Strange query indeed.
I had my monthly PSA test on Tuesday. For the whole week before that I was not taking my usual 20 mg of Atorvastatin + 10 mg Ezetimibe. In the meantime, I had ordered a bottle of Jarrow Formulas Red Yeast Rice +co-Q10. PSA came back as anticipated at 0.12, but the cholesterols had gone crazy. From my usual (under medication) ~150 tC it went to 218. This came as anything but a surprise to me as I have familial hypercholysterolemia and without medication my long term tC floats around 350. Most probably the latter is the reason for my PCa.
So, I did the following experiment: Took the Atorvastatin-Ezetimibe usual pill and over this a RYR capsule and next morning had another PSA test at the 2nd lab I usually use. The result was beyond reason: 0.05 vs 0.12 a day before.
PSA is reported to have a halving time from 2.5 to 3.5 days. Hence it is impossible such a decay to be attributed to the statin/RYR combo taken the night before. Only two possible explanations remain on the table: a) Lab gross error, as in the past variances between the two had been observed, but definitely not THIS high. b) RYR is masking the PSA test.
To solve the problem I am gearing up for a 3rd PSA test. I am considering two scenarios: a) Repeat taking statin&RYR tonight and test tomorrow at a 3rd lab that in the past has been found in close agreement with the 2nd. This will show whether 2nd lab was in error. b) Stop taking, for say a week, RYR and test again either with the 2nd or the 3rd lab. This will show whether RYR is masking the test.
What would you choose in my case? TIA
Statins may mask PSA.
bjui-journals.onlinelibrary...
karger.com/Article/Abstract...
I have no idea how long the effect will occur for after stopping it.
Thanks for the links but my numbers overrule them. If the pills could magically null any new PSA excretion, the one still circulating with the blood plus max 30% of inter-lab offset could not produce such a high difference. No way! Something ubnormal happened, that I will find out.
Those studies are 8 and 10 years old, respectively. It seems to me that their results are counter-intuitive: Statins reduce cholesterol, and since the body uses cholesterol to make testosterone, I'd think that statins would reduce testosterone, which would have a beneficial effect on PCa, which in turn would reduce PSA. It's odd that statins would be shown to help prevent PCa but then to worsen outcomes of having PCa. Am I correct in making these links, and is there any new research on this?
Unless you have more recent studies that show anything different, that is what we have to go by. Your intuitions should not dictate clinical practice - only empirical observation is useful. Statins have not been shown to prevent PCa. You are not correct in using correlations from some observational studies to infer causative relations.
I should have said statin use is associated with lower risk of prostate cancer and of fatal PCa in some men. I was certainly not trying to dictate clinical practice based my intuitions - that would be risible. I didn't mean to infer a link between statins and PCa - I don't know enough to make such inferences, which is why I asked if my thoughts were correct. I was merely asking questions. Thanks for the response.
It is also associated with higher risk of recurrence:
bjui-journals.onlinelibrary...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/235...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/303...
But I could have also pulled out observational studies showing an inverse association, or no association at all.
The best data we have so far (because it simulates a randomized clinical trial) points to its having no effect on incidence of prostate cancer:
nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/N...
I was pointing to the problem of drawing conclusions from a limited set of observational data. Such data are only useful for raising hypotheses.
Maybe if cholesterol was reduced to zero but you would die from having zero cholesterol. Statins reduce cholesterol to healthier levels for those who have high cholesterol. Impact on testosterone is negligible if at all.