PSA right down

tonybuxton
tonybuxton Member Posts: 88
in Prostate Cancer #1

Casodex montherapy 50mg daily for 7 months has brought my PSA down to 0.084 the lowest it has ever been. After IMRT it was 0.1 It slowly rose to about 5 after 18 months then rose cvery quickly to 10 during the nest 4 months. Is it possible this is a PSA bounce? Or is the Casodex really that effective? From what I have read Casodex at low doses  is not very efefctive and most people go for HT like lupron. . I was diagnosed with fairly agressive localised cancer gleason 3+4. both lobes 70% with a PSA of 42.

Another question is: If casodex is so effective and has no side effects why do people use lupron which has terrible side effects dfor many. (one shot of 3 monjth Zolades when I first started radiation nearly killed me.

Since i am now 83+ with a PSA of 0.084 I want to stop the casodex.

Any comments will be much appreciated.

Tony

Comments

  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,701 Member
    #2
    Casodex taken intermittently

    Tony

    It is so nice to know about your success. I wonder if you ever made it to Penang.

    Lupron and Casodex are different medications, act differently and got different side effects. Both make part of the weaponry in hormonal treatments to fight the cancer. They can be administered individually or together to give a greater blow to the cancer. They both intend to deprive the cancer from androgens (cancer food) so that the bandit dies of starvation.

    Lupron switches off the factory of testosterone (the testis) lowering the “quantity” in circulation in the body. Casodex is a faked bio-structure similar to testosterone that stacks itself to the androgen receptors (the mouth) at the cancerous cells. Both work in trying to block the pathways for the cancer in absorbing testosterone.

    Typically Lupron leads to hypogonadism causing nasty symptoms (kind of forced menopause). Casodex suppresses the testosterone in several pathways of our body functions leading to weakness (muscular), breast tenderness (lesser male expressions), skin rash (unbalanced biorhythm), decreased libido and depression. Some guys do better than others and in your case Casodex seems to be friendlier.

    Just as any medication, taking Casodex intermittently is possible. The half-life is short so that its effects will be lost soon, meaning that cancer will enjoy to have the testosterone back to its frenzy parties.
     In practice, oncologists seem to prefer to maintain patients in remission status (PSA<0.05) during one years before allowing one to get vacation on the drug (off-drugs period). The dose it is a daily 50 mg pill that should be increased in case the PSA increases again.

    I would suggest you to consult the doctor you trust about the possibility in arranging a protocol (on/off drug) that is feasible to you. You will need to be vigilant with periodical PSA and lipids tests and act by stopping the drug if things get out of control.

    Here is your previous post; http://csn.cancer.org/node/265937

    Best wishes for continuing success.

    VGama

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