Hi, it’s my 59th birthday today and none of my family have got up yet so what better way to spend my birthday than sharing with fellow Prostate Cancer survivors my experience of the ‘new’ drug Apalutamide
Brief history: I was diagnosed in June 2019 after a colleague with PC suggested I have a PSA test. I had had no symptoms up until then and I’ve had none since, other than those that come from the surgery and the medication..
I had a radical prostatectomy in December 2019, including removal of all the surrounding nerves and several lymph-nodes.
The Next step was due to be radiotherapy but PSA tests showed although it had metastasised it couldn’t be identified in any particular organ. I was waiting for chemotherapy to start when coronavirus hit us. I was put on hormone therapy Prostap injections plus Apalutamide in May 2020 instead. I understand that Apalutamide is currently not available on the NHS in England. I actually live in England but I’m right on the border and my GP is in Wales, so that was a bit of luck I suppose. I believe that Prostate Cancer Uk are currently lobbying NICE to make it available on NHS England.
My experience on Apalutamide was not good. I suffered from very bad fatigue, making me feel like a zombie. The medics reduced my dose from 240 mg per day to 180 mg per day but that had little effect. In June they told me to come off it because of “unacceptable toxicity”. After a break of a few weeks I switched to Abiraterone and Zoladex injection/implant. Although I still get some fatigue it is now manageable, and the important thing is my PSA level is currently virtually undetectable.
I‘d better end by saying that my experience on Apalutamide may not be common, but until we get more men being given the opportunity to take it we won’t know for sure.
Edited by member 16 Aug 2020 at 14:09
| Reason: Typos and duplication