Hello everyone I am new to your forum and could use a little help I had my prostate removed in 2011 with radaiation shortly afterwards. I have been on Xtandi and Lupron for a little over over a year Before starting Xtandi my PSA was at 196 Since I began Xtandi and lupron my PSA has moved from 40 to 69 where it is currently. My T level is 21.
My MO is leaving it up to me if or when to move to Cemo.I have a break in my employment and need advice if this might be a good time to give cemo a shot.
All this is made even more complicated with the reality I fell great.
Thanks
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pinejog
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with a PSA rise of 40 to 69 and T 21 on Lupron/Xtandi you have crPCa....I would say chemo asap
Gus
Unless you’re ready to cash it in , I agree with gusgold. But no symptoms and feeling great, dam that’s fantastic.. l can imagine that it’s quite a blow to be offered chemo now. If you’re feeling good, that does make it difficult to enter something that will degrade you. But it might be the best hope of surviving with APC . You’re on the treatment train , just do a lot of good stuff as well .. enjoy life friend. Sorry for this BS , it’s an ongoing dilemma for life for us all.. you will do what it takes to live..if you so choose . Nobody wants to do chemo. I don’t. we are all in the same boat, don’t give in to doom and gloom just enjoy what we can. Much knowledge and experience on this site.. You will get the low down info here from
Those that are or have been exactly where you’re at now. Build your immunity now to sustain chemo better. God bless you. You will get thru this obstruction .... but we all must live for today. Honestly , I don’t what what id do in your shoes. Pray and contemplate and you’ll do the right thing. Please get back to us to let us know what you decide. Good luck.
You can try switching to Zytiga first. Sometimes there is an anti-androgen withdrawal syndrome where the PSA will actually go down for a while. Zytiga will probably not work for very long, but sometimes, a course of docetaxel (6 times, every 3 weeks) can restore sensitivity.
I would recommend doing chemo based on my experience with it. I did 6 cycles of Taxotere, that's well tolerated by most people. I had some loss of of quality of life, but in the big picture, it wasn't very much. I was still able to do most of the things I normally do, and do many things during chemo that I enjoyed. I worked, traveled, went camping and a lot of other things during chemo.
It's proven to be an effective treatment, well worth it my opinion. I will do it again if it can help me fight this disease.
I agree with what others have said, I think I would get another psa to confirm that rise asap. Have you had genetic testing? Myself I am living my life through 15 chemos in the past 14 months and doing just fine really. I hope to rechallenge xtandi , as Tall Allen says chemo can sometimes resensitize the androgen receptor to xtandi and zytiga. If you make up your mind to do chemo, let us know and I will post things to mitigate the side effects of chemo. Chemo may just work very well. I would be careful not to let that psa get away, as I did. You should be having a psa ever month now IMO. We all wish you the best, we are all here for you! Please keep us posted.
I too did chemo. I used a freeze on my head that's out there and didn't even lose my hair. About two bad days for every session but not horrible. Make sure you have something for potential nausea ( although I had none) and for constipation (which I had a lot of). Overall not that bad and it has good results. Don't wait.
I am inclined to recommend some more fighting against the cancer cells with complementary medicine strategies based on the two leading over-the-counter anti-cancer remedies. I think you should do first thing is go with your medical oncologists recommendations given your accelerating PSA. Second, initiate your own adjuvant therapy compatible with chemo treatments. Everything I recommend below is compatible with chemo and is known to have demonstrated anticancer effects.
1. First step read AKM Shamsuddin's text (he is a MD, Ph.D. at the U of MD medical school. He is a cancer researcher specializing in IP6 and has extensive experience consulting with physicians worldwide about treating various cancers with IP6/phytate/phytic acid. You can find the book here:
2. IP6 Powder can be purchased from two different companies and is distributed through several online suppliers. I have found allstarhealth.com to have the best prices.
Dose: In you situation, if it were me I would take 8 scoops in the AM and 8 in the PM, always on an empty stomach in water (never mix with anything containing protein as the IP6 molecules will bind to protein molecules.
3. Next, I would read Vaclav Vetvicka's "Beta Glucan: Nature's Secret". Beta Glucan is a natural immunomodulator.
Go to vitawithimmunity.com for a short course in beta glucan and cancer. You will find an interview with Dr. Vetvicka. Dr Vetvicka is at the U. of Louisville medical school. He is, like Shamsuddin, a leading world-class researcher in his area of specialization. He is a Ph.D. biochemist from the Czech Republic. He has published more than 200 journal articles and 7 books. His book on beta glucan contains testimonials from patients using beta glucan.
He declines to endorse any supplements but he does report research on the most efficacious glucan: Transfer Points' Beta 1.3-D glucan (#300).
I take the above supplements and have found them very helpful. I also take other supplements. My diagnosis was in 2012 with stage 4 PCa. My Gleason score is 8. My last PSA 2 weeks ago was 0.06, the very same numbers I got 6 months ago. My initial treatment in AZ consisted of Casodex and Lupron. Here in Florida, my only treatment has been since fall 2016 Lupron.
Your happy vegan, CalBear74
Assuming that you have cancer cells traveling in your vascular and lymphatic systems, the only shot at killing them is through chemotherapy.
Agreed gourd_dancer that a systemic solution is required for killing cancer cells when the disease is metastatic; however, both of the above are systemic solutions that experiments have shown kill cancer cells they encounter. The books by Dr. Shamsuddin and Dr. Vetvicka will provide information on experiments that have demonstrated this with IP6 and beta glucan. Follow up reading in these two books is essential to understanding how they work. They are effectively a type of natural "chemo". With IP6 you must learn what your dose level is. I have had to go to 6 scoops twice a day of IP6 powder to cause a decline in cancer cells. With beta glucan, I follow Dr. Vetvicka's recommendation: one dose only a day, 3 - 500mg capsules, with resveratrol and vitamin C. (He discusses the synergy achieved with these 3 drugs). Transfer Point's Beta 1,3-D Glucan (#300) is currently being administered at numerous cancer centers as adjuvant therapy in addition to standard chemo agents as part of clinical trials. Keep in mind that both of my recommendations qualify as natural immunomodulators. For example, beta glucan will cause neutrophils, normally white bloods cells that attack only bacteria and viruses, to function as cancer cell killers, like NK cells, once the beta glucan has successful primed the cells. (See Vetvicka's text and the chapter "Beta Glucan and Cancer".
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