Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow highlight men's mental health
Each organisation will take over a dedicated space beneath the flower wall outside John Lewis & Partners for a day, offering information, support, and a chance to start important conversations.
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(Image: Supplied) Kathy Murdoch, centre director at Buchanan Galleries, said: "It's important to us to serve our community, not only as a shopping centre, but as a community hub in the centre of Glasgow.
"We aim to create an accessible, supportive space for men, who may not typically seek health advice or services, and bring these opportunities directly to them in a familiar, everyday setting.
"We know that taking that first step can often be the hardest, so by offering visibility and access to these brilliant charities and organisations in a relaxed environment, we hope to make it easier for men to start important conversations about their health and wellbeing.
"It's a small but meaningful way we can help reduce stigma and encourage more positive, proactive approaches to men's health in our community."
Each charity will be present at the centre from 10am to 4pm.
On Monday, June 9, MindTheMen, a suicide prevention and mental health support group, will launch the week.
The next day will see MENSELF+ introduce its MOT 4 MEN health check programme.
(Image: Supplied) Jim Malcomson, programme coordinator at MENSELF+, said: "We're thrilled to be bringing our MOT 4 MEN programme to guests at Buchanan Galleries.
"The service is a unique health initiative that encourages men to think about their wellbeing like they would their car - through regular check-ups and maintenance.
'By creating a relaxed, non-medical environment with a bit of humour, the programme breaks down barriers and helps men take positive, proactive steps toward better physical and mental health.'
On Wednesday, June 11, Men Matter Scotland will share its work around peer support and suicide prevention.
Martin Melly, operations manager at Men Matter Scotland, said: "Men Matter Scotland is looking forward to coming to Buchanan Galleries and taking part in this initiative.
"We aim to improve men's mental health and wellbeing through peer-to-peer support so getting the opportunity to raise awareness amongst the local population in Glasgow of our service is vital."
Thursday, June 12, will see the Terrence Higgins Trust offering guidance on sexual health and HIV support.
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Finally, the week will conclude on June 15, with Prostate Scotland raising awareness about prostate health.
Alison Wright, chief executive of Prostate Scotland, said: "We're proud to be taking part in this week of action to help shine a light on men's health.
"Too often, men put off speaking up about health concerns - especially when it comes to prostate issues.
"By bringing our information and support directly into a busy public space like Buchanan Galleries, we hope to make it that bit easier for men to get informed, ask questions, and feel more confident about taking charge of their health."
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The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
The silent epidemic: the pros and cons of screening for prostate cancer
'You will feel a little pressure.' My doctor had instructed me to lower my boxers, bend forward and place my elbows on the table. As with most men over 50, it was time for my annual digital rectal exam, or DRE: those riveting moments when the doctor takes a 'look' at the prostate gland, which is just below the bladder and in front of the rectum. Its position makes the examination difficult. The physician inserts a well-lubricated finger into the patient's rectum to feel for abnormalities such as lumps, nodules or areas of hardness. As uncomfortable as the procedure can be, in my experience, it rarely lasts for more than 10 seconds. As always, she said everything looked fine. In my rush to pull my boxers up and change the subject, I didn't bother to ask any more questions. At the time, I was clueless that as men age, the prostate becomes increasingly susceptible to cancer. In the rare event the disease tops the news cycle, it's because of high-profile diagnoses, such as for former US president Joe Biden in May, Nelson Mandela, Robert De Niro and the Chicago Cubs hall of famer Ryne Sandberg, who died in late July. Even so, important details of the illness often go unreported. I – like many others – typically dismissed the topic with a yawn, being of the uninformed but persistent impression that it's 'the best cancer to have'. All I knew was that prostate cancer tends to move slowly and can be successfully treated when detected early. Now I am a prostate cancer survivor, whose prostatectomy in 2020 almost came too late. I didn't know that in the US, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. One in eight will be diagnosed with it. One in 44 will die from it. Being uninformed about those details and testing options could have killed me. 'Prostate cancer has been called the Silent Epidemic,' said Dr Samuel L Washington, a urologic surgeon who specializes in oncology at the University of California in San Francisco. Even with an active lifestyle, healthy nutritional regimen and digital screenings, cancer can sneak in undetected. 'Many men with prostate cancer won't experience any outward signs or symptoms until the disease is advanced, which is why testing is so critical,' said Dr Clifford Gluck, a urologist and Founder of Dr Gluck's Wellness Center in Massachusetts. 'If not caught early, it can break free of the prostate and run unchecked through the body, with a particular penchant for bone.' Once prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body, the five-year relative survival rate is only 37%. 'In 2023, only about 38% of men between 50 and 64 were screened for the disease,' said Washington. 'Sadly, a lack of screening remains one of many factors leading to increased rates of men presenting with more advanced disease over the last decade. The more advanced the cancer, the harder it is to treat.' Before my 62nd year, I routinely postponed my annual physical, assuming I was bulletproof. I was athletic and ate a plant-based diet. My life was free of processed foods, recreational drugs, tobacco, asbestos and weapons-grade plutonium. I experienced no symptoms indicative of prostate cancer, such as erectile dysfunction or urinary issues that reportedly led to the former president's diagnosis. Then, after a couple of cross-country moves with my family, I no longer had a primary physician. Dismissing my claims of invincibility, my wife handed me a list of internists. I booked a physical, and my new doctor ordered my first-ever PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test. PSA is a protein produced by the prostate. Normal and cancerous prostate cells produce it, but cancerous ones tend to produce more. That said, an elevated PSA level is not always indicative of cancer. Generally, a normal, or non-elevated score for men over 60 is under four; for men under 59, under two-and-a-half; and for younger men, under one. But 'PSA levels differ for each person,' said Dr Ash Tewari, professor and chairperson of the department of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. 'While scores below four are preferred, it is most important to understand whether a PSA level is changing from year to year.' Variables such as family history, overall health, nutrition and race can have an effect. 'At the very least, I urge patients to have the conversation with their doctor,' he said. Mine was a harrowing 17. My doctor called, speaking with a breathless urgency that made me feel I might not live to the end of the conversation. 'It's almost certain,' he said, 'that you have prostate cancer.' The PSA test is a common, though imperfect, screening test for prostate cancer recommended by many urologists and primary care physicians for men starting at age 50. It is also one of the only ways to catch prostate cancer early. I asked my two previous primary care physicians why they had never ordered one, and they argued that the test sets off too many false alarms and causes undue stress; elevated PSA levels can be symptomatic of issues other than cancer, such as an infection. Also, I had never asked for one. (They must have confused my BA in English with a medical degree.) After hearing I had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, one conceded: 'In hindsight, a PSA test would have been a good idea.' Their reluctance is not unusual. Many doctors in the US shy away from prescribing the test because of the uncertainty of what an elevated score means, how patients react to that uncertainty and risks associated with subsequent exploratory procedures like biopsies. A PSA test can correctly indicate that prostate cancer is present, as it did for me. But it can also result in a false positive, suggesting cancer is present when it isn't (6 to 7% per screening round); a false negative, or not picking up that cancer is present (according to the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 15% of people with a normal PSA test result may have prostate cancer); or catch slow-growing cancers that might never have caused issues. The latter is called overdiagnosis, and treatment can expose 'a person unnecessarily to potential complications', according to the National Cancer Institute: these include urine leakage, increased urination, loose stools or rectal bleeding, and loss of erections or decreased erections. Current estimates suggest that 20%–40% of screen-detected prostate cancers may never have caused harm, with risk varying by age, PSA levels, and Gleason Score. 'There are risks to the test,' said Dr Nancy L Keating, MD, MPH, professor of healthcare policy & medicine at Harvard Medical School. The PSA test has a C rating from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). For context, an A rating means the USPSTF strongly recommends the test. A C means doctors may offer it, 'but that patients should make an individual decision about screening after discussing potential benefits and harms with their doctor', said Keating. Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion 'There appears to be a modest benefit to screening for some men,' said Keating. 'But most prostate cancers are not likely to be deadly, and many men will experience the harms of screening, such as anxiety and unnecessary biopsies, and treatments like radiation or removal of the prostate that can lead to incontinence and erectile dysfunction, without experiencing benefits,' said Keating, who thinks it is important for patients to understand the test's limitations. In one 2024 study that followed more than 400,000 men aged 50-69, one invitation to do a PSA test produced a small mortality benefit. 'The small reduction in prostate cancer deaths by using the test to screen healthy men does not outweigh the potential harms,' Professor Richard Martin, lead author of the study and cancer research scientist at the University of Bristol in the UK, said at the time. 'This results in some men going on to have invasive treatment that they don't need, many years earlier than without screening, and the test is also failing to spot some cancers that do need to be treated.' Regret following a prostate biopsy isn't rare – even when no cancer is found. A 2024 multicenter cohort study reported that about 5% of men regretted undergoing the procedure, often due to pain, bleeding, or unexpected psychological distress. In qualitative studies, men who believed they had been overdiagnosed and unnecessarily treated reported lasting regret, uncertainty, and emotional distress – even years after treatment. Men more susceptible to prostate cancer, and therefore more likely to benefit from a PSA test, include African American men, men with a family history of prostate cancer, and those with genetic mutations such as BRCA1 or BRCA2, according to the American Cancer Society. Gluck noted that the PSA test has a low USPSTF grade 'primarily due to concerns about side-effects from surgery or radiation treatments'. But advances in technology, treatment and surgical techniques – such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), a non-invasive treatment that uses targeted sound waves to destroy prostate cancer while preserving urinary and sexual function – make screening a 'far more favorable proposition' now, he said. My PSA score definitely spiked my anxiety, despite knowing I might only have an infection. The only way to determine what it meant was an MRI and a prostate biopsy. I dreaded the biopsy, which was to a digital exam what a root canal is to flossing. My urologist explained that there were some risks, such as infection and false negatives, but for me, confirming whether I had cancer far outweighed them. Nothing about these processes counted as pleasant. For the MRI, I was ensconced in the machine for about 40 minutes. A week after that, the doctor inserted an ultrasonic probe into my rectum to guide him as he extracted 12 small samples of my prostate. The biopsy redefined my concept of vulnerability, but although it seemed like hours, it took less than 20 minutes – and anticipating the pain was worse than the actual pain. After a few days of mild tenderness, I was back to normal. For all of the worry and discomfort, if the biopsy revealed no trace of cancer, I would have uncorked the champagne. Unfortunately, my results showed a high Gleason score – which measures how different cancer cells look under a microscope compared with normal cells – consistent with aggressive prostate cancer. But I was relieved to hear that the disease hadn't spread beyond the prostate membrane. Had I waited another two or three months, according to my post-operation pathology report, it probably would have. Six weeks after the biopsy, I underwent a radical robotic nerve-sparing prostatectomy, a roughly five-hour operation to remove the prostate using minimally invasive tools. Finding data on success rates was frustrating given the myriad factors that can affect the outcome, which include Gleason scores, age, health, obesity, comorbidities and whether or not the cancer has metastasized beyond the prostate. I banked on my fitness and the skill of my surgeon as deciding factors to undergo the operation. My greatest fears were long-term incontinence or erectile dysfunction, but I was fortunate not to suffer either. As lucky as I was, earlier testing and detection would have afforded me more treatment options. 'The benefits of early detection can't be overstated, which is why I advise men between 50 and 70 years of age to have a PSA discussion annually,' said Tewari. 'PSA screening combined with imaging is an important approach to effectively screen for prostate cancer.' It took moving across the country, my wife's diligence and a doctor who routinely prescribed PSA tests for my cancer to be diagnosed. It was a complicated road, and experts' divergence on the effectiveness of screening show just how difficult it can be for a layperson to make these kinds of medical decisions. It's not ideal to rely on a testing option that at best results in an estimated 10 out of 1,000 people avoiding death from prostate cancer, with treatment options that can result in incontinence and sexual dysfunction. But taking the test when I did had a dramatic impact. It saved my life. At the very least, I wish I'd had an earlier opportunity for a detailed discussion with my doctor. Given what I know now, I would have preferred screening and early detection, because for me, there is no such thing as the best type of cancer. Ed Manning is a 67-year-old technology executive, jazz pianist and freelance writer who is writing a memoir about surviving prostate cancer
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
HIV testing in Leeds hospitals can lead to life-saving treatment
More than 35,000 patients have been tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C in the first eight months of a new scheme running in hospitals across Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said the tests had led to 11 new cases of HIV being diagnosed, in addition to 101 new - or active - cases of hepatitis B or C."This is such a good opportunity to be able to diagnose those individuals who have these infections and don't realise they do, because we can offer them life-saving treatment," said Dr Emma Page, consultant in virology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust."We're all at risk of blood-borne viruses, and the only way we can know whether we have them or not, is by having a test," she said. "Offering routine HIV and hepatitis tests in our Emergency Departments can make a huge difference to patients," said Dr Page."It can save lives and give people access to the latest, and most effective, treatments."Dr Page said there are often few indications that a person has HIV or hepatatis B or C initially. "We'll often feel very well with them until we've had the infection for many years," she she highlighted the importance of treatment."There are tablets that people can take to control the infection and prevent them from getting unwell, or tablets that can actually cure some of these infections. "So we're really excited that these tests are happening in our Emergency Departments at the moment," she added. Dr Sarah Schoeman, genitourinary medicine consultant at the trust, said: "If people are identified as having HIV or hepatitis, there is a very clear, and safe, and quick pathway for you to be referred - either into the HIV service or hepatitis services - to access care, treatment, support, advice."This will ensure that you have all the information you need, to be able to keep yourself healthy going forward, and also eliminate any chance of you passing on any infection to partners as well. "Knowing your status means that you have all the options available to you to be able to access excellent treatment, and a lot of support as well." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Rugby legend Gareth Thomas says we're still 's***' at tackling homophobia and HIV stigma - revealing some of the hateful comments he still receives
Society is still in a 's*** place' when it comes to tackling homophobia and the stigma around HIV, Gareth Thomas has claimed. Speaking to Daily Mail podcast The Life of Bryony, Thomas, 51, said that despite recent progress, major challenges remain – and revealed some of the hateful comments he still receives. Thomas captained both Wales and the British and Irish Lions during his illustrious playing career, becoming the Welshman to be captained 100 times by his national team. In 2009, Thomas broke ground by becoming rugby union's first openly gay professional player. In 2019, Thomas announced that he was HIV positive with undetectable status, meaning he carries the virus but is not infectious. You can listen to this episode of The Life of Bryony by clicking the player below or here 'We've come a long way', Thomas told Mail columnist Bryony Gordon. 'But the reality is, we were in a really, really s*** place and now we're just in a really s*** place. 'For example, can anyone name five openly gay participants in male sport? I sure as hell can't, and I know my sport as well as anyone. 'Every time I go out on the field, I will be defined by my sexuality. I don't want it to be like that. I've got ability, I've got personality – people want to be defined by that.' Since going public about his diagnosis, Thomas has championed HIV awareness and acceptance. During the interview, Thomas referenced a statistic that an estimated 400,000 people will die over the next 20 years from misinformation and prejudice about the disease, rather than from the illness itself. Society is still in a 's*** place' when it comes to tackling homophobia and the stigma around HIV , Gareth Thomas has claimed Thomas captained both Wales and the British and Irish Lions during his illustrious playing career, becoming the Welshman to be captained 100 times by his national team Speaking to Daily Mail columnist bryony Gordon, Thomas, 51, said that despite recent progress, major challenges remain The former rugby player agreed with podcast host Bryony that much of this stigma stems from the 'terrifying' way HIV was portrayed in the 1980s. Thomas described how ignorance about the disease, infused with homophobia, has impacted his life. 'People can still be discriminatory, without actually making a homophobic or racist slur', he said. 'I've walked out of a bathroom before, when somebody was waiting outside. I've heard them then go over to the waiter and ask whether they can use another toilet, because they think I can transmit the disease like that. 'I have been with a group of friends, and I've picked up somebody's glass by mistake… you can see this uneasiness – they won't drink from that glass again. 'People will say to my partner Steve when I'm with him: 'God you're so brave, you're a star. You deserve a medal for marrying Gareth' – just because of my medical history. 'I have also been spat at in the street… there were two young lads who walked up to me the other day and called me an AIDS spreader.' Medical advancements over the last decade mean that most people who contract HIV will live long and full lives. Since going public about his diagnosis, Thomas has championed HIV awareness and acceptance Thomas described how ignorance about the disease, infused with homophobia, has impacted his life Gareth Thomas: 'Every time I go out on the field, I will be defined by my sexuality. I don't want it to be like that.' Listen here New treatments also mean transmission becomes incredibly unlikely for those on effective medication. The worst outcomes typically affect those diagnosed late, either through lack of knowledge about symptoms or fear of discrimination. The same prejudices that fuel HIV discrimination also drive homophobia in sport, where Thomas says little has changed since his playing days. He said: 'Nothing has changed from when I was a 16-year-old kid, sat in a changing room and being told if you can't run, you're a f*****. 'That's because nobody is being proactive… we have to be better. 'I remember when I was with the union after coming out, they called me and said – we'll make sure you're protected. 'My words to them were, there's nothing more you can do – but there was a load you could have done. 'Being proactive is creating an environment where somebody doesn't have to do something drastic, just to get a reaction.' To listen to Gareth's full interview, where he debates his playing career and tackling discrimination, search for The Life of Bryony now, wherever you get your podcasts.
