Calutide restarted after a sudden stop.

[Emon]

My dad is suffering from prostate cancer metastasized to bones.gleason score is 9.at first his psa was 160.went orchiectomy.after that pas started falling.he was taking calutide tab.and when his psa reached .045,doctor suggested him to stop calutide.went for another psa test in 3 months time and it rose to .8

Now doc has prescribed to restart calutide.he is asymptomatic till now.my question is if restarting calutide after a pause for 3 months will have any negative effect on its effect.will it remain same effective as it was when taken earlier..??

1 more thing- R asymptomatic cancer cells less dangerous than symptomatic ones...??

[Dan59]

That is similar to my original psa which was 148 and Gleason 10 back in 06, I believe you are talking about Bicalutamide generic for casodex. I think the Dr. may have been looking for a antiandrogen withdrawl symptom which is where the Bicalutamide can feed the cancer and a lowering of psa is seen when it is stopped, not seeing it he determined it would still be effective and to restart, He has many therapies to go through usually one at a time and more to come in the future. I might add , excellent psa drop, mine never went below 3

Dan

[Hidden in reply to Dan59]

I was one of the 20% who experience PSA drop when there is withdrawal of Casodex. It is an interesting scenario. It happened 12 years as the cancer cells were dying only to be given life with the drug.

Gourd Dancer

[Hidden]

It makes some sense to me to stop a medication and see if it makes any difference. When the med was stopped, what looked like a bad effect started, so then you know why you are re-starting the meds - because stopping them seemed a little like a bad idea.

In the most obvious sense, if you have no symptoms of an illness, that is great, and if you do have symptoms of an illness, that is not great. That is what a symptom is, in one sense.

However you are asking whether cancer that has no symptoms is dangerous, and of course it often is. Your dad has bone mets, so there you go - dangerous and not good.

[Daddyishealing]

I, like you, am here on behalf of my father,,and so I'm extending my hand to let you know I'm still and always will be learning, and I'm here if you ever want to chat daughter to daughter . that being said,Martin did bluntly explain that all pca cancer cells are in fact dangerous, but it seems you might have been left in limbo. my dad is in the same position , both dangerous and both not as we would like. however, there are men on here and other sites who are living quality lives 5 to 10 years after being diagnosed with bone mets. All options have not been exhausted .with great admiration, I thank the men of this forum, for the restored hope they have given me by telling of their journeys.

[JoelT]

Emon,

Casodex (bicaludamide) blocks any testosterone still being produced in the body from being able to interact with the cancer cells, thus stunting their growth. As your dad's PSA declined to a very low level the doctor probably decided to stop the drug so that he might be able to use it again as it usually has a limited useful life.

Since his PSA was again climbing it is reasonable to again go back and start it. There is never any guarantee that this drug, or any other drug will work the first time or a second time. However, on the surface and based on your presentation this does seem like a reasonable approach.

Joel