question about PSA & testosterone

[pwallace]

hi all-

i know some peeps are very against testosterone supplementation after treatment for prostate cancer, but my husband's doctor is not one of them (and neither is my husband). he supplemented for 18 months after surgery b4 PSA became detectable & started to rise again.

he recently stopped the T & is about to begin hormones + radiotherapy, but his PSA is already declining, nearly undetectable again. is this because he just naturally has low T & his own body is acting as hormone therapy?

also does anyone else on here suffer from really low T as well- naturally? beginning to think he has a pituitary disorder or the like. it is always absurdly low (100) & he's only 44. will this affect the way his body handles hormone therapy? if he's already naturally so low, will he ever go too low etc.?

thanks for any/all input.

-summer

[Tall_Allen]

You are right that supplementing T shuts off natural production (in fact, that's how GnRH agonists like Lupron work). The longer a man has been supplementing T, the longer natural production will shut down (sometimes permanently). So you're right that it is as if he were on ADT. There is no "too low" level of T for ADT. Lower is better.

When his adjuvant ADT is finished, he can consider jump-starting his natural production with clomid or hCG. If that doesn't work, maybe TRT again.

[pwallace in reply to Tall_Allen]

thanks allen, i really hope we'll get back there someday bc he is really affected by the low levels.

[Jbooml]

Delicate question...this is something i'm extremely interested in.....has he ever been checked out for androgen unresponsiveness.....ie does he have a defective androgen receptor. i'm definitely in his camp...low T etc. This can contribute to more advanced forms of the cancer because the Androgen (testosterone) receptor is prone to error. Low virility can be ironically a factor for metastatic acceleration. Luckily I seem to be of a polymorphic strain (not a broken gene) and seems to allow for ADT and other blockers to work well to my great surprise and relief....Check it out. My docs aren't interested in my wanderings...maybe yours might be

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[pwallace in reply to Jbooml]

i read about this elsewhere & it's one of my greatest fears! how does one find out if they have a defective androgen receptor? what test does he ask for exactly? it's just crazy how his body depletes itself- he went from 750 to 100 in less than two weeks (before starting casodex, this was just from stopping the T).

[Jbooml in reply to pwallace]

If you consider hubby is low T he may have a plurality of AR's in compensation...thats just wild speculation but it could contribute to a very strong response whether by blockage or deprivation...talk it over with your Doc if something doesn't square. I realize its confusing and somewhat frightening to not know whats precisely wrong but testing and therapies are rapidly evolving...a wonderful prospect..but as such it makes it incumbant on all of us to insure the Docs are equipped to handle and shoot the puck....im a canadian....🏒 Please keep us posted..its a very interesting story and therapeutic approach.

Have you heard of BAT therapy...his case suggests a possible bullseye 🎯response down the line......Just saying

[pwallace in reply to Jbooml]

yes we're definitely keeping our eye on BAT. and yes will keep you posted on the journey, hoping/praying it all goes well. scary to be embarking on this road yet again. thanks again for your input.

[j-o-h-n]

Can you tell us which doctor, and where? info voluntary.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 03/30/2019 1:02 PM EDT

[pwallace in reply to j-o-h-n]

his urologist was/is dr. thomas ahlering out of irvine, ca.

[j-o-h-n]

Thank you.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Sunday 03/31/2019 8:18 PM EDT