Pain in groin, blood in semen (few weeks ago), recently erectile dysfunction, halitosis (no amount of oral hygiene works) lower back pain that comes and goes, v high blood pressure (being treated with tabs). he is waiting for PSA (I think that's the abbreviation) results. of course prostate cancer is screaming at me, but he says it could just be a hernia or prostatitis. Should I be worried?

Again i must annotate that you are indeed already worried, rising and falling blood pressure is a signal scale of high cholesterol, or just a indication of in forcing stress caused by the aorta. Erectile dis function may be due to the Vas defer ens having a blockage or obstruction (at his age not uncommon). if he says it could be "just" a hernia or prostitutes i'd still highly recommend removing the problem, (your husband sounds like one of the people who push these things off.) Never the less, consult a doctor asap. And revise the future options, cells in the Vas defer ens may seem unimportant now but in serve re cases of prostate cancer cells reply much better to the conditions of the human body and are easily passed into the bloodstream (due to the walls being narrow).

Of course it is a cause for concern and should be followed up.
Assume infection of urino genital system first, investigate with the Urologist further and treat the underlying causes once diagnosed.
Blood pressure tablets, especially Ramipril, can play havoc with everything.
Halitosis (do you smell Ammonia there?) can come from Kidney disease. most urgent that this is diagnosed and ruled out.

he needs to see the doctor. if he's waiting for a PSA test and has all these problems he should tell the doctor that gave him the PSA test and if he can't help him then ask me to refer him to a doctor that can

sounds like you are already worried, get him to the doctor as soon as possible. blood where it's not supposed to be always needs checking

Sounds like the pancreas.

Take him to the doctor

No all those symptoms are normal. *Sarcasm*

How’s your heart? do you know your numbers for blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose?

And are you living right: not smoking, exercising briskly for 30 to 45 minutes a day, maintaining a healthy weight? are you limiting alcohol, sodium and saturated fats?

Do you know your family history? and are you keeping up with those doctor visits?

The action plan for a healthy heart may start with a partnership between you and your doctor, but it hinges on the lifestyle decisions you make every day.

That message hit home for Eileen Corning a few years ago. She let her annual physical slide, watched her weight creep up, wasn’t exercising and couldn’t shake a salt habit. at age 45, the Seminole, Fla., resident had high cholesterol, a stressful job and a family history of heart disease.

Yet she never suspected a heart problem in November 2007 when a worse-than-usual case of indigestion kept her up all night.

“I ignored it and went about my routine. I went to work the next day,” says Corning, now 48 and vice president of human resources at Largo Medical Center in Largo, Fla.

When she finally went in for a physical in December 2007, an electrocardiogram, or EKG, revealed she’d had a heart attack. her thoughts went to that attack of indigestion.

“It’s a night I’ll never forget,” Corning says. “It was a big wake-up call.”

Dr. Vibhuti Singh, chairman of cardiology at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Fla., says heart-health management starts with primary prevention, exactly what Corning ignored for two years before her heart attack.

“In general, for all adults who have no diagnosed heart disease, no diabetes, no symptoms, this is what they should be doing medically,” says Singh.

— Starting at age 18, men and women should have their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose checked. if all the results are normal, those tests would be repeated every five years up to age 40 for men, and up to age 50 for women. if at any point there are abnormal readings, or diabetes or obesity develops, the tests should be repeated annually.

— between ages 40 and 45 for men and ages 50 and 55 for women, adults need all the primary prevention tests mentioned above, plus an EKG, a baseline chest X-ray, a urinalysis, a thyroid hormone test, a stress test and an eye exam, says Singh.

“By looking at the tiny capillaries in the eye, we can see, very clearly, damage from blood pressure or diabetes,” diseases that often start silently, without obvious symptoms.

If all the test results are normal, these screenings may be repeated every three to five years; abnormal results may warrant rechecking annually.

For people who have been diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease, have had a stent placed, bypass surgery, a heart attack, chest pain or any other symptom of heart disease that their doctor wants to examine further, Singh explained that more advanced prevention steps are needed.

The goal is to prevent a second event or worsening of heart disease and damage to other organs. These tests may include: echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology tests, ultrasounds and CT heart scans. Diabetics fall into this secondary prevention category even without cardiac symptoms. because of their high risk for heart disease, they should be screened annually with all the tests for primary prevention, plus some in the secondary tier of tests, as recommended by their doctor.

Sharon Brooks, 63, a registered nurse at Englewood Community Hospital in Charlotte County, Fla., knew she was in this category. her cholesterol, blood pressure and weight were all in check, she didn’t smoke and was a regular fitness walker. But she also had diabetes for 40 years.

When her blood sugars became uncharacteristically unstable last December, her doctor ordered a CT scan of her heart. her health insurance wouldn’t cover the test, but she considered it a $300 Christmas present to herself and paid cash.

The test showed a substantial blockage in her heart that required treatment with a stent, a tiny wire mesh tube that props open vessels.

“It took me a week to get over the shock that this really happened to me without symptoms,” says Brooks. “I was a cardiac nurse before. I knew about prevention. I knew how to take care of myself. I felt I was in excellent physical shape. when it happens despite all these good things you do for yourself, it comes as quite a shock.”

Most patients in secondary prevention also need daily medication. Brooks takes a prescribed daily aspirin, statin, beta blocker and ACE inhibitor to keep heart disease from advancing.

Chief among all preventive measures for heart disease is lifestyle modification. Singh says three steps are a must: Don’t smoke, exercise daily (Singh echoes the American Heart Association advice to get a pedometer and take 10,000 steps a day), and maintain a healthy body weight. Add to that a heart-healthy diet that includes omega 3 fatty acids, plus fruits, vegetables and fiber-rich whole grains.

Eileen Corning exercises regularly, watches what she eats and has lost 30 pounds since her heart attack. She reminds women that their symptoms of a heart attack may not be the stereotypical chest pains — indigestion, nausea and back pain can all be symptoms for women.

“Don’t ignore what your body is telling you,” she says. “It’s hurting for a reason.”

Sharon Brooks walks 2 miles a day, four to five times a week, but with more intensity. Since getting the stent, she says she has more endurance. “I was never short of breath before, but now it seems I could just walk forever,”she says.

Contact Irene Maher at .

The two varieties of formula contained the same amount of calories, but the babies on hydrolysate formula ate less, gaining weight at a rate comparable to those on breast milk. The authors said the predigested proteins in hydrolysate formula may send a stronger signal to the digestive system, causing the babies to feel full sooner.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health; the formulas were supplied by a company that makes both varieties.

– Tom Avril

Study finds psoriasis increases risk of metabolic syndrome A new study urges doctors to be on the lookout for metabolic syndrome among patients with psoriasis, a common skin disease that causes redness and irritation.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors – including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol – that increases the chance of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Analyzing data from a U.S. health survey, researchers from Iceland, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania found that 40 percent of psoriasis patients had metabolic syndrome, compared with 23 percent of a control group with no psoriasis. thus, the syndrome was almost twice as common among psoriasis sufferers.

The researchers did not speculate about a biological reason for the association, but they estimated that of the 6.6 million American adults with psoriasis, 2.7 million have metabolic syndrome.

Given the serious complications of the syndrome, it “needs to be recognized and taken into account when treating individuals with psoriasis.” The study appeared online last week in the Archives of Dermatology.