2 Days before my first docetaxal infusion, PSA was 47 and doubling monthly. 3 weeks later (Wednesday I had another test, when I went in today for 2nd infusion I took a deep breath and asked them what the result was. To my surprise and relief - PSA down to 24.
MO had told me that he expected PSA to go up for a while, and that if there was no improvement after 4 rounds he would take me off chemo and enrol me in LU177 trial. So I was quite scared about what the result might be today.
For men with mCRPC, what sort of results have you seen? Is this just a one off before the cancer mutates again and becomes chemo resustant?
I did a full water fast on Wed, Thur and all today, will start eating again tomorrow. Its impossible to say that this approach helped at all, but I will keep at it. But the other question is now - what else can I do? There is a lot of advice here about supplements that help with T suppression, but as I am 'primary ADT resistant' I guess these won't help too much. What are recommended supplements for mCRPC?
Thanks all, the advice and support here is great.
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Hazard
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When I started Docetaxel my psa was 850. That was 3 years ago. 11 months after starting Docetaxel, my psa was 0.07. Last month it was 0.1. I was and remain on Lupron.
As far as supplements, many people have different opinions. I take 12 different ones and maintain a vegan diet.
I'm sure you will receive many responses regarding supplements, etc. I'm far from fully informed when it comes to the matter of supplements.
Thanks for reply Nameless, can you please clarify - were you castrate-resistant when you started docetaxal, or did you start docetaxal at same time as Lupron?
I am in the first camp, and I suspect that results from docetaxal will be different compared to men who are still responding to ADT. Similarly, supplememts aimed at supporting ADT will be of no benefit to me,
I started a vegan diet before I commenced ADT and like Zolodex and Casodex it did nothing at all to slow PSA double time of 1 month. Same story for a whole bunch of other supplememts (curcumin, selenium, Vit C, CoE-Q10, garlic, probiotics, lèmon water, POMI T). None of them did a thing. Docetaxal is the only tratment hat has shown any benefit to date since my prostatectomy 3 years ago.
Hey Hazard - great results! I also did ADT and then 2 weeks later started Taxotere. I was 840 at Dx and at my 1st chemo was 433, then at 2nd chemo (3 weeks later) at 97. Now at 0.5, stopped ADT on 03/31/2017 and will restart at about PSA 2ish.
I'm on Berberine, Ursolic acid, Tumeric and Resveratrol.
I sip a tomato, curry veggie broth during my fasting. Still do it at least 16 hrs/day
Thanks Randy. Sorry to hear that PSA is in rise. But I do like a bit of science, and at least it appears that you can draw a reasonable correlation between rising T and rising PSA. So you know how to respond to this challenge.
On that basis - do you think that you are getting benefits from your supplements? I have looked at UoT study, notwithstanding their findings what are your thoughts following your recent PSA rise?
MedOnc and I decided that I had room to experiment with the fasting and supplemen's to allow normal cancer to grow and not go castrate resistant and then starve them again of T. If not then Provenge nor Jevtana.
I imagine that the placebo effect of suppplements and certain forms of dieting may have some beneficial psychological advantages but " starving " oneself and going on "water only " diets and filling oneself up with Vitimins and supplements can only have a detrimental affect on the quality of life. There is no scientific evidence to show that following any of these routines can influence the spread of existing cancers . No doubt we all want to rock on as long as possible, however, I for one will not be replacing my quality of life with unproven techniques. Get the steak on the barbie and sink a few pints followed up with a nice glass of Chardonnay.
Like you, I am castrate resistant when I began a Docetaxel/Carboplatin chemo combo in September 2017 (please see bio for treatment history).
I just completed 6 cycles on 1/9/2018 and PSA dropped throughout the process, from 10.8 to .5 before chemo #6. Now beginning a break of undetermined length.
Since you had such impressive results from chemo #1, I would expect your PSA to continue to fall.
Watch out for peripheral neuropathy in hands and feet from the Docetaxel. My Med Onc has me taking daily oral 100mg B6 to mitigate neuropathy and I ice my hands and feet for the duration of the Docetaxel infusion. Neuropathy can be temporary or permanent and you do not want it as an additional side effect!
I stayed away from any additional supplements, other than Wisconsin American ginseng. Google Mayo Clinic trial using ginseng to relieve fatigue in cancer patients.
Thanks Mark, I am pleased to see that you have had a good result. I am on docetaxal only, I asked an MO (not my usual) this week why I hadnt been prescribed Carboplatin as well. He said that Docetaxal was standard treatment end of story. Seems like in Australia the standard of care is slightly different because I have read of a number of members here who have used carboplatin especially for soft tissue and liver mets like mine. I have also been warned about that neuropathy is a possible side effect but no-one has talked about B6 or ice baths. Something ekse to discuss with my MO next visit.
When I was going thru chemo the nutritionist said it didn’t matter what I ate just eat. Keep my body weight up as the cancer will make its own sugar out of anything I eat. 17 months into it and they have been right, just drink lots of water to flush all the toxins that the medicines have in your system. Current PSA is .005.
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