‘Young and the Restless’ star Eric Braeden reveals the early warning signs of prostate cancer

Actor Eric Braeden has revealed that he is battling prostate cancer, known as a “silent killer” for its ability to grow for months or years without symptoms.

The 82-year-old “The Young and the Restless” star, who lives in Los Angeles, California, revealed in a 13-minute Facebook video that he had the disease.

The actor said at one point that the cancer left him unable to urinate, which was “one of the most painful experiences I’ve had.”

Each year, approximately 288,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the US. It is also the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men, data shows, with 34,700 deaths each year.

Eric Braeden revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in a Facebook Live video. Symptoms included frequent urination and not being able to urinate at all

Symptoms are hard to spot in the early stages when the cancer is easier to treat.

Charities estimate that there are more than 53,000 new cases in the UK each year and 12,000 British men die from the disease each year.

Braeden revealed his cancer diagnosis, saying, “My prostate, I’d had some issues with it before. It manifests itself by having to urinate a lot.

“And it got to the point where I had to get up almost every half hour.”

He added: ‘Meanwhile, the urination problem got so bad that I couldn’t urinate. And that, my friends, I can tell you, is one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever had.’

He said he went to doctors the same day he discovered he couldn’t urinate, where doctors then diagnosed the cancer after scans.

Braeden has now received two rounds of chemotherapy to help cure the disease.

Doctors say early warning signs of prostate cancer are often caused by pressure on the urethra — the tube through which urine and semen leave the body.

The prostate is about the size of a walnut and is located between the penis and bladder and surrounds the urethra.

Warning signs of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, include having to urinate more or more times during the night.

It can also lead to a weak urine stream, say medics, or take a long time for urine to leave the body.

Sufferers may also find it difficult to start urinating or may feel after urinating that their bladder has not completely emptied.

Less common warning signs include blood appearing in semen or urine, indicating that the tumor may have ruptured blood vessels in the urethra.

Braeden has revealed his diagnosis to warn others about the condition. He is pictured above with Melody Thomas Scott in ‘The Young and the Restless’ series

In later stages, the cancer can cause other symptoms, including difficulty getting an erection and weakness or numbness in the legs and feet.

It can also lead to a complete loss of bladder or bowel control, as the tumor presses against the spinal cord.

In some cases, the cancer is also known to cause pain in the hips, back, chest, and other areas where it has spread to the bone.

Older men often have trouble urinating, doctors say, because the prostate enlarges over time.

But the disruption could also be caused by prostate cancer, with screening guidelines for men encouraging them to get checked.

The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, based in New York, says all men between the ages of 45 and 49 should get screened once.

It also suggests screening up to every two to four years for people ages 50 to 70 who are at higher risk for cancer.

If the blood test suggests low risk at age 50, they suggest no further screening until age 60.

Virtually all patients survive prostate cancer when detected at an early stage.

But if the cancer is not discovered until it has spread to other parts of the body, this drops to 32 percent of patients who live more than five years after diagnosis.