Dexamethasone 0,5mg or 1mg?

Hi all,

My dad started taking 1000mg Zytiga + 10mg Prednisone in March 2021 but after 3 months, his PSA still increased from 4 to10. His doctor asked him continue Zytiga + Prednisone for 1 month but we don't think it work and would like to switch to Zytiga + Dexamethasone. However, we wonder if he should take 0.5mg or 1mg Dexamethasone. Could anyone know and give us advise. this treatment method ( Zytiga + Dexamethasone) has not been applied in my country. Thank you in advance

[noirhole]

When I rechallenged it was .5

[Hidden in reply to noirhole]

May I ask how many mg of Prednisone you took before rechallenge?

[Cynthgob in reply to noirhole]

How did rechallenge go? How long were you able to stay on zytiga?

[noirhole in reply to Cynthgob]

I was on it for a couple of months then had to quit to start chemo which was necessary to shrink lymph nodes and have the nephrostomy tubes draining my kidneys removed. Quit because insurance won't pay for zytiga and chemo.

[Tall_Allen]

0.5 mg dexamethasone. Who told you 1 mg?

[Hidden in reply to Tall_Allen]

My dad switched to 0.5mg Dexamethasone from last Saturday. We observe that his heart rate is high and he feels tired so wonder if he took the right dose of Dexamethasone or not. Thank you,

[Tall_Allen in reply to Hidden]

I don't know that it has any affect on the heart rate.

[GP24]

You should take 0.5 mg. This is almost equivalent to 10 mg Prednisone (5 mg twice daily).

[noirhole]

10 mg. The break between initial zytiga and the rechallenge was about 12 months so I had been weaned off of the pred.

[Cynthgob]

Dexamethasone is a strong steroid. Husband was given 1.0 mg from moffit cancer center. Lowered psa but the steroid was too much on him.

[Auggieblue]

My husband is given .8 dexamethasone with each chemo treatment and each zometa/Lupron treatment. I thought it was a short-acting steroid that helped with side effects? He also takes 10mg prednisone per day while on chemo. Is this too much steroid?

[Rowford49]

Switched from Abirateronec and prednisolone 5mg to 2mg of Dextamethazone about 2 yrs ago. However it does make your skin especially on the arms very thin, and if you catch on anything like a door handle the top layer of skin can come off. After discussing with Oncologist he reduced Dextamethazone to 1mg. PSA has remained less than 0.01 for at least the last 2 years.Also on blood thinners , so any small tissue damage bleeds for a considerable time. Normal plasters take skin off so have to use sensitive skin ones.

NHS now supplying generic Abiraterone rather than Zytiga.

Tim (UK)