Lycoene & Eligard

Revwig

Hi,

I am using Eligard HT 

What I would like to know would taking Lycopene help with my cancer

Does anyone have experience combining these.

Any thoughts out there.

Regards

Peter

 

eonore

Lycopene

Hey Peter,

My quick Internet review suggests that there is very little evidence for Lycopene as an effective prostate cancer treatment.  On the other hand, everything I read said it will not hurt you, so go at it if you wish.  My radiation oncologist wants me to eat two cups of cooked tomatoes twice a week, so there are some who feel it is useful.  I happen to love tomato sauce, etc, so it is no burden for me.

Eric

VascodaGama

Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant with many health benefits

Hi Peter,

Welcome to the board. Your question has been made by all of us survivors at some point in our journey.
We all have experienced supplements or have changed diets or abstained from certain things thinking that such actions would trigger a stealth missile to eliminate the bandit, but so far no one has reported success. Recurrence after surgery took me into that world of holistic approaches and I did take several vitamins including drinks of tomato paste (full of lycopene) but did not see much difference in my cancer behaviour. Surely I felt good in drinking and eating tomatoes so that I would recommend you to try it too.

The Eligard (leuprolide acetate) has no interactions with lycopene making the combination safe. Eligard will lead to hypogonadism side effects and some of these may lower the intensity due to the lycopene, unfortunately, the bandit will also benefit from the healthy diet.
In my times, between 2001 till 2004, I used to drink Del Monte’s Tomato sauce pack 200ml/daily. It was very tasty and easy to drink and it meant that I was taking about 30 mg of lycopene per day, however, the PSA continue its track increasing at each test.

Along these years, several studies have been done testing lycopene benefits in prostate health issues with some reporting success as a preventive measure against initiation of prostate cancer. None of these have found benefits once cancer has set in. In the following article you can read details and draw your own conclusions;

“Is there a benefit from lycopene supplementation in men with prostate cancer? A systematic review”
https://www.nature.com/articles/pcan200938

You may be also interested in reading this very recent article from the American Urological Association, where they discuss about the increase on holistic approaches in PCa patients;

“Trends in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use among Patients with Prostate Cancer”
https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/JU.0000000000000336

I wonder your case story. Is the hormonal treatment your prime therapy or is it due to recurrence from a radical?

Best wishes,

VGama

“Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant with many health benefits, including sun protection, improved heart health and a lower risk of certain types of cancer. Though it can be found as a supplement, it may be most effective when consumed from lycopene-rich foods like tomatoes”

 

Georges Calvez

Work in progress

Hi there,

Post operatively I had a PSA of 2.07 which under treatment with Firmagon rapidly fell to below the limit of detection.
I am drinking around 300ml of tomato juice per day plus I eat homemade tomato sauce with cheese, etc and I often have cooked tomatoes as well so I am maxing out on the lycopene.
Is it doing me any good?
Eighteen months down the line I am still below the limit of detection to the amazement of Eeyore my radiation guy.

Best wishes,

Georges

Revwig

VascodaGama said:

Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant with many health benefits

Hi Peter,

Welcome to the board. Your question has been made by all of us survivors at some point in our journey.
We all have experienced supplements or have changed diets or abstained from certain things thinking that such actions would trigger a stealth missile to eliminate the bandit, but so far no one has reported success. Recurrence after surgery took me into that world of holistic approaches and I did take several vitamins including drinks of tomato paste (full of lycopene) but did not see much difference in my cancer behaviour. Surely I felt good in drinking and eating tomatoes so that I would recommend you to try it too.

The Eligard (leuprolide acetate) has no interactions with lycopene making the combination safe. Eligard will lead to hypogonadism side effects and some of these may lower the intensity due to the lycopene, unfortunately, the bandit will also benefit from the healthy diet.
In my times, between 2001 till 2004, I used to drink Del Monte’s Tomato sauce pack 200ml/daily. It was very tasty and easy to drink and it meant that I was taking about 30 mg of lycopene per day, however, the PSA continue its track increasing at each test.

Along these years, several studies have been done testing lycopene benefits in prostate health issues with some reporting success as a preventive measure against initiation of prostate cancer. None of these have found benefits once cancer has set in. In the following article you can read details and draw your own conclusions;

“Is there a benefit from lycopene supplementation in men with prostate cancer? A systematic review”
https://www.nature.com/articles/pcan200938

You may be also interested in reading this very recent article from the American Urological Association, where they discuss about the increase on holistic approaches in PCa patients;

“Trends in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use among Patients with Prostate Cancer”
https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/JU.0000000000000336

I wonder your case story. Is the hormonal treatment your prime therapy or is it due to recurrence from a radical?

Best wishes,

VGama

“Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant with many health benefits, including sun protection, improved heart health and a lower risk of certain types of cancer. Though it can be found as a supplement, it may be most effective when consumed from lycopene-rich foods like tomatoes”

 

Hi VGama,

Hi VGama,

Thanks for you information I really appreciate the detail you have given me!

I was origanally diagnosed in March 2018 with 4+5 Gleason prostrate cancer. PET Scan showed no metastatic disease. 

Reviewed all options decided on Hormone Therpy.

In April started Cosudex/Diphereline treatment PSA 20

Had 4 3monthly injections PSA down to 0.3

Stopped for 3months. PSA went back up to 14.

On 4th October started Bi Eligard 3 monthly.

Next PSA in December then I go 4monthly treatments.

Hopeful will continue to hold within prostrate.

Kind regards

Peter

 

VascodaGama

Intermittent ADT

Peter,

You are welcome. Guys in this forum are not doctors but try to help the many with comments or opinions based on own experience.

I am locating you in Australia as the drugs triptorelin and bicalutamide are sold there under the brand names of Diphereline and Cosudex. Diphereline is a LHRH agonist similar to the Eligard (leuprolide) you just started. Both injections aim chemical castration (no testosterone in circulation) obliging the cancer to a sort of indolence status (loss of activity). Bicalutamide works differently. It blocks the cells androgen receptors (mouth of cancer) avoiding these from absorbing testosterone or other androgens produced by other glands. Unfortunately (ADT) hormonal treatment does not kill the bandit and in prolonged treatment one risks refractory to the drugs.

I applaud you to have chosen ADT as your prime therapy in spite of having a contained case. I know of two guys that managed to hold the bandit at bay during many years using the traditional hormonal drugs intermittently in three blockades as their prime therapy. They also used some tactics during the period of “off-drugs”, like avoiding blood vessel formation using thalidomide and stimulating the immune system with Leukine (sargramostim) in short periods. One guy started the intermittent treatment in 1995 and was still on it in 2015. Another started in 2000 and stopped it in 2012 due to refractory. Both had contained cases of Gleason score 7 which is lower than your Gs9. I wonder what did your doctor comment on your choice.
Can you tell us what made you to choose ADT instead of a radical? What is your age?

My experience is with Eligard 6-month dose in mono therapy. I had failed surgery (2000) and failed salvage radiotherapy (2006) leading me to the hormonal therapy that I started in 2010. The modality follows the principles of a famous medical oncologist named Myers. The intermittent applications (on and off-drugs periods) are regulated by established thresholds in PSA levels plus castration levels. I started with daily bicalutamide (50mg) taken during one month followed by a shot of Eligard 6-month dose. This took me into castration levels of testosterone lower than 25 ng/dL (0.8675 nmol/l). The PSA also dropped from 1.0 ng/ml to remission levels of less than 0.05 ng/ml. These levels were maintained during a full 12 months with three shots of Eligard before I could start the off-drugs period. The restarting of the on-drugs period is set to be when the PSA reaches the threshold of 2.5 ng/ml.

Surely this modality was set to my particular case with a Gleason score 6 (2+3). Other patients on ADT have their own modality but most Gs7 guys use higher PSA trigger thresholds of 5.0 or 10.0 ng/ml. So far I have done well being on vacations since 2012. The testosterone has increased to normal levels along with a slow increase of the PSA that is now at 2.14 ng/ml (from a low <0.02 in 2012). While on vacations, I have recuperated the quality of life and, surely, have avoided the risks that hypogonadism causes to our systems. I believe that this modality prolongs the effectiveness of the drugs (more cycles of the treatment) avoiding earlier setting of refractory.

I hope you too manage a prolonged ADT for the many years to come. I would recommend you to get the testosterone and PSA tests done periodically to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment. I also would check bone loss (osteopenia/osteoporosis) as prolonged ADT leads to such condition.

Best wishes.

VGama

 

Georges Calvez

Five a day

Hi there,

I was encouraged to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day plus protein twice a day during my radiotherapy.
This is French medical advice by the way, it is a bit different to elsewhere but probably no less valid as there is a lot of conflicting evidence one way and the other.
I started with orange juice but I realised that I was taking quite a lot of sugar so I moved to tomato juice, the lycopene was quite incidental.
There is quite a lot of evidence that eaing healthily and taking regular exercise will slow the progression of cancer.
I am a pretty manic gardener plus I love walking so no problem for me on the latter count.

Best wishes,

Georges