Prostate Cancer Survivors

 

YANA - YOU ARE NOT ALONE NOW

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SITE

 

 

This forum is for the discussion of anything to do with Prostate Cancer.
There are only four rules:

  • No fundraisers, no commercials (although it is OK to recommend choices of treatment or medical people based on your personal research; invitations to participate in third-party surveys are also acceptable, provided there is no compensation to YANA);
  • No harvesting e-mail addresses for Spam;
  • No insults or flaming - be polite and respectful at all times and understand that there may be a variety of points of view, all of which may have some validity;
  • Opinions are OK, but please provide as much factual evidence as possible for any assertions that you are making

Failure to abide by these simple rules will result in the immediate and permanent suspension of your posting privileges.

Since this is an International Forum, please specify your location in your post.

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: psa and testerone

John,

I guess Terry would remind you that the only rule about PCa is that there are no rules! As a mere stripling ten years younger than you, I hestitate to offer an opinion, but perhaps it would be useful to say one thing. For over five years I have been on on Zoladex and it has been effective, but only in the last month was I ever tested for testosterone (and it was found to be negligible). My guiding light has been my PSA level. You are running the risk that your PSA will rise if the testosterone on which the PCa feeds is not controlled. However, see my first sentence, the usual treatment has not lowered your testosterone, so you are a good example of the exception to the rule.

Unless you are unlucky enough to have an aggressive form of the cancer, unlikely with a Gleason 6 grade and PSA at one being well below "normal" for your age, you can probably rely on active surveillance, periodic DREs and regular PSA testing (but no treatment and hence no side effects) to see out your days, probably well beyond yours truly

Ed in England

Re: psa and testerone

John,

I responded to one of your first posts on this Forum by quoting the advice given by Lorenzo Q. Squarf

"If you are in your 80s don't play the therapy game. Period. No. Don't do it. It will destroy the rest of your life. Ameliorate negative symptoms with medication. You can probably do this in an agreeable manner for a longer time than you might imagine. Smile. You have won."

I'm glad to see that you seem to have taken this advice!

Your post reflects some of the confusion and guesswork about ADT (Androgen Deprivation Therapy). It may help you to refresh your memory (or to read for the first time) the entry on Androgen Deprivation Therapy ) on the website.

You will see that the basic theory behind this therapy is to control the body's production or absorption of testosterone (T) or, more precisely, dihydrotestosterone, commonly referred to as DHT. A combination of drugs may be used to prevent production of testosterone by the testicles and to block the cancer tumour from using the testosterone produced by the adrenals. For that reason some doctors, but not all, measure T (testosterone) levels as well as PSA levels to try to judge if ADT is working and controlling the growth of any tumour. Both these tests are referred to as ‘proxy’ tests because they are not disease specific. In other words, the disease can advance with a low PSA and a low T level; or it may be stable with a low PSA and a high T level – or any combination of these two. Some doctors are happy to advise their men to have T supplements if their levels are too low. So T levels are not sen as critical by some doctors.

You may be interested to read my personal views on the subject of PSA (and this applies to T as well) which I set out in my last update – but before you read these please understand this is not a recommendation or suggestion that you follow what I am doing. It is just an item of information which may or may not help you. This is what I said in part:

Ahead of my scheduled appointment I did a bit of thinking about what I should be doing next and I realised that I had succumbed to PSA anxiety. I KNOW that PSA is not a good test, that it is variable for no reason, etc etc. and yes, I know that the standard response to any criticism of PSA is that "It is the best test we have.", which really has nothing to do with the question of using PSA alone to make decisions.

By chance I received a number of items of mail that were relevant, in my eyes at least, to my decision making. One was a piece written some years ago by Dr Snuffy Myers, mentioning that SOME patients' prostate cancer will not cause serious health problems until the PSA is between 1,000 and 2,000. That is borne out by SOME of the stories on this site. In fact ROY WHITE in Western Australia whose PSA went out to over 15,000 earlier this year before it was reigned back to "only" 1,100. With a doubling time of 3 months it would take me 2.75 years to reach a PSA of 1,000 so it seems I may have a bit of time in hand.


I intend to see if I develop any symptoms and to have a bone scan every two or three years – provided I can get my oncologist to agree with this.

Good luck
Terry in Australia


Re: psa and testerone

thanks terry you are always there to bail a fellow traveller out i aperiate all that you do for and all rest of us thanks and good luck to you and all the family john q

RETURN TO HOME PAGE LINKS