Roches. Aribiterone a risk at the moment

[Roches]

My husband has been taking xtandi but stopped due to side effects.

Doc says he has to make decision whether to carry on with it or take aribiterone which will lower his immune system and could make him more susceptible to Covid.

Has anybody got any advice . Xtandi made him very unwell

Thanks

[Tall_Allen]

The opposite is true:

annalsofoncology.org/articl...

[Roches in reply to Tall_Allen]

Do you mean it’s ok to take aribiterone?

[Tall_Allen in reply to Roches]

Not just OK- it increases immune function

[Roches in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks.

[GP24]

With aribiterone you mean Abiraterone, with the brand name Zytiga. You take this together with hormone injections and the article mentioned by Allan reports that this seems to protect against Covid-19. If you add Zytiga to that this will make not much difference regarding the immune system. On the other hand, a chemo will reduce the protection by the immune system a lot.

It is much more important to keep distance and use your face mask but to worry about the effect of Zytiga on the immune system. At the end of the day you have to fight the cancer, this is important.

[Roches in reply to GP24]

Thanks very much this has helped a lot.😊

[pjoshea13]

Many men find Xtandi too much to handle & switch to Abiraterone. Any COVID concern is secondary & can be handled by not mixing with others, wearing a mask, etc. He should go with Abi IMO. I don't understand why the doctor is pushing Xtandi when your husband isn't able to tolerate it. Also, there is no evidence that Abi users have increased COVID risk.

In general, men with PCa are in the age group where it is better to be super-cautious about COVID exposure.

-Patrick

[Grumpyswife]

My husband is tolerating abiraterone so much better then Xtandi. I wish he had started with abiraterone but we were misguided.

Often the second drug doesn’t work for long if at all, though.

[Roches in reply to Grumpyswife]

He has only been on xtandi for 8 weeks , so doc has said he can still change.

He had to stop xtandi 2 weeks ago

Thanks for your reply

[Magnus1964]

If he is that sensitive may he could try casodex before zytiga.