Xtandi (enzalutamide) hacks

[Escudilla]

I've been on enzalutamide a little over a year now. It does the trick. My PSA has been undetectable until recently - and that's on two pills a day. I started out with four but needed my brain to earn a living (I'm an engineer).

I'm a fitness guy. I road bike, mountain bike, or lift weights in the gym almost every day. After all these years bike riding, I had my first serious OTB (over the bars) recently. Broke my wrist in two places and my ribs in four. With the relative inactivity (hiking and swimming didn't seem to cut it) gynecomastia swelled up. Growing boobs hurts! (and my wife and daughters have no sympathy). Between the boobs and the hot flashes, I'm well on my way to way womanhood.

I talked to my doctor into a trial of tamoxifen (a selective estrogen receptor modulator used for breast cancer) at 20 mg per day. Even though there is an enzalutamide CYP3A4 interaction (which causes the bulk of the tamoxifen to wash out), I'm happy with the results so far. I'm going to try to get 40 mg next.

My reason for writing though, is I think I stumbled on something else significant. It's a big deal for me anyway.

The CNS (central nervous system) effects from enzalutamide stem from an off target interaction with the GABA-A receptor. The same general area where Ambien and alcohol play. I tried modafinil and caffeine to offset it. The wonkyness (my term) was there regardless of how stimulated I was.

On one particularly wonky morning I was banging on the Google, determined to find something else that would mess with the GABA-A receptor. How have I missed this for a year? L-Theanine! Looks like it's going in the right direction. My wife likes the stuff for her chronic fatigue and anxiety - there's a whole bottle in the cabinet. I pop 4 and wait to see what happens.

It felt like the curtains opened and the lights came on. Whoa! On a day for which I knew I had poor sleep, this was amazing! I found myself walking around with a shit eating grin. I'm back!

It's been three weeks now. I take 100 mg L theanine roughly every three hours. I've upped the ENZA to 3 and feel great. I'm having fun with my brain. I see the Onco next Tuesday. I'll see what the labs tell me, and then try a full dose of 4 enzalutamide.

I've been almost afraid to say anything to anyone for fear that this isn't real. If it's placebo - it's a good one!

[Magnus1964]

That's great!!!! I see a trip to my local supplement store in my future.

[pjoshea13]

Our very own Nalakrats lays claim to involvement in the isolation & synthesis of theanine in the 1960s, but my grandmother discovered it decades earlier. There wasn't a crisis that couldn't be lightened with a pot of strong tea. It must have been hellish when tea became impossibly scarce in WWII Britain, particularly when an incendiary bomb came through the roof (it failed to detonate, but was quite a nuisance.)

In her memory & in praise of theanine & with a nod to Nalakrats, I am raising a mug of strong English breakfast tea - made with proper loose tea, purchased from a Boston tea importer (the irony isn't lost on this Brit.)

Theanine "has a similar chemical structure to glutamate, which is a neurotransmitter related to memory. Theanine passes through the blood-brain barrier and has been shown to have a cerebroprotective effect and a preventive effect on neuronal cell death after transient cerebral ischemia. The neuroprotective effect is partly due to the antagonistic action of theanine on glutamate receptor subtype AMPA and kainate receptors, but the affinity is very low. Theanine also acted on glutamine (Gln) transporter strongly and inhibited the incorporation of extracellular Gln into neurons, which in turn suppressed the conversion of Gln to glutamate by glutaminase, a reaction required for condensation into synaptic vesicles to form a neurotransmitter pool responsible for subsequent exocytotic release upon stimuli. In an investigation of elderly persons with normal or slight cognitive dysfunction, volunteers who ingested powdered green tea containing a high theanine concentration (equivalent to 47.5mgday(-1) of theanine) showed significantly lower decline in cognitive function compared with that of the placebo group. This result suggested that theanine might have improved a slight cognitive dysfunction in elderly persons." [1]

Cheers, -Patrick

[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/214...

[j-o-h-n]

Remember this one thing.... better get a girls bike.............

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Sunday 08/18/2019 10:04 PM DST

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

Not after Lupron !!!

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

I stand corrected.......... get one with a banana seat.........

j-o-h-n <===<<< Senior management is about to spike my spikes....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 04/22/2023 2:35 PM DST

[Bvilkid]

Did you originally go from four tabs to two on your own or with your doctor’s blessing? How old are you? I’ve been on Xtandi for 18 months, have tolerated it well until recently as inability to focus and memory loss has increased. I also have a lot of malaise but don’t know if it’s from the ENZ or the Lupron shots.