here's an example of looking at PSA in a different light. My take, if you are high risk, like me, GS8. GG4. 18 months to BCR and rapid PSADT and PSAV then PSA activity is something g to stay on top of.

Even then, I have decision criteria about what constitutes the call for action.

Three or more PSA tests sos Ed 2-4 months apart that show increase.
PSA between .5-10

The latter gives me statistically a 2/3. Hence of imaging locating the recurrence thus informing the treatment decision.

Keep in mind that the most difficult variable to determine in clinical trials is OS-overall survival. Many use progression free survival as a variable.

This CT argues that just because newer imaging can locate activity is by itself not a reason to treat.
https://www.urotoday.com/video-lectures/advanced-prostate-cancer/video/mediaitem/4947-psma-pet-in-biochemical-recurrence-when-to-treat-vs-when-to-wait-ravi-madan.html?utm_source=newsletter_14349&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=prostate-cancer-daily
There are also CTs looking T other than ADT, some are looking at SBRT to push back time to ADT.

So, with your clinical data, consider just living and enjoying your life. My clinical days is different than yours, but I actively manage it and have enjoyed my life for the last 11+ years, even the three o' e been on treatment.

Stay cool and have fun until your next test 😎.
If your PSA continues to go up, you might need a PSMA PET scan to find the culprit. I was there four years ago. They found a lesion on my sacrum which they radiated. My PSA has been undetectable since then and my PET scans have been clear. It is just one test. As long as it doesn’t keep going up over time, you’re OK. If not, there are treatments. I like to think of the entire ordeal as making me a stronger person, just like working out. Enjoy today!

I know the feeling, been on ADT for 15 months and my numbers were pretty much the same. I had the undetectable sign one test the next I didn't. Same number just no sign. They were from the company too.

Do you think it's a typo? It's still SUPER low!
My husband got diagnosed in Feb with PSA 285 and ever since getting hormone shots and the pills and now going thru chemo it has dropped, though now it's at the point of dropping slowly. last time it was 1.3 and the time before that was 1.5....
Anyways, I remember the doctors saying it's not so much the numbers now, it's the trend AND they guessed in my husband's case that it would work for maybe 18-24 months, then they'd watch for how fast it doubles, even if it means 0.2 to 0.4 as an example and then we'd could discuss Pluvicto.
Yours is still super low. so hang in there!