Struggling With Addiction
- Elton John, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017 and treated the disease with surgery, has just celebrated his 35th “sobriety birthday,” after years of struggling with alcohol and cocaine.
- For men with earlier stage stage prostate cancer, there are a number of options and respected urologists can sometimes offer very different opinions for treatment. Patients on active surveillance, which is a watch and wait method due to the slow-growing nature of prostate cancer, can be spared the side effects of pursuing the traditional ways of treating prostate cancer.
- If and when the disease becomes more aggressive, it can then be treated with surgery, radiation, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these therapies.
- If substance abuse or addiction is something your dealing with, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Helpline, which can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) is “a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
Elton John took to Instagram this week to share a sweet photo of some cards and flowers given to him in honor of his milestone event.
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“Grateful for all the love on my sobriety birthday,” Elton John captioned his Instagram post, which received immense support from fans and loved ones.
The beloved singer often takes to social media to commemorate the special day, writing in last year’s post, alongside a photo of a sobriety coin, “34 years clean and sober. My life has never been better. Love, Elton xx.”
According to Biography.com, Elton John addressed what life was like prior to sobriety to Piers Morgan back in 2010, explaining, “This is how bleak it was: I’d stay up, I’d smoke joints, I’d drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker and then I’d stay up for three days and then I’d go to sleep for a day and half, get up, and because I was so hungry, because I hadn’t eaten anything, I’d binge and have like three bacon sandwiches, a pot of ice cream and then I’d throw it up, because I became bulimic and then go and do the whole thing all over again.
“And I’m not being flippant when I say that, when I look back I shudder at the behavior and what I was doing to myself.”
Elton John, who also has a song titled, “Someone saved my life tonight,” admitted that he had come “very close” to death during his reckless years.
He said, “I mean, I would have an epileptic seizure and turn blue, and people would find me on the floor and put me to bed, and then 40 minutes later I’d be snorting another line.”
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Elton John previously credited teenage AIDS victim Ryan White for leading him to sobriety and saving his life.
Speaking at an appearance at Harvard University back in 2017 Elton John explained, “I had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family.
“I wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more. Ryan was the spark that helped me to recover from my addictions and start the AIDS foundation. Within six months (of White’s death) I became sober, and clean.”
Elton John’s Prostate Cancer Journey
Elton John was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017 and had surgery to treat his disease, something which he impressively didn’t let slow him down.
Following surgery, he revealed that he even wore a diaper onstage during one of his concerts in Las Vegas following his surgery—since he hadn’t yet regained control of his bladder.
In “Elton John: Uncensored,” an earlier interview with the singer on BBC One, Elton John recounted to Graham Norton that he wore a diaper under his outfit during a Las Vegas show in 2017.
“If only they knew at that moment I was pissing myself,” he said.
Expert Prostate Cancer Resources
- Debating How to Treat Prostate Cancer: A Significant New Study Argues for Surgery Plus Radiation
- Don’t Believe the Hype: Do Your Own Research on Prostate Cancer Treatment
- Making Sense Of Risk: A Critical Step In Prostate Cancer Treatment Planning
- Don’t Be Ashamed – The VA Has Treatment To Help Deal With Incontinence After Prostate Cancer Surgery
- Genetic Testing for Advanced Prostate Cancer Can Help Tailor Treatment
- There’s No One Definitive Symptom for Prostate Cancer, But There Are Clues
Elton John also wrote about his cancer diagnosis in his book “Me,” saying, “I wasn’t as shocked at hearing the word ‘cancer’ as I might have been. It was prostate cancer: no joke, but incredibly common.
“They’d caught it early, and besides, I’m blessed with a constitution that just makes me bounce back from illnesses.”
Thankfully, the surgery he underwent to remove the cancer was a success. However, 10 days later, the singer contracted a fever and a major infection.
“It turned out that I had a rare complication from the operation,” he wrote in the book, and he spent 11 days in a London hospital “wondering if I was going to die.”
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The complication ultimately inspired him him to take some time off of touring to spend time with his husband David Furnish, and their sons, Zachary and Elijah.
On his decision to have the surgery, John wrote, “A lot of men won’t have it, because it’s a major operation, you can’t have sex for at least a year afterwards and you can’t control your bladder for a while.
“But effectively my kids made the decision for me. I didn’t like the idea of cancer hanging over me us for years to come: I just wanted rid of it.”
It’s important to understand that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. It starts in the walnut-shaped prostate gland, which is located between the rectum and bladder and produces the fluid that nourishes sperm. In the United States, most prostate cancer is caught with screening examinations. Prostate cancer can behave differently from one man to another.
Sometimes, it is called “low-risk” and can be slow-growing and treatment might not be necessary. In other men, the cancer may grow faster or be more aggressive and will require treatment. Because this cancer can behave so differently from one person to the next screening and treatment decisions are individualized for each person.
According to the expert physicians that SurvivorNet spoke with, if you are diagnosed with prostate cancer there is reason for hope as there are many options to successfully treat the cancer. Over the past decade, surgical and radiation options have leaped forward in reducing side effects of treatment while still delivering excellent cure rates.
For men diagnosed with advanced-stage disease, there are many new options that can treat your cancer and allow you to maintain an excellent quality of life.
- Check out our resources for veterans facing prostate cancer here.
- Check out our guide for prostate cancer caregivers here.
Alcohol and Cancer Risk
If you’re thinking about cutting back on your alcohol consumption you should also take the effects alcohol can have on your cancer risk into consideration.
According to the American Cancer Society, alcohol consumption can increase your risk for many different types of cancer. With cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box and esophagus, for example, alcohol “clearly” increases risk. That being said, the ACS notes that drinking and smoking together puts you at a much higher risk for these cancers than drinking or smoking alone.
RELATED: 6 Tips to Help You Avoid Alcohol When Faced With Stress of a Cancer Diagnosis
“This might be because alcohol can help harmful chemicals in tobacco get inside the cells that line the mouth, throat, and esophagus,” the ACS website states. “Alcohol may also limit how these cells can repair damage to their DNA caused by the chemicals in tobacco.”
When it comes to liver cancer, “long-term alcohol use has been linked to an increased risk.” When you regularly drink a lot of alcohol, liver damage can occur and lead to inflammation and scarring a possible explanation for the increased risk.
Elizabeth Vargas On How She Took Control Of Her Addiction & Anxiety
We also know there’s a clear link between breast cancer and alcohol consumption. In November 2017, the American Society of Clinical Oncology published a statement citing evidence that links alcohol to multiple cancers and calling for reduced alcohol consumption as a way to cut people’s cancer risk. But many women recently said they had been drinking more during the pandemic, and 70 percent weren’t aware of the resulting increased cancer risk, according to a SurvivorNet survey in February 2021.
The ACS also reports that alcohol use has been linked with a higher risk of cancers of the colon and rectum with stronger evidence for this in men than in women, though studies have found the link in both sexes.
Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal cancer surgeon at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said she believes alcohol increases risk for certain cancers but acknowledged that the data was mixed, especially for colon cancer.
“I do think that high levels of alcohol certainly predispose to a certain number of cancers, including pancreatic and liver cancer, and may predispose to colon cancer,” she said. “But there’s also some data that shows that low levels of alcohol, or a glass of wine here and there, may actually lower your risk of colon cancer.”
What is Heavy Alcohol Consumption?
To understand what counts as heavy drinking, it’s important to understand what counts as a drink.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines one drink as 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol. Translated it looks like this:
- 12 ounces of regular beer (which is usually about 5% alcohol)
- 8–10 ounces of malt liquor (which is typically about 7% alcohol)
- 5 ounces of wine (which is about 12% alcohol)
- 1.5 ounces, or a “shot”, of distilled spirits (rum, vodka, gin, whiskey)
All of these sizes are typical of the amount you would get in a single serving at a bar or in a can or bottle at home.
According to the federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025, moderate drinking is considered a limit of 2 drinks per day for men and 1 drink per day for women.
Further, the guidelines define a heavy drinker as follows:
- For men, consuming five or more drinks on any day or 15 or more per week
- For women, consuming four or more drinks on any day or eight or more drinks per week
How does drinking alcohol increase cancer risk?
While the exact mechanisms by which alcohol contributes to cancer development are not fully understood, it appears to affect the body in the following ways:
- DNA damage: When you drink alcohol, your body breaks down ethanol (the alcohol in your drinks) into a substance called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is bad for your DNA, the material that makes up your genes. This damage can build up over time and increase your chances of getting cancer. Also, drinking alcohol can lead to oxidative stress, where harmful molecules called free radicals damage your cells and DNA, making cancer more likely.
- Liver damage: Drinking too much can hurt your liver, causing inflammation and cirrhosis. A scarred liver has a hard time working properly and is more likely to develop liver cancer.
- Elevated estrogen levels: Drinking alcohol can raise the levels of estrogen, a hormone, in your body. While elevated estrogen itself is not a direct cause of liver cancer in the same way it is with say, breast cancer, the underlying liver conditions associated with hormonal imbalances, such as cirrhosis, significantly increase the risk of developing liver cancer.
- Disruption of detoxification and nutrient absorption: Alcohol can make it harder for your body to break down and get rid of harmful chemicals. It can also stop your body from absorbing important nutrients from food properly. This means harmful substances, like those in tobacco smoke, can enter your body more easily and you don’t get as much benefit from the nutrients in your food.
- Exposure to carcinogenic substances: Sometimes, harmful substances that can cause cancer get into alcohol during its production. These substances can increase your risk of cancer.
The risk of developing cancer due to alcohol consumption varies depending on factors such as the amount and frequency of alcohol consumed, individual genetics, and other lifestyle factors like diet and exercise.
However, reducing alcohol intake or abstaining from alcohol altogether can help lower the risk of developing alcohol-related cancers.
“So if somebody has liver disease from drinking, absolutely stopping alcohol is going to not only help the remaining liver recover, but it’s also going to prevent further inflammation and possible that driver for cancer development as patients have liver disease because of metabolic syndrome, losing weight, controlling diabetes is directly shown to potentially reduce the risk of recurrence and have a better response to treatment,” Dr. Mariam Eskander, a surgical oncologist and assistant professor of surgery at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, previously told SurvivorNet Staff.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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