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Very aggressive prostate cancer

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User
Posted 23 Jan 2016 at 18:20
Hi everyone,

My name is George Atari, I live in Amman-Jordan I was 55 when I was diagnosed

In November, 2011 with a Gleason 9 Prostate cancer , PSA 45.

My oncologist put me on ADT and 35 Radiation cycles, as surgery wasn't an option due to some lymph nodes involvement.

I finished radiation in February, 2012 and the PSA dropped to 1,4 and this was the lowest since then.

I started taking Zilladox every 3 months and the PSA Remained at the same level for almost 6 months, in July 2012 PSA started rising despite the ADT, it became 4.5, then started to rise gradually..

My oncologists then added several other medications related to the ADT but the PSA never responded,

In 2014, I started Zytiga hoping that it will stop the PSA from rising, but unfortunately after 6 months the PSA jumped to 33.

I felt that nothing is working and then I stopped taking any medications except the Zilladox, PSA rose to 90 in the beginning of 2015.

In September 2015 my oncologist decided to go for CHEMO, I started chemo in October, first cycle 28 Oct, and the 2 nod cycle 21 days after that.

The CT scan I did after the 2nd cycle showed some progress, I was encouraged then but after the 4th cycle, the CT scan showed that the Tumors started to grow and multiple new spots were in liver despite chemo.

I am now very confused and looking for advice of what to do to control the growth of tumors .

I hope someone will help

Many thanks to all

George

User
Posted 23 Jan 2016 at 18:45

Hello George.
Just wanted to welcome you to the site. I have no personal knowledge of Prostate cancer at your stage but I am sure that one of those with the experience will be along to offer their advice.

You've come to the right place anyway. There is a lot of helpful knowledge on here and we are always ready with a listening ear if life gets tough.

Hang in there in the meantime and somebody will help you

All the best
Sandra

We can't control the winds - but we can adjust our sails
User
Posted 23 Jan 2016 at 19:05

Dear Sandra,

Many thanks for your prompt reply.

George

User
Posted 23 Jan 2016 at 19:27

Hello George,
It sounds like your prostate cancer has become hormone resistant. Not sure if you are aware that the ADT works by stopping your body from producing testosterone which then means the cancer is starved. Unfortunately, the cancer does eventually learn to survive without testosterone at which time the ADT no longer works.

Some consultants would add another hormone to the ADT at that point, which disguises the remaining testosterone to trick the cancer into thinking there isn't any. It seems you have already done that.

Sometimes the PSA rises with chemo rather than falling, but this doesn't automatically mean that it isn't working. Chemo damages the central core of the cancer cells so that they can't reproduce, the PSA might go a bit wild for a while as the cancer tries to fight the chemo. For some men, the chemo does enough damage for hormones to be tried again, often with some success.

It depends what new medicines have been licensed in Jordan but you may be offered something like abiraterone or enzalutimide which can give men an extra few months post-chemo. Sadly, there comes a time when all treatments have failed and all you can do is ensure that your quality of life is as good as possible and any pain is well controlled. It might be worth asking your doctors now about things like end of life care (best to start planning these things while you are still relatively well and can tell people what you would like to happen), what drugs are available that you haven't yet tried and whether there are any trials that you could join to test new drugs.

Do you follow any special diet to try to slow the development of the cancer? There isn't a lot of scientific proof for some of the prostate diets around but it seems pretty incontrovertible that cutting out dairy (milk, cheese, butter) and red meat helps, along with increasing your consumption of tomatoes (preferably cooked), onions, garlic, oily fish and soya.

Edited by member 23 Jan 2016 at 22:34  | Reason: Not specified

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

 
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