My husband, Mike, seems to be doing great cancer-wise sine switching from zytiga/prednisone to zytiga/dexamethasone (.5) Psa down to <.01and scans appearing clear. He switched in April.
However he has been gaining weight 20lbs high on his abdomen and his face has become quite puffy. I know these are side effects of corticosteroids and am concerned about metabolic disease. Does anyone know if a lower dose might be advised? I will start working on him more with regard to diet and exercise. However he is pretty active and we have a pretty good diet most of the time so I was wondering if there are other things he can do.
Thank you.
Written by
longleaf
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The other thing you can do about weight gain is to get an app that will enable you to count calories. When I went on Zytiga and prednisone I tried to limityself to 1800 to 2000 calories and in the last 4 months actually lost 4 pounds.
However nuanced it may be, caloric restriction and a lot of exercise is a must. There is no substitute for it when on any testosterone suppressing drugs.
When I noticed my husband’s face looking different, I thought the same thing but now I think the opposite…I think it was fluid retention and when they up his prednisone, it diminishes
I gained 15 lbs. from age 17 to my DX at age 54. Then, I gained 15 lbs. in 6 weeks following the start of Lupron and added 5 more a few months later. I also developed a bit of moonface and "manboobs". Apparently, there is a treatment for the "manboobs" if started early but I found out about it too late. I exercised a good deal this summer- playing tennis about 5x a week and started eating less as a result. I dropped about 5 lbs (maybe 6). So- exercise, have a good healthy diet, try not to overeat and look into the treatment for "manboobs_.
I was prescribed Prednisone (with Xtandi!) After a year and 30 lbs. weight gain I refused to take the Prednisone. Now I'm trying to gain weight. What a world, what a world.
My husband has always been thin and muscular. He has gained 20 pounds and developed moonface since starting Zytiga + prednisone ( 5mg) in January. But the moonface seems to be decreasing over time so I think his body is adjusting to the meds. One concern is that recent bloodwork showed a marked decrease in Neutrophils which I think is from the prednisone. Any suggestions on how to raise them would be appreciated.
I worked with a nutritionist connected with my cancer center. She helped me lose 10 pounds with relatively small changes in diet, mostly choosing slow carbs instead of fast ones, and eating more protein. I lost the other 10 pounds when I went off the steroid. You might see if such a resource is available to you.
Just saw your response, TeleGuy. Thank you . There are nutritionists available. We will inquire about getting some advice from them. By slow carbs , I think you mean vegetables or whole grains instead of white bread and potatoes?
Correct. She didn't try to turn my diet upside down, she just tweaked things and the biggest piece of advice was to eat more protein all the time. One of the tiny tweaks was to shift from regular bagels to Dave's Killer Bread that has slower carbs. I was surprised how helpful all of this was.
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