Prostate Cancer Symptoms: An Overview
Prostate cancer often does not cause prostate cancer symptoms for many years. By the time symptoms do occur, the disease may have spread beyond the prostate.
Common Prostate Cancer Symptoms
For men who have prostate cancer symptoms, common symptoms include:
- Urinary problems
- Not being able to urinate
- Having a hard time starting or stopping the urine flow
- Needing to urinate often, especially at night
- Weak flow of urine
- Urine flow that starts and stops
- Pain or burning during urination
- Difficulty having an erection
- Painful ejaculation
- Blood in the urine or semen.
Other Prostate Cancer Symptoms
Prostate cancer can spread to the lymph nodes of the pelvis. Or it may spread throughout the body. It tends to spread to the bones. So bone pain -- especially in the back, hips, or upper thighs -- can be another symptom of prostate cancer.
Are They Prostate Cancer Symptoms or Something Else?
Most often, these possible prostate cancer symptoms are not actually the result of prostate cancer. For example, as men get older, their prostate may grow bigger and block the flow of urine or interfere with sexual function. This common condition, called benign prostatic hyperplasia (
BPH), is not prostate cancer, but it can cause many of the same prostate cancer symptoms. An infection or inflammation of the prostate (called
prostatitis) may also cause many of the same symptoms.
Any man with these possible prostate cancer symptoms should tell his doctor so that problems can be diagnosed and treated as early as possible. He may see his regular doctor or a urologist, a doctor whose specialty is diseases of the urinary system.
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