alternative therapy

Active surveillance is appropriate for low risk disease.In your case with 11 of 12 cores positive, which is extensive,  at age 54 , in my laymans opinion you are too young to be enrolled in an active surveillance program.

I suggust that you ask for a T3 MRI which provides better resolution than the CT scan, and will be instrumental a treatment choice. 

You mentioned obtaining an x ray. ......I wonder why you are receiving this test?

Since the side effects of surgery can be very severe, and may cause incontinence and erectile dysfunction, as well as side effects from surgery itself, I can only agree with not having surgery. 

There are various forms of radiation that are  curative. In my opinion the best of these is SBRT( there are various machines that administer this treatment to include, but not limited to cyberknife and novalis). 

For SBRT there are only four or five sessions, without experiencing difficulties during treatment, and you are able to go on with your life routine. There can be side effects after treatment, but not as likely as surgery. SBRT provides the most precise treatment among the radiation treatments available.

Link-----Stereotactic body radiation therapy for low-, intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer: Disease control and quality of life at 9 years.

http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/157284-172

Heart healthy is prostate healthy, so follow a heart healthy life style....Vasco covered it well, in responding to the holistic remedies that you mentioned...( in fact we with prostate cancer are more likely to die from heart disease, which is epidemic than prostate cancer). Many of us at this board follow this life style. Several eat a mediterranean diet, while others like me follow a veggie based diet. ...At any rate, meat and dairy are no no's for prostate cancer. Suggest you read a book, "the china study" by t colin campbell, or watch the DVD , FORKSoverKNIVES that you can find on netflicks or the public library.

we could make better judgments with more info. But it does seem to me that some kind of radiation therapy to treat your prostate and surrounding areas should be considered. Moreover, I second your idea to not have surgery.

I do NOT favor the alternative approaches that you mentioned (THC, thyme, oregano and chamomile). But a cup of chamomile tea could be comforting...

Deadmansoon said:

If alternative treatments are

If alternative treatments are found to work, big pharma shuts them down.

Just look at the rows of 'alternative' medications in the supermarkets, drug stores and specialty stores. The business of 'alternative medicine' is quite strong and profitable.

OP: Since you jumped from no surgery to alternative treatments in your initial post, I'm not sure if you've ruled out radiation treatments as an alternative to surgery or not.  Assuming that you are still open to radiation treatment, I'll jump in as MEtoAZ predicted I would.

There are all kinds of reasons NOT to choose surgery for PCa treatment and, since you've already ruled it out, I will assume you know about the dangers and won't bore you (and others) by repeating them here.  Vasco has already gone over AS as an alternative, so I won't bother speaking about that either.

As for radiation, you have 3 basic choices: 1) Cyberknife or SBRT (stereotactic body radiation therapy), 2) IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy and 3) BT (brachytherapy).  Proton beam therapy (PBT)is 4th choice but it's a special case and isn't as readily available as the other three.

MEtoAZ and I both chose Cyberknife which is the best method of radiation treatment for PCa currently available.  It's the best method of radiation delivery because: 1) it can deliver radiation with a high degree of precision (to the sub-mm level) which reduces the likelihood of collateral tissue damage that can cause other problems; 2) it can deliver radiation in all directions by means of a fully rotating arm and moveable table, 3) it only requires 3-4 treatments over a week time and usually does not require the patient to take time off work.  CK is the radiation treatment of choice for high risk cases, such as brain, spinal, lung and other cancers where surgery creates added and undesireable risks for treatment.

I was treated w/Cyberknife in Sep 2010 and am cancer free 6 years following treatment.  I experienced no side effects whatsoever -- no ED and no incontinence following treatment.   So, if you are eligible for it, I highly recommend that you consider CK for the treatment of your cancer.

IMRT is the most common form of radiation treatment for PCa.  It does not deliver radiation as precisely as CK, which increases the possibility of side effects, and typically requires 20 or more treatments (5 per week for 4 weeks), which is much more inconvenient than CK, but studies indicate that survial rates following IMRT are equal to those for CK.

BT involves the placement of radiioactive seeds in the prostate.  There are 2 types of BT -- high (HDR) and low (LDR) dose rate. HDR BT involves the temporary placement of the seeds in the prostate which are then removed.  CK was modeled on HDR BT.  LDR BR involves the permanent placement of the seeds in the prostate.  The problem w/BT (high or low) is that it requires the manual placement of the seeds that, depsite the best placement plan, can be improperly position and or move, which can cause collateral tissue damage and ineffective treatment.  The problem unique to LDR BT is that the seeds can be expelled from the body through the urethra, can trigger radioativity and metal alarms at airports and elsewhere and are considered a danger to pregnant women and young children at least for the 1/2 life of the seeds (a year) during which time the patient should not have any close contact with such people.

As for homopathic or other forms of treatment, they may have certain palliative benefits but I do not believe they would be effective in eliminating any cancer.

I hope you find this infomation useful.  Please keep us informed about the treatment choice you make and your reason(s) for doing so.  Good luck!