My father is Gleason 9. Psa 292 at diagnosis.
Following orcidectomy and TURP, he's on zytiga plus prednisolone since August 2019.
Last week, scary symptoms of low sodium made us rush to the Emergency room. Has anyone else experienced this? Also, how much prednisolone are you taking with your zytiga?
He started with 5mg twice a day but then reduced it to 5mg once a day. I suspect the reduced dose and a UTI made him feel progressively worse the last couple of months.
Than you. Best Regards
Per Janssen 5mg for hormone sensitive and 10mg for hormone resistant
I took 10 mg when I was on zytiga. No problems.
Why did he reduce his dose?
Reduced the dose coz of spiking blood sugar. Dad is diabetic.
OK- I was just wondering if his electrolytes became unbalanced at the higher dose. My father, when he had low sodium, was given demeclocycline and was told to limit fluid intake. That was before they had Tolvaptan.
I took 5mg per day until I switched to .5mg per day of Dexamethasone.
Hyponatremia when taking zytiga is not caused by a low dose of prednisone. When taking zytiga the prednisone is given to reduce the production of aldosterone. Aldosterone retains sodium, eliminates potassium causing hypernatremia, hypokalemia, fluid retention, edema and hypertension. They need to study what caused a hyponatremia requiring emergency treatment.
We tried to get by with 5mg, but my husband's quality of life is better with 5mg twice a day. He jogs 6 miles a day, so may have an increased need. He is hormone sensitive. Was the low sodium confirmed by blood work? As Tango points out, not taking enough prednisone would typically cause high sodium, low potassium, and increased BP.
Tango is right. Aldosterone is an adrenal product and causes increased Sodium, decreased Potassium and High Blood pressure.
Its not uncommon to see Low Sodium during severe Urinary Infection. Sometimes the Sodium level drops to 120 or lower and that can cause Grand Mal Type Seizures and its a medical emergency.
I was admitted to hospital with low sodium myself three weeks ago. I don't take the prednisone as I do not like its side effects. So far so good
5mg
5 mg twice daily, no problems with it
5 mg. Twice a day with Breakfast and with Dinner . I also take 750 mg. Of generic Zytiga. Because 1000 mg. Was affecting my Calcium levels.
Been on Zytiga with 5 mg of prednisone taken with breakfast for about 15 months. All blood work good and I have lots of energy. I workout 6 days a week.
Was at 5 morning and at night for14 months than change to just 5 once a day
...felt no difference .....exercise a big factor mine reduce due to covid and I feel it now
You never responded to Tall_Allen's question "Why did he reduce his dose?"
How do you expect help from a member(s) if you don't respond? That's why he's here... to help.... (From Mr. Butinski)
Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.
j-o-h-n Tuesday 08/11/2020 6:57 PM DST
I take 0.5 mg dex alternate days.
Sodium potassium all good.
I take the low dose to minimize the calcium loss from my bones with ADT and prednisolone or dexamethasone
5MG once a day.
5 mg in am and 5 mg in pm,with food on stomich,just had my 30 minute of ZOMETA,its been 2 days and all bones hurt from hips to back bone to ribs.I did not know about the this happenning
I am taking 500 mg of abiraterone with 2.5 mg prednisone. (Also taking apalutamide 240 mg per day in a phase 2 clinical trial.)
Dexamethasone, 5 MG twice a day. Really does help to have the second daily dose. Also Klor-con 20 MG for potassium. No side effects to speak of.
Hi Faithhope11,
I was on a trial which lasted 2 years and 6 months before coming off it recently because of disease progression. It was a stage 2 double blind trial so I don't know whether I was on the placebo or a new drug called Ipatasertib. However to get to the point I started on 10mg/day of prednisalone which was apparently the amount each patient was given under the trial protocol no matter which arm we were randomised into. After about 18 months I found that my immune system was so badly compromised that I couldn't get anything to heal. eg. an excision to take off a BCC would take months to heal and if they tried a graft that would fail.
I asked my trial oncologist if we could halve the prednisolone to 5mg /day and she agreed.
Amazingly an excision wound I had on the tip of my nose where a BCC had been taken off healed up in less than 2 weeks. I had previosly been told by my dermatologist that because a skin graft had failed that this wound would take months to heal.
So my experience is that 10mg / day was way to much for me. In fact it is my opinion that that amount of prednisolone predisposed me to develop more skin cancers (BCC's and SCC's) than I would have if I had not been on the trial, 5mg/day seems about right.
However I must give credit to the Zytiga for keeping me disease progression free for about 2 and a half years as far as my prostate cancer is concerned.
Started on 5mg 2x daily then advised by onc to reduce to once daily for last15 months. Had stomach upset first month then settled.
Many many thanks to you all, for sharing your experience on this. Much appreciated 🙏🏼
I started at Prednisone 5mg one daily because of Zytiga blocks the production of cortisol from your adrenal glands.
I developed a very serious high blood pressure problem and was advised to up the dose to twice daily or 10mg per day.
My blood pressure returned to normal within a week or so.
How many of you would pay $2200 for a 3 month supply of Zytiga?
Water is the key to life. How much water do you drink a day? And How do you gauge it? 
1 Year after taking Zytiga (Abiraterone) PSA from 750 to 54 
35 Days Of Taking Zytiga With Food
