Sharing this here first because I want to know whether I have the list right. There are other signs, but these are seven of them. I have been thinking about how this actually gets found out. It is almost never the man. It is almost always somebody else who notices, and then sits on it for months because there is no polite way to raise it. Sixteen years ago that somebody was a friend in an airport. He told me straight. I had no idea, and I had been living every one of these for years without joining them up. The list, as I have it: Up in the night to piss, more than once. Standing there waiting for it to start. A slow stream that stops and starts. Urgency, where when you have to go, you have to go. A few drops afterwards, in the shorts. The feeling that you have not finished. Knowing where every toilet is, and planning around them. That last one is the sneaky one. Nobody thinks of it as a symptom. It just looks like a man who has gone off long journeys. A man who has quietly planned out how he will get through his day with the minimum of fuss. None of this is cancer. It is a gland that has grown, sitting round the tube and squeezing it like a fist on a garden hose. I am not a doctor, but I have had it for sixteen years and read most of what there is to read about it. So, honestly. Which one of those was your first, and how long was it before you said it out loud to anybody? https://www.skool.com/prostate-paladin-4886/about

A warm Paladin welcome to Oddysey Campbell who has a community dedicated to exploring the emotional prism. I am happy you are here and look forward to getting to know you. If you have any questions, please ask myself or in the group. Feel free to explore the classroom and get started on your journey to Prostate awareness, you will be glad you did. Sincerely, Alex

Today a friend contacted me on an unrelated matter and then at the end of the conversation they had this to say. "I have been taking 2 x 500 mg capsules of Stinging Nettle root for over a month now, and I am seeing a big improvement. Sometimes I don't even get up for a piss at night. Normally only once now at 6am. Thanks" Several months ago he was visiting Thailand as he still has a house here. I told him and others about Stinging Nettle root and how it had helped me to sleep through most nights. He finally got around to trying it about 6 weeks ago. As you can see he is very happy. I have another friend from the same group who also saw some improvement with his sleeping habits, though not as effiective - still an improvement. About 2 years ago I started taking stinging nettle root and it did help me to sleep through most nights. I am only reporting what worked for me and now a couple of friends. I am reporting what I have seen to be effective. Supplements are medicines that are not regulated by the FDA, so be sure to monitor yourself, if you do try this, or any supplement. If you or the man in your life is getting up at night to piss more than once, I would say give stinging nettle root a try. If it does work for you, I would love to hear about it. https://www.skool.com/prostate-paladin-4886/about

I want to talk about something that landed this week, and about why it got under my skin. In the UK, men over 50 have lost the automatic right to ask their GP for a PSA test. It is not a ban - you can still ask, and the doctor still decides, the same as he always did. What has gone is the entitlement sitting behind the question. Plenty of people are furious about it. I am not going to do that here, because the anger does not get anyone tested. What bothers me is quieter than that. Sixteen years ago a friend told me in an airport that I had a few drops on my trousers. He said it happens to all of us, it is your prostate. Nobody had ever mentioned it to me before that. Not once. I had no idea. And I still let it slide for years afterwards, because there is a big difference between knowing a thing and doing something about it. I was waiting. I did not know I was waiting, but I was. Waiting for a letter, a leaflet, a doctor to raise it, somebody official to tell me it was my turn. Nobody was coming. Nobody is coming for you either. That is really all this week's news changed. It took away the last thin excuse for waiting. So I will ask you what my friend asked me, more or less. Have you had a PSA test? And if not - what is the actual thing stopping you? Not the polite answer. The real one. I will read every reply. https://www.skool.com/prostate-paladin-4886/about

I read a piece this week that needs to be shared. A group of doctors sat down and listed the beliefs that keep men out of the screening room. Not because the beliefs sound crazy. Because they sound reasonable. "I feel fine." "I am too young." "A high number means the worst." I want to walk through what they said, because I know a man who lived through every one of these myths and came out the other side. He is a friend of mine here in Thailand, fifty-two at the time. No symptoms. None. He caught it because his company sends everyone for a yearly physical, not because anything felt wrong. Myth one: no symptoms means nothing is wrong This is the one that gets most people. Early prostate cancer does not hurt. It does not slow your stream. It does not wake you up at night. My friend felt completely normal the whole way through. The gland does not warn you before it becomes a problem. That is exactly why the yearly test exists, not because you feel something, but because you might not. Myth two: this is an old man's disease Fifty-two is not old. The doctors in the piece said they still see men in their forties and fifties who were told they were too young to worry. My friend was squarely in that window. Myth three: a high PSA number is the diagnosis His PSA came back around four at that first physical. Four is not a death sentence. It is a number that says go look closer. They sent him for an ultrasound, then an MRI. It took nine months of watching that number climb, four up to nine, before anyone talked about treatment. A high PSA opens a conversation. It does not end one. Myth four: "incurable" is the word people reach for It is out of date. His cancer was caught early and it was slow growing, which gave him time to research his options instead of panicking into the first one offered. Two years after treatment his PSA had dropped from nine to one point seven then down to one point five. He is healthy, no lasting side effects, and he still checks it with PSA and MRI every six to twelve months.