Hormone treatment

gragil said:

PSA was 5.2. Gleason was
PSA was 5.2. Gleason was 8-9. Doctor did not recommend surgery because of my age (71). I am going for my fifth radiation treatment today.

gragil said:

radiation
To tell you the truth, I have not heard the name of my treatment. I think I'll ask today. I am experiencing some scrotum discomfort (not hard pain). Is that connected to hormones? Thanks.

gragil said:

Protron it is

Protron it is

tonybuxton said:

Hormone therapy
I had Zoladex 3 month injection the second week of my six week IMRT. I had little or no side effects from the injection until about 2 1/2 months later when all hell let loose. Diabetes, heart problems, severe weakness, memory loss and nausea. These were all known side effects. My oncologist said "no more injections" and my urologist said that since I am 81, I should not have been given them anyway. So now it is 4 months since the injection and I am feeling better. But have a lot of hot flushes. I was given the $1,500 injection and told I must have them every 3 months for two years I have a strong belief that money and profit was part of the motive. I found that it was four times more expensive than the the pharmacy cost. I.E a profit of $1000 for the Doctor. I have researched this issue and found that there is very little difference in survival rates between having and not having hormones with RT. Especially since I had the very latest Novalis shaped beam IMRT.
Also what is the point of all the side effects just to prolong my survival when due to my age I will probably die from other causes. I think that if I had continued the hormone therapy it would have killed me. The weakness it caused resulted in two bad falls fracturing my chest. I have never fallen before. The heart side effects resulted in Angina something I have never had before and now I have full blown diabetes.
I am following an anti cancer diet and trying to get a lot of exercise and I feel that this would probably do more to stop any recurrence than these "castration hormones". They kill testosterone the very hormone we need for strength, especially old people. thgese

ralph.townsend1 said:

Hormone
I think your doctor is doing the best he can. These medicine are very expensive to develop. These medicine side effect are sometimes not worth it. The medicine that I take are causing problems with my liver and make me sick and tired " and I'm sick and tired of it". But there is a thing called quality of life, " it called TIME vs QUALITY" There will be time in my life and be brave and say enough is enough.

What your PSA and your Gleason score?

I am following an anti cancer diet and trying to get a lot of exercise and I feel that this would probably do more to stop any recurrence than these "castration hormones". They kill testosterone the very hormone we need for strength, especially old people.

But these Castration hormones stop the food source for the cancer. There is other things you can do to build up you Strength!

tonybuxton said:

hormones
Thanks your comment. I am 81 and I am not looking to prolong my life as much as getting a few more years of disease free survival whilst I am still mobile. Maybe 3 or 4 years at the most. I don't want to spend these few years being weak and sick with the side effects of HT.
I personallay thought that my successful IMRT treatment should have given me these few years that I want.
My PSA score was 42 but I had severe BPH. I had TURP from which my Gleason score was put at 3+4 70% positive. High grade localized advanced cancer. This was followed by IMRT 30 x 2.3 gy after which my PSA was < 0.1. I had no side effects from the Radiotherapy.
Good luck to you. Keep in touch
Tony

rajivsaha said:

My Father's Rising PSA
My Father who is now 76yrs old , had his early prostate cancer detected in 2000 and subsequently the castration was done in 2001. He was all well till 2012 feb having no/little complaints of obstructed urine etc. Dr.had never asked us to check PSA in between. Only as last time we did PSA test in Dec 2009 - which was 0.43

Suddenly in 2011 June , he had started complaining for back pains.

We did not know any such PSA monitoring and hence did not. In Feb 2012 , he again started complaining of back pains and this time we did PSA test which was reported at 64 and a stage IV metastasis.
Immediately Dr. Asked us to start Bicalutamide 50mg/day and monthly PSA check. After two month's PSA (was stable at ~60)had increased to 90. And then Dr. had increased the Bicalutamide dose to 150mg/day and asked us to monitor PSA within next 15-30days. Last three months' he is also under IV infusion of Zoledronic acid(Zometa)for bone metastasis.

In case of a further increase , Dr. would define a 2nd line hormone therapy with HONVAN etc.before administering Docetaxel /Ketoconazole at his age of 76yrs(keeping in view of chemotherapy effects at his age). We are now in 7th day of 150mg Bicalutamide dose and just waiting for the next step.

Does any one of you have any suggestion for further delaying the process of chemotherapy or increasing life expectancy without any further problems/criticality expected.

Will be obliged if anyone can guide.
thanks ! rajiv/india.

Kongo said:

Self Treatment
Tony,

PSA by itself is not harmful. It's a natural and necessary antigen necessary for the reproductive process. interestingly it can also be found in women so the name Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is really a bit of a misnomer because it's not specific to the prostate.

We don't treat PSA. We treat cancer. PSA is just one of any indicators of cancer and it is a fairly poor diagnostic indicator when taken by itself.

After you have been treated for cancer, PSA is a valuable indicator of whether or not cancer might recur. Taking a drug to depress your PSA levels, unless under a doctor's supervision, is dangerous because it can mask what is really going on with your cancer. I strongly urge you not to take drugs acquired overseas unless your doctor knows what you are doing and approves.

Best,

K