For some years my wife and I have been having a couple of problems with my excessive snoring and falling asleep at friends' houses, in restaurants, at home etc and more trips to the toilet for a pee and more night time micturations than should be usual. Three or four episodes of waking up at night for toilet was quite a regular thing.
First problem - it's got to the point where for the last 18 months I now sleep downstairs in a sleeping bag on an airbed so she can get some sleep. Our son in the next bedroom could hear me snoring it was so bad. The falling asleep when with other people was embarrassing. I saw my doctor and to cut a long story short have been diagnosed with moderate sleep apnoea and now use a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine every night, complete with flexible air tube and full face mask that makes me look like something out of Star Wars. So what has this to do with prostate cancer? Read on!
Second problem - We couldn't go out for a walk in the countryside for any length of time without my having to go behind bushes etc, or go shopping without me having to clear off to the Gents every so often and it got very annoying for both of us. I'm 69 and decided to have something done about this and after numerous PSA's, a flow test etc, an MRI scan and 12 needle biopsy (no anaesthetic, is that usual?), the result was that on 31st January was told I have very small tumours of non-aggressive prostate cancer in the right hand half of my prostate. My consultant said I'm a lucky man - well that depends on your point of view.
So what links the two problems? Soon after I started using the CPAP machine my night time pees have dramatically reduced. Quite often I now sleep through uninterrupted from say 11.30 to 6 or 6.30 am, or get out of the sleeping bag just once, never more than that. The CPAP consultant told me the medical reason why this is so, but doesn't need going into here. What I'm saying is that anyone with PCa who has to get out of bed too often could perhaps suggest to his GP that sleep apnoea may be the problem. If so, the relevant sleep tests at home etc will follow. Food for thought!
I wonder if anyone else has come across this