Help! Anyone here try zytiga holidays. Like one week off a month. Or weekends off?

[Gdheals]

Help! Anyone here try zytiga holidays for 2-7 days every so often? Also, any recommended medications recommended to stop these hot flashes. I only take the 250mg because I get the same affect. With 1000 mg I have heart problems.Thanks4673

[Todd1963]

During a total knee replacement last year, they took me off of Zytiga for two weeks. A week prior to surgery and a week after surgery. I’m sitting here wondering what the benefit would be, and although there are many hypotheses, none of them make a lot of sense in my head, except for perhaps, letting your liver and kidneys get a break, or perhaps extending time until drug resistance. I am not sure that is a viable theory but I am sure we will find out in some clinical trial abstract in the future. That being said, I would love to hear what you’re thinking about. I definitely wouldn’t do anything without consulting with my doctor first and I would probably step up PSA tests to ensure nothing is changing. .

I took a one year vacation from treatment and my adrenal system never did recover. I continued to take the prednisone as I was in a great deal of discomfort if I didn’t.

[Huzzah1 in reply to Todd1963]

I had a knee replacement 5 weeks ago. The surgeon was concerned about the healing process as I was on prednisone due to the Zytiga. My MO and the surgeon talked and they decided to reduce my P intake in half, so 2.5mg for a month. I went back to full dose last week. I didn't notice any differences.

[Gdheals in reply to Todd1963]

I Wouldn't take a year. Just a few days a month to lower the level of med built up. It accumulates. And they never measure levels. I do PSA and T test every 3 months.

[timotur]

It’s probably ok to mix in a few days off Zytiga as long as your T stays below a target level. (Mine was <12ng/dL) I had high BP on Zytiga and stopped after five months and continued on Lupron for the remainder of the 18 month ADT cycle. To attempt to lower the SE’s of Lupron I time-dosed the shots by taking one month shots every five weeks, and that kept my T <12.

[Gdheals in reply to timotur]

My T is 14. Just with zytiga.

[Derf4223]

My MO has me on Venlafaxine 37.5 mm/day for improving hot flashes, Short of transdermal estrogen which is not protocol, improvement is the best you can get. There are other meds and even acupuncture that may help. I'm OK with venlafaxine and exercise, lots of exercise.

[Gdheals in reply to Derf4223]

Im taking 75mg ventaflaxin, it isn't working.

[Derf4223 in reply to Gdheals]

Are you exercising your arse off? Aerobics, resistance, etc -- the more the better. Studies have found significant benefits with only 150 minutes per week, but I try for 150 minutes daily. Assuming good CV health, at your age 64 (vs my almost 70) that should be possible. (How? My wife and exercise each evening and take dog walks during the day.) The longer one is on ADT the worse sarcopenia and osteopenia gets.

Muscle gains are hard won and easily lost on ADT. I don't know how much hot flash control in my case is only due to Venlafaxin since I started serious exercise at the same time. I use a Bowflex and also recently added an elliptical trainer (Horizon Fitness EX-59) both bought used. (For that, see Craigslist and FB Marketplace. When I mentioned to my neighbors I bought an elliptical they both said I could've had theirs for the asking.) I am also on Prolia since my DEX scan showed osteopenia just after I started ADT + abiraterone.

[Gdheals in reply to Derf4223]

My bone cancer in my legs makes it difficult to exercise. I do manual labor around my house still though. I have strength in my muscles still, just a lot of bone pain, plus cardiac damage from taking orgovyx for 2 years.4673

[JohnInTheMiddle in reply to Derf4223]

How do you handle over training Derf? I'm trying to learn how to understand recovery because I followed your recipe probably for the same very good reasons. High volume including some high intensity. And I kind of burnt out a couple of months ago. This deserves a separate topic.

[Mgtd in reply to JohnInTheMiddle]

I am assuming you are asking about training too hard.

I am pushing 79 soon and honestly HIIT training is really not an option even though I am in good shape. Here is what I do to prevent burn out. I only exercise 6 days a week. Same for my diet.

For resistance training on MWF I limit myself to 30 minutes using light weights and extremely short intervals between sets. I try to limit myself to a standard routine. For example today I did 4 sets of 10 reps bench press followed by dumbbell reclining presses of 3 sets of 10 reps. I interspersed 3 sets of 10 reps of flys. I then did 3 sets of 15 reps of dumbbell curls. I followed that with 3 sets of 10 reps of seated pulls.

On T and Th I work my abs and legs doing various exercises. This is a shorter workout. I would say 20 minutes.

For aerobics everyday I use my Apple Watch to monitor my 1 mile walk times and bpm heart rate. My goal is to achieve a level two cardio speed and bpm heart rate.

For me that is normally 18 mins per mile and for bpm I use the crude formula of (220- my age) X .6 to get my bpm. Using the Apple Watch I can quickly see how I am doing. I walk for about a hour and cover close to 3.3 miles. Just doing my normal stuff like walking the dogs, etc gets me to 10,000 to 13,000 steps for the day.

On Saturday allow myself to mix and match things I like doing or want to just experiment with to try some new stuff. 30 minutes.

At my age I consider this a reasonable compromise and I feel something is better than nothing.

Hope that helps.

[JohnInTheMiddle in reply to Mgtd]

This is fantastic Mgtd! Super thanks for sharing your routine. I read it once and I'm going to study at a bit. I'm doing some things really well like the Zone one Zone 2 walking thing. But I need to add back my resistance work. (I did get 26,000 steps the other day because I didn't want to take the bus home from my optometrist appointment. Walking in a measured pace doesn't seem to cause me recovery problems.)

[Mgtd in reply to JohnInTheMiddle]

Great number of steps! Just start slow coming back to the resistance training. The marriage of both aerobics and resistance is important.

[Derf4223 in reply to JohnInTheMiddle]

I did it by starting out with light Bowflex resistance and went up a bit each week. Right now I am at resistance settings that I can handle daily and no longer increasing. As for reps and sets, that is typically two sets times 10-12 reps. The Bowflex's progressive resistance helps a lot with sustaining daily exercise. It's early days for the elliptical trainer, and just like with the Bowflex, I am starting out on the light side and increasing mostly time (vs resistance) a bit each week.

[JohnInTheMiddle in reply to Derf4223]

Thanks Derf!

[gsun in reply to Gdheals]

Didn't work for me either and the withdrawl is long and bad.

[Gdheals in reply to Derf4223]

I know some people use clonidine for hot flashes.

[Tall_Allen]

" I only take the 250mg because I get the same effect. " You have no way of knowing that. A person taking Lupron with no Zytiga may have zero PSA, but the zero PSA will only last for a lesser duration. If Zytiga causes heart problems, consider using Xtandi, Erleada or Nubeqa instead. That would be better than short-changing yourself.

[Gdheals in reply to Tall_Allen]

I can try one of those I just have heard taking a zytiga holiday has helped with side effects, sonetimes the level of the drug in your system gets too high causing heart issues , stomach issues, fatigue.

[Professorgary in reply to Gdheals]

I take low dose abiraterone with 5mg of prednisone. 350 calorie low fat breakfast with Abi and prednisone at the same time. Many folks on this forum use curcumin and find it lessens side effects. This includes kidney function and glucose levels as well as liver. Curcumin is an inflammatory and helps the liver cleanse itself. My hot flashes are mild and energy levels good. The pic shows my alp and liver function blood test results from three days ago. My kidney function is 117.5.

Psa 1.03, down from 5664. No radiation or surgery

[Lettuce231]

I'm not sure what your thought process is behind this 🤔 why would you do it and what do you expect to gain ?

[Gdheals in reply to Lettuce231]

Heart issues. Arrythmias

[Professorgary in reply to Gdheals]

Sorry I am late to this party but curcumin and magnesium go a long way to correct that issue. Don’t take my word for it, Google it. If you are taking a calcium supplement that can make the problem worse. God bless.

[j-o-h-n]

BTW how old are you?

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

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

64. Wifes a RN.

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

Thanks.... and you married smart.........

p.s. You may wish to add your age to your bio....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

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

I will do that. Thank you.4673

[OldGuysRule]

I hate taking Zytiga! It has caused extreme high blood pressure of 226/140 and sent me to the ER. It’s a wonder I didn’t have a stroke. So now I’m taking high blood pressure medication, prednisone, neuropathy medicine and sleep medicine. The good news is, (according to my MO) is I’ll live longer. Yahoo!

[Gdheals in reply to OldGuysRule]

Yeah. It did take down PSA and releive bone pain but damaged my heart. You are smart! Less is always better. I think I will do 5 days on the 250mg and 2 days off for a bit. Just taking zytiga monday through friday and my wife will continue to monitor my heart and BP everyday.

Happy years to you. Somtimes the treatment kills ya faster than the cancer.

[OldGuysRule in reply to Gdheals]

God bless

[85236442968 in reply to OldGuysRule]

Hey OldGuysRule

I hate it just as bad as you do, however it works.

I have the same BP issues as you, Never got that high but close.

The cardiologist has me on a number of meds that give me about 16 hours of good pressure, but the remaining 8 are 170/70

I am curious if you do not mind telling me, what BP meds are you on.

Here is my daily regime.

At 5:15 am I take 1-Edarbyclor 40mg/25mg (Azilsarten and Clorthalidone) 1- 0 mg Amlodopine and 1- 10 mg of Cardevlol

At 7:15 I then that the Zytiga (3 pills not 4) and the prednisone 5mg.

At 9:00 am I take a 5 mg Clonidine

At 5 pm, another Cardevlol

at 9:00 pm another Clonidine.

The high pressure starts at about 10 pm am goes to about 6 am.

This amount of BP meds just suck and honestly they do not get it done.

Yes I work out 6 days a week 3 light days, 3 heavy.

[OldGuysRule in reply to 85236442968]

I take amlodipine besylate. Since I started, I haven’t had any BP problems. I get a Lupron shot every quarter. Zytiga does work but it does cause problems. I also take prednisone.

Hang in there

[jackwfrench in reply to OldGuysRule]

Can you share what sleep medicine? After 6 mo Lupron/abi starting sleep issues.

[Gdheals in reply to jackwfrench]

I take temazepan 15mg and xanax 1mg

[OldGuysRule in reply to jackwfrench]

I fought no sleep for 1.5 years before I asked for help. I take a lorazepam in the evening. It helps with my anxiety and I sleep finally.

[dhccpa]

Stop the Prednisone as well?

[Gdheals in reply to dhccpa]

But make sure your pednisone is not controlled release. Most are not.4673

[Gdheals]

Take 1/2 dose prednisone on days off. It controls cortisol levels. I cut the prednisone in half with pill cutter. 5mg on zytiga days 2.5mg on non zytiga days.

My wife has been an RN manager for over 30 years. I just follow her directions

So far she is right. 2 years ago I was 145 pounds on hospice and I am 6'3. Now I am a healthy 225 pounds at the age of 64.

4673

[JohnInTheMiddle]

So what's your theory? Your theory seems to be "I'd like to take some days off from Zytiga". Someone tell me this is not what we're talking about. Because it's not a theory, it's a wish. A certain kind of wish I don't want to mention. There might be a reason not to take Zytiga for a while but it should be in the context of some theory as to why we're doing it and what will happen.